and opened the shop out here, you talked to me about working there. And then, later on, when you moved to L.A. Stop fucking partying and make art.’ And I was too young and stupid to realise you were giving me really good advice. And you were like, ‘What are you going to go do?’ I’m like, ‘I’m going to go fucking party, dude! I’m going to go into the city,’ and you’re like, ‘Dude, don’t. I finished up tattooing, and you were working on art in the back. So, back in the day, when I used to come to New York and guest spot at Saved, I remember one night I was working late and it was just you and me, and we barely knew each other. There were two profound moments with you, and speaking to me about drugs, that helped me get through it. And the only reason I feel comfortable even asking you about it is because I know you’ve reconciled your relationship with drugs. I know you well enough now to know that drugs aren’t really a part of your daily life anymore. Every person you’ve ever looked up to was a complete drug addict. Yeah, I think they’re amazing, but there’s this romantic thing about them. Okay, so it sounds like drugs were a big fork in the road as well? I kind of finagled my way through by making art.Īs a fellow dropout, having a diploma is really critical to get into tattooing. So, I did that and graduated high school. As long as I showed up for ten minutes, I could leave the murals just had to be done by the end of the year.
My teacher said if I painted murals in the classroom, she would give me credit.
And then I ended up doing the work at the continuation school. I was asked to paint a mural at the junior high, and then I was the high school comic book artist in the newspaper… I actually graduated high school because of making art. And then, in junior high and high school (I was) getting noticed for making art, and realised I could have a career with it. I started doing drugs, he continued being a good person. I hurt my ankle when I was a teenager and started getting really into smoking pot and stuff like that, getting into trouble, and our friendship kind of fell apart. I was going to say, that’s a small family for Mormons. I stayed friends with him forever, until… They were Mormons… So, when I was like five, I watched this guy drawing graphics for a company and I was like, that’s what I want to do. And at the time, his brother was an artist for Billabong.
Jibber jabber talk back watch how to#
And he taught me how to surf, skate, and draw. Steve was my age, everybody else was older, but he ripped it skating, he could play fucking Jimi Hendrix, drew amazing waves, he was awesome. And I was like, ‘Hey, I saw you building a mini ramp the other day,’ and he’s like, ‘Oh, dude, come on over.’ So, we were instantly best friends.
And then, the next week was first grade and I sat down next to one of them. I saw these blond-haired brothers building a mini ramp. We moved to a new house, and I was hiking around in the neighbourhood. Top three? Meeting the Hennings family when I was a kid. Top three formative childhood experiences? Kostechko? And when you go to the DMV, you say?Īfter my uncle who died on the way to the bathroom one Christmas. I was told that the English way is Kostechko. First question: How the fuck do you say your last name? We had to cut 30,000 words of tattoo shop prattle to make room for the pertinent stuff about Nathan Kostechko, the artist and subject of this interview. And that’s what we have here-or had here. It’s fun, a bit bitchy, and everyone throws their two cents. If you’ve ever gone to get a tattoo (you’re a special person if you haven’t), you’ll be familiar with tattoo shop chitchat. You get a couple hours’ worth of tattoo shop libber-jabber. Interview by Scott Campbell, photos by Andrew Peters What happens when you put two tattoo artists in the same room and press record on a Dictaphone?
0 kommentar(er)
