Pirates of the Carribean-The Black Pearl Crew

W 670mm x H 860mm x D 20mm

Artist's Name: Mik Massingham - www.srtstudios.com
Born 1966

I was born in Victoria in 1966 and have been drawing since I could hold a pencil. My father was an artist, albeit as strictly hobbyist, and it was natural that I started to emulate him from an early age. Although I had raw talent, I did not begin to truly discover my path as an artist until I began to take classes in the mid 1990's. Prior to this I had served in the Royal Australian Regiment as an infantry soldier, worked as a race horse handler at Rose Hill Gardens in Sydney and worked as a Crowd Controller in many venues in and around Adelaide South Australia.

It was a this time that time were I decided to follow my dream of becoming a professional artist and realized that to do this I would need to learn the traditional principles of drawing and painting. I found a portrait artist who took informal classes at her home by the name of Cynthia Dowler. She is a lovely lady and an artist of high caliber and she made me feel at home in her classes and opened my eyes to view my true potential. Until this time I had been what is termed a “naïve artist”, in other words someone without any education in the arts, so Cynthia’s input helped to get me pointed in the right direction.  A few years later I decided to begin a formal education in Visual Arts, this was due to my ex-wife and still one of my best friends, Cobi Garrett, a truly inspirational lady who pushed me to achieve beyond what I thought I was capable of.  After going to an open day at The Adelaide Central School of Art in Norwood Adelaide, I enrolled and began a three year formal education as a Visual Artist.

My intention was to finish the Bachelor of Visual Arts but in my third year I was offered the opportunity to begin work as an apprentice in a tattoo studio that had been opened by two friends of mine. I agreed to come on as a part timer but twelve months later realized the potential for the business and was given the opportunity to buy it. This was an opportunity that was too good to resist so with very little behind me I took the plunge and haven’t looked back since.

Today, I have turned an unknown tattoo studio into one of this countries best. I have incorporated a working art studio as well as an art gallery which is fairly unique inside the tattooing industry. I have trained all of my staff, who are artists within their own right, personally rather than seek tattooists from within the industry. It has taken a lot of time and sacrifice to do this but I now have a group of young tattooists who can hold their own against anyone in the industry and are a constant source of pride to me. I encourage them not only to produce great tattoos, but to create and exhibit their work in our gallery and in any other exhibitions that they can.

For myself, I have truly begun to hit my stride as an artist, tattooist and as a businessman. I am predominantly a Tonal Realist but I delve into Fantasy Art Illustration, Post Modernism and Bio-Mechanical Art. I base nearly all of my art in realism and tend to use it as a tool, not a rule, so my work can be quite diverse. In February 2008 was invited to exhibit in an art exhibition for the Adelaide Arts Festival at The Nexus Multicultural Arts Centre and was pleasantly surprised to find that my work “Living Art # 1” had been chosen to be on the cover of the local arts magazine “The Adelaide Review” for their Festival edition. Other exhibitions that I have been involved in are the PTAA Professional Tattooists Association’s” National Tattoo Convention 2005, were I organized an Art Exhibition and Art Prize. This was a first for Australian tattooing and was very well received. I recently helped organize another first, a industry only Tattoo Seminar in which I gave a lecture on painting and drawing techniques as well as the use of I.T in the modern tattoo studio.

I am constantly looking for new challenges and was to improve my chosen field by utilizing ancient and modern techniques and technology. I strongly believe that by striving to achieve this will eventually see a once frowned upon industry reach a truly professional level and gain acceptance from both the tattooed community and the broader population.

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