My Dear Friends of Inked My family’s from new york but they all moved to florida so they like they’re weird they have like a cold sack of just themselves so everyone just is on the block so that’s how i moved to florida i got into too much trouble out here and um they [__] me out there so i’m superman tattoos i’m from new.
Jersey connected by inc connected by kids it’s not just tattoo shop is a vibe it’s not just shop it’s a way of life i grew up everywhere um i’m born in the bronx i moved to new jersey my mom when they split up after i moved to manhattan uh i lived.
With my mother my sister my cousin his sister his other sister his father his mother and two other people from church in a three-bedroom apartment in manhattan and then we moved to jersey and then from jersey.
Uh i went everywhere i was a little delinquent kid so i always got into fights and like i was reckless so i went from like jersey to queens to yonkers to florida i went to um i went everywhere but i came back to jersey jersey is like my home now my mom set me up for a lot of [__].
So my mom uh i got my first tongue piercing at this store around the corner and then i was like yo i want to get a tattoo so she was like all right you go get it here i know a guy and this is actually in queens and she was like oh yeah this guy he does tattoos i was like word i could.
Get one i think it was 16. and i got a puerto rican and dominican flag that it has a shamrock in the middle and there was a line missing and it says my government and it said the one and only on my shoulder which is covered now all right we have to unpack that even more.
All right so puerto rican puerto rican dominican american yes irish no there is no irish it’s just there’s in the middle of the dominican flag there’s a little sign like it’s like a crest and instead of the guy doing the crest uh he it.
Looked like a shamrock it happens my tattoos became a thing like once it started going like past my neck i started tattooing at 20. um they were like i had a couple tattoos that i have a lot and i got my grandparents face i got it done by cess and he was like um you sure.
You want to do this this is going to change your life forever i was like i mean if you don’t if you’re not dedicated then you don’t mean nothing to yourself so at that point i went from a person with tattoos to a tattooed person and from there it just went everywhere you could be.
The complete devil and be in a suit in an armani suit and they would love you and you can look like a bum and be the sweetest person and they’ll hate you so the perception of someone is their own perception if you don’t have enough inside you or if you don’t have enough.
Time to even dissect a person then that’s your fault not my fault i think tattoos are uh what’s happening at the moment i feel like every time you hit a stage in your life or there’s something that means something to you uh you know you want to mark yourself.
Because your memories last for so long but like when you can show like look i got this when this happened and this is when this happened i in my interpretation like that’s my formal art like i every tattoo i’ve i’ve gotten is when i pass something that i i did i got never.
Give up after i i got stabbed i got um trust no one when i got shot i got uh i got my war paint when i was fighting for my son the mother of my son chose to like try to keep me away even though i have custody of my daughter but she still try to like fight that.
Whole situation so um from the day that he was born i i thought about it like i you know i’m i’m like my my culture is from like taino indians and native americans and all that so it was just something i always was into before battle they always said that you know.
Native americans would put war paint on their face and i was like for the rest of my life i’m gonna wake up and i was gonna be like i’m ready for war as a tattooist as of a man i go into every situation with the lower hand so regardless of what it was i went in there and i was like you know.
What i’m not doing it for them they’re going to judge me regardless like at the end of the day everyone has their own opinion so in their opinion i’m already in the bottom of the book so as long as it’s for me and i wake up and i look in the mirror and i’m like damn i’m about to go into a whole day of.
Stress of aggravation of all this and i’m ready and i’m putting my paint on my face so that’s it was more for me is like you know i went through everything and i got to where i’m at alone so it’s my pain it like really dawned on me like you know like.
I wake up every day to a struggle whatever my day consists of shouldn’t affect how i go throughout the day so like if i can stay positive no matter what’s going on then i can be successful and there’s someone that’s gonna be there and be like yo i like that guy i’m gonna i’m gonna win.
Someone over anytime you put me in a room no matter who’s there i’m gonna take over that room you start your day off knowing you have to do something if your environment your energy your mind state is all in a positive way then you can go through anything and.
Everything is going to add to it like like not for nothing but my my most stressful days i actually do the better work i don’t know why but i guess because you focus more but i’d rather just be in a whole positive standing throughout the whole process.
no i think everything’s on me for a reason i wish they were done differently uh i didn’t you know there’s a different form of art back when in like the 90s like from like 1999 to like where we are right now art has been.
Drastically changed so the way they used to do things before and the way they do things now i mean i prefer the art style now because it’s more like wow that’s amazing it’s about having the connection i think anyone could tattoo like in all aspects art is art so like it’s been.
Over years that they start to critique it because there’s people with finer art but there’s people like uh that make art that you don’t even understand abstract art is actually a thing so if they i mean there’s ways to do tattoos that is improper and proper.
But a art piece is an art piece at that moment that person made a piece of art and for them that’s their art so you can’t actually judge someone we’ve made it into a point where we have to judge people but in all aspects when you go to a museum.
There’s pieces you don’t like there’s pieces you do like they’re different artists but it’s still a form of their expression except there’s an expression that you wear forever yes yes it’s a good spirit it’s an experience.
So like it’s something that’s going to last forever like i’d rather i’d rather get a name and have a wonderful experience than get a huge tattoo that looks amazing and i’m like i hate this [__] guy i think i went into my first tattoo like oh my god i’m.
Getting a tattoo i just want to do it so now like oh you know it’s more of an experience there’s millions of amazing artists millions there’s so many there’s like there’s even people that don’t even know they’re about to be that next person but it’s not just about a permanent experience for that one moment it’s.
About the whole picture like it’s you from the you’re first greeting someone to like the vibe their their interaction their it’s a whole thing because there’s there’s some complete [__] in this industry and there’s some complete gems so my.
Whole thing is it’s more of a whole experience i want to give you an experience if you can go out of there and say damn that’s an awesome person that was an awesome place that was an awesome experience i gotta go there again you.
While he isn’t from the planet of Krypton like the (slightly) more famous Superman, Superman Tattoos has lived quite an amazing life. We spoke with Superman about his upbringing, his hilarious first tattoo and the way he draws strength from his ink.
Welcome to Heavily Inked. In our newest series, we’re going to speak one-on-one with tattoo collectors and artists about what it means to be a heavily inked person. We’ll get deep as we go through the motivations behind their tattoo choices, the way they’ve been treated in society and much more.
Superman: https://www.instagram.com/superman_tattoos/
Connected by Kickz: https://www.instagram.com/connectedbykickz/
Connected by Ink: https://www.instagram.com/connectedbyink/
WEBSITE: http://www.inkedmag.com/
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/inkedmag
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/inkedmag
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/inkedmag/