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No matter what your opinion is on tattoos, it is clear that in recent years the craft has developed into an incredible art form all its own. Just as tattoos and techniques have evolved from simple sketches to the fine and varied artwork available today, the tattooist culture has also experienced an incredible shift. These three local artists have broken the traditional mold to make the art of tattooing fit their own.
Rob Kells
Kelltic Ink Tattoo, Cosmetic Tattooing and Body Piercing
360 E. Wyomissing Avenue, Mohnton
610.927.5654
If you are looking for an artist who defies stereotypes, look no further than Rob Kells. Rob’s nearly 20 years of experience started where you might least expect: Reading Hospital School of Nursing. After spending four years in the Air Force and fighting in the Second Gulf War, he returned home searching for a career that would suit his compassionate nature. There was a big demand for nurses at the time, so he enrolled to become an RN. But while working at Reading Rehabilitation, and with only two classes left to graduate, Rob said, “The tattoo bug kind of struck me.”
While getting a tattoo at the Reading Tattoo Company, he struck up a friendship with his artist and asked if they needed help around the shop. Soon he was working there a few nights a week. Simpler tasks gave way to stenciling and finally to apprenticeship. “The moment I realized I wasn’t cut out for nursing was when I got to the point where I didn’t feel as compassionate anymore,” Rob explains. “I had a bad day at the hospital one day and went into the shop that night to ask about that tattoo apprenticeship.”
Art and Healing
Rob spent 13 years at the Reading Tattoo Company and another five at Uptown Ink, Reading, before deciding to open his own shop, Kelltic Ink, in Mohnton. “It was my time. I felt like I had worked long enough for other people and was ready to do the work for myself.” Rob’s specialty is big color pieces, from Celtic knot work to Japanese-style tattoos, but even if that is not your style, there is an artist for everyone at Kelltic Ink. “Half the battle in this business is knowing what you’re really good at,” Rob explains.
Part of what makes Rob great is his medical background. He explains that his nursing training was a big draw when he was getting his start. His knowledge of anatomy, cross-contamination and sterilization made his clients more comfortable. “To this day it really helps to know why things work the way they do, the way things heal, and what you should and shouldn’t do to a wound. It was a nice background to have transferring over to tattooing.”
Rx for Success
When he started tattooing, Rob also rediscovered his compassion. “The one thing I tell my crew is that customer satisfaction and the way we treat people is the most important thing,” Rob says. He prides himself on having a friendly and down-to-earth shop, and the culture at Kelltic Ink is helping to change the perception that many people have about tattoos. While they are slowly becoming more socially acceptable, Rob thinks we will soon see the day when the stigma disappears altogether. He explained that it is not only the shop culture but also the evolution of tattooing from a lowbrow art form to a beautiful, fine art that will eventually lead to total social acceptance.
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Jan Gaul
Wicked Mystic Tattooing and Art Studio
546 Penn Avenue, 2nd Floor, West Reading
610.373.5252
Jan Gaul is another local artist who approaches tattooing in a unique way. It was Jan’s passion for art that led him to tattooing at an early age. He started in 1988 when he was still in high school, but it was not until nearly 10 years later that he really gained an appreciation for the rich and long history of traditional tattooing. He had just finished his first tattoo at a new shop when another artist approached him and said, “Sit down, I’ll show you how to tattoo.” Jan explains that he had found a way that worked for him, but it wasn’t right. “You can’t change tradition in tattooing. People want to change the wheel, but it can end up not being done correctly.”
After that, Jan worked in many different shops, trying to learn something new at each stop along the way. “You’re only as good as the people around you,” he says. Over time, he developed a deep respect and passion for the craft of tattooing and finally decided to open his own shop.
True to (Art)Form
Six years later, Jan sold his first shop to pursue other art forms. He rented a studio in the GoggleWorks Center for the Arts, Reading, where he started painting and teaching art classes. He eventually returned to his roots at Sinner Soul Tattoo, but he couldn’t shake his love for painting and art. Clients and passersby would often find him sitting on the sidewalk in front of the shop with his easel.
