Left A Mark

Left A Mark

There was a time in New York City when, if you wanted to get inked, you had to know a guy.

Tattooing was banned by the city's Health Department in 1961. The ban lasted until 1997.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/04/obituaries/thom-devita-85-dies-revolutionized-the-art-of-tattooing.html

If a customer asked for a simple black panther, Thom DeVita might add bright red scratch marks around the claws, or embellish an image of a rose with dark radiating spider webs. His tattoos were bold, stylishly crude, abstract. They are often replicated by tattoo artists today.

When asked in a 2012 documentary if it was his designs that drew his customers in, he was blunt.

“No,” he said, “I was known for $30 tattoos. I was doing blue-collar workers, and guys who didn’t work.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_l1mqYQuNf8


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