Scarred for life

Whether it’s a well- thought out plan or done on a whim, one thing’s for sure: it stays forever. The decision to have oneself tattooed — or “inked” — is major. One can end up getting addicted to the process while some, inevitably, regret their alcohol-induced choices. More often than not, we see the former: legions of tattooed individuals yearning to improve their existing tats or thinking of what and where to get their next one.

Reality television has covered everything — we’re all, in one way or another, hooked on a certain kind — and topics we thought would not interest us actually do. Case in point: watching people get tattoos. It sounds gruesome and repetitive, but each walk in has a different story to tell and a specific design he or she would like to get rendered. This is where the human’s innate curiosity kicks in: We all want to know what happens next.

Ami James got us hooked with his brand of  reality TV by offering a peek into the intimidating process of getting a tattoo in Miami Ink, a show that debuted six years ago.

We got a taste of this with Miami Ink, the successful show launched in 2005, which helped us realize that making a tattoo is artwork indeed. A tattoo artist has to interpret the design demands of a client and the work itself requires a combination of steady hands, technical ability, and a knack for color. Thanks to the show, we know one notorious name in the tattoo world: Ami James.

On The Radar spoke to James about the art of tattoos, the move from sunny Miami to cosmopolitan New York, and what we can expect from tattoo-laden reality TV.

ON THE RADAR: How did the fascination with tattoos start?

AMI JAMES: My first glimpse of my tattoo career came when I was 18 in Israel. I was getting tattooed, and one of my friends that was tattooing me, left me in a room with the tattoo equipment, and he was in the middle of tattooing me. So, I just kind of tried to finish my tattoo while he was taking a break. That was my first glimpse of tattooing. And then, that just evolved to art my whole life.

Do you study tribal tattoos of other ethnicities or draw inspiration from your childhood in Israel and Egypt?

The variety of people he meets in New York ranges “from the heroes to people that have stumbled onto something hard and have managed to put that behind them with a commemorative tattoo.”

I think these days I’m so Americanized already. I’ve lived here for the majority of my life now. I think it’s definitely influenced me in the way I am and maybe that’s the way I approach things and especially when it comes to my business. I can’t take the Israeli out of me, so it’s definitely going to probably leak down to everything that I do.

Do you think the culture of each city from Miami to New York influences the kind of tattoos the people go for as well as the situations that they face?

I think what you guys are going to see in NY Ink is that the tattoos have changed a bit. There are different styles of tattooing right now that are a little more hip, and it’s kind of what’s in style at the time.

You do get a different flavor from New York’s greatest characters: From the heroes to people that have stumbled onto something hard and have managed to put that behind them with a commemorative tattoo. So, I think the show is definitely different than Miami. It’s a lot faster paced, if you ask me.

Also, lucky for us, we have this beautiful shop in the middle of SoHo, which is in the heart of the art district of New York City, the oldest art district. So, to be a part of it is just very, very New York.

Are there special tattoos that you’ve done that you still remember?

Oh, yes. I remember this one guy that came to the shop, and I really took a liking to him. He was a paraplegic, and he had an accident on a snowmobile. He ended up coming in for his last session because it was a big tattoo. It was a three-quarter sleeve almost of a Koi Fish turning into a Dragon because of his battle. After I finished that tattoo, I spent 10-15 hours talking to this guy. He died about a few months after the show, and it really crushed me. It was just sad.

Apart from the different personalities that drop by his SoHo shop, James suggests we look out for the a hipper, unique aesthetic that dominates the design side of NY Ink.

Has anybody ever gotten a tattoo at any of your shops just to appear on the show?

Well, I’m sure there is a draw for people to be on the show if they’re telling a certain story. I think most of all, it doesn’t really work like that because the people that call, they usually want to get tattooed at the shop by one of the artists. And most of the time, the only time we are tattooing is when we’re shooting because the time that we’re not shooting, we like to be on vacation.

If you could pick anybody in the world, whom would you want to tattoo and what design would you give them?

I’d like to probably take all the people that are responsible for our economy crashing for so long and so many people being in the wrong places on the planet, and tattoo, “Losers” on them somewhere where everybody can see it. I think that would probably be my top choice.

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NY Ink premieres every Sunday on TLC at 11 p.m. beginning today.