Torn between tattooing and painting, Jan decided not to choose and married his two passions under one roof. In December of 2016 he opened Wicked Mystic in West Reading as a tattoo and art studio. “I can’t tell you how excited I am. I have been waiting for this,” Jan says of his new studio. The first floor currently houses Jan’s art gallery and tattoo shop, while the upstairs is being renovated to include additional work space and a teaching studio. He will be announcing his first classes in the fall, which will include 8- to 10-week courses with a focus on how to draw animals.
Painting a Brighter Future
Throughout the course of his career, Jan has infused his art skills into his tattooing and has developed a particular talent for fine line work. “I want it to be beautiful, or I want it to be wicked,” Jan says of his work. His style lends itself particularly well to portraiture, where he injects yet another of his passions: animals. But Jan does more than just tattoo and paint animals. Since 2002, he has hosted several events to raise money for the Animal Rescue League of Berks County and other local shelters. Specifically, he sells sketches and paintings to loving pet owners with all proceeds going to aid animals in need. “If I had money, I would give it to shelters, but I have art.”
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Jimmy Maria
Cross Keys Tattoo Studio
GoggleWorks Center for the Arts, studio 217, Reading
610.858.0893
Many tattoo artists eventually learn to love other forms of art as their careers progress. Jimmy Maria started the other way around. His path to tattooing started when he enrolled in Kutztown University’s art education program. “I was interested in a practical career in the arts world that would allow me to create work in my spare time,” Jimmy explains. “However, by my third year in the program, I realized how immersive and demanding a career in pedagogy would be and how little time I would have to create my own work.” Over the course of completing his education and working retail jobs, he decided he needed to find a field where he could make a decent living while creating art. His search led him to tattooing.
At the time, his experience with tattoos was limited to having a few himself. “I admittedly wasn’t particularly interested in the ‘culture’ of the tattoo industry, but I was interested in further exploring the potential it had as an art form,” he admits. Jimmy earned an apprenticeship at Lucky 13 Tattoos and Body Piercing in Kutztown and soon found a lot of similarities to one of his primary focuses in art – watercolor. Both operate in washes or layers of semi-transparent pigment, which makes them both very unforgiving — and exciting.
Creative License
After five years with Lucky 13, Jimmy made the decision to strike out on his own. While he was apprenticing, he maintained his painting discipline in a small studio in the GoggleWorks Center for the Arts. In November 2016, he moved into a larger studio there and opened the doors to Cross Keys Tattoo a month later. While the tattoo culture was initially a concern, he now has complete control over the customer experience in his shop. “Television shows like Ink Master, Black Ink, and others have successfully generated an unprecedented interest in the art form, but unfortunately they have also risked portraying all tattooists as dramatic, short-tempered and profane,” Jimmy explains. He wanted to counter that by providing a comfortable, wholesome experience for his clients. It seems to be working; many of his clients have remarked that they appreciate the atmosphere in his studio, not to mention the undivided attention that comes from a private, appointment-only shop.
Tattoos and Tours
Combining his painting and tattoo studios has allowed Jimmy to pursue an art career outside of tattooing. “When my clients come to visit my studio and see all of my paintings on the walls, they often assume that I bought them somewhere else and are excited to find out that their tattoo artist is also a ‘fine artist,’ whatever that means,” he laughs.
In fact, Jimmy started selling paintings before tattoos. While the majority of his inventory is on display at the GoggleWorks, he also has paintings traveling the country in various juried exhibitions. Currently, he has two paintings in the Springfield Missouri Museum of Art’s permanent collection and others traveling through exhibits in New York and New Orleans. “My paintings have traveled in more states than I have,” he jokes. With submissions to several exhibits each year, both of Jimmy’s artistic endeavors seem destined for success.
