Today we’d like to introduce you to Kirk Nilsen.
Hi Kirk, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I started tattooing in the mid/early 2000’s with a hands-on apprenticeship in New Jersey, under a well-established traditional NJ tattoo artist, who was mentored back in the 60s/70s in San Francisco, CA under the highly regarded Henry Goldfield tattoo. Being an artist since a young child, I had some tattoo artist friends in Houston, Texas admire my art and suggest tattooing as a career. After speaking to some of my other tattoo artist friends (Kris Fisk, RIP) and piercer friends back home in Jersey, they gave me the advice on designing multiple sheets of tattoo flash (the old sheets of designs that used to adorn the walls of tattoo shops, when tattooing was still about tattooing and less of a commodity) After going around to several shops and finally finding one that seemed decent, I began learning the trade. After a few years, some conventions and guest spots. I decided I wanted to open my own shop due to my personal desire to be able to focus more on the art, the design, and my craft in general. I no longer wanted to be a guy who just tattoos random clip art images (now, AI images). I wanted to really showcase my artistic abilities, and finally tattoo for the reason I got into tattooing – to pursue a creative endeavor.
After years of focusing one on one, one client per day, drawing, designing, researching and perfecting my art and my skills, traveling the world to tattoo with the most renowned artists of our modern age, at the most renowned studios, top tier conventions I have arrived at where I am today. Internationally recognized and published in books that are available in Barnes and Noble, interviews on live television, magazines and press such as medium, USA Today, Asbury Park Press, etc. and being broadcast on Paramount Network tattoo documentaries among others. My career has brought me across the world tattooing and visiting cities such as Amsterdam, Berlin, Hamburg, Copenhagen, Venice, Milan, Lisbon, Dublin, Paris, London, Los Angeles, Miami, Austin, San Francisco, etc. etc.
I am very thankful for everyone who has helped me along the way, and all of the clients who have allowed me to create unique works of art on them over the years, it has been a very long road.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The challenges have been quite immense in scale and tumultuous in essence. Many things I have never thought would have been part of a seemingly insignificant career in art, but occurred nonetheless, and landed myself unexpectedly in situations such as gang fights, knives being pulled, shops not being able to compete in art so they resorted to slander, going so far as to print stickers and leave them around town trying to defame me, blacklisting me from working or hiring artists simply because I opened my own business without requesting “permission” from whoever the artist was that felt more entitled to have a tattoo shop nearby. These shops and artists sent people after my clients, after me, after my wife, had mass negative spam reviews left on all of our pages, calling the health department on us daily, the list goes on. It was actually an absolutely insane and absurd time that lasted quite a lengthy amount of time. There was a concerted effort from an entire community of local tattooers on an enraged mission of insecurity to shut me down any way possible – legally or physically – because they felt no one should have a tattoo shop in the region, except for them and their friends. After many years of this with fights, ominous threats, etc, where even the local authorities told me to “close your business and leave town”, I endured. I continued on, unperturbed, and succeeded far beyond anyone’s wildest dreams. I was able to climb to the very top of the industry to where all those who tried to erase me had to come to terms with their own shortcomings and respect the work I put in, and the positive changes I helped proliferate industry wide.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am an artist, musician and tattoo artist. I specialize in medieval, etching / engraving, gothic / baroque ornamental style of art. What sets me apart is two things – first, my originality. Many tattooers are trying to emulate the same style, copying others work, with little artistic vision in an attempt to be the next so and so. The second thing that sets me apart is my refusal to utilize AI to design tattoos. Too many tattooers are on autopilot these days, mass printing AI slop churned out by chat GPT with little to no ethics or care for the client. Simply a side hustle to generate revenue fast and efficient, with little regard for outcome. I offer a different bespoke approach. Human made, human designed, something that is hard to find in todays world. Many will scoff at such an idea, as suggestive of me being some sort of barbaric brute, stuck in his old ways and refusing to conform and adapt to modern society. My work is not for them, and I care little for the opinions of such modernist ideologues. My work is for those who understand and see the value in humanity, originality, and personal touch. At one point, everyone thought quartz watches, powered by batteries and circuit boards would be the end of mechanical, handmade watches. This could be further from the truth; instead, it propelled the value of handmade, original, bespoke mechanical watches to an almost absurd degree. This is what will happen with all forms of art, and I welcome the challenge of competing against technological “advancement”. Afterall, I have already stood alone against many, including gangs, who wished to destroy me, my business and my life; so I am wholly unconcerned with standing against the masses of inept weekend artists who are deteriorating their own intellectual capacity through incessant daily usage of a detached, external brain – AI.
Before we let you go, we’ve got to ask if you have any advice for those who are just starting out?
I would advise you contemplate your reasoning for wanting to become a tattoo artist. Is it to become popular on social media? Is it to generate fast money? Is it because you aspire to have the title of artist bestowed upon you, or do you actually want to create art? Are you creative, or do you want to rebel, and do something cool before you head into your real career, for which you have recently acquired a degree? If you are not in this for any other reason other than being an artist, and creating because you are a creative, and skilled in creative endeavors, I would suggest you do something more viable, lucrative and necessary in todays world. The world does not need more people printing out AI designs, it needs more doctors, electricians, pilots, and people who care for their craft.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.kirknilsen.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kirknilsentattoos
