The art of the artist
By Rob • May 31st, 2011 • Category: ModBlogNick Bertioli is a tattoo artist. He works out of Timeless Tattoo in Los Angeles, as well as Art Corpus and Eurotribal in Paris. What’s interesting about Nick is that he never had an apprenticeship, and has never taken any art classes. He was just a lover of Renaissance art and one day picked up a tattoo machine. That was 4 years ago. Since then Nick has been seen on ModBlog, and has been tattooing all over the world. One of his more recent pieces is this memorial portrait that he did while working at Art Corpus.
Recently Nick has branched out into painting, and sent in a photo of his very first oil painting.
For someone with no formal training, I’d say Nick is doing pretty fantastic just off his natural ability, and I can’t wait to see what he sends in next.
Rob is the news guy for Modblog. He's also Canadian. And has a beard.
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so… scratches are only the people with no formal training in tattooing ad create crap tattoos… okay.. got it!
wow! this painting is fucking sick!!!!
timeless is a great place.Nick is a really nice guy. i just got something done there by James Spooner, who is doing an all vegan procedure among other things and was the creator of a documentary i really liked called Afro Punk
No apprenticeship, no art classes = tattooist ? purely because he has some element of skill ?
Making them a reason to look at his work - is this natural tattoo ability then to be encouraged in others ?
He’s open on his Myspace about his lack of training, so enabling someone to decide to choose him or not based on his work…
But to promote this Rob, with no further comment on this either not being the norm amongst tattooists, or not to be encouraged, then it’s being endorsed right ?
Wow that painting is amazing.
I wouldn’t care if a tattooist was tattooing out of his living room as long as it was clean and his equipment was sterile. The work speaks for itself. I’m definitely not a fan of all these LA Ink-type tattooists who glitz their shops with neon signage everywhere and posters of trendy looking people on the walls. Fuck that. Low key all the way!
@Emily & Daisy: I think it’s safe to say Nick isn’t a scratcher, plus he works out of well established shops and not his basement. Regardless of his training background, he’s good at what he does. I made note of his lack of training because he’s the very rare exception to the rule.
That painting is amazing, especially for someone who’s never used the medium before.
Something about the tattoo is bothering me… There’s something about the face that isn’t right, but I can’t put my finger on it. I wish I could see the photo he was looking at.
There’s a confusion of issues here. This untrained tattooist’s work is being covered by an established studio ( thanks Rob, you’ve just given me an even better point ;o) ) and all the licenses and insurances they hold.
My tattooist (45+ hours by him) is well known for his style of work. He’d like to go low key and work from home, other peoples homes, but he can’t and won’t.
How long do you think a well respected tattooist would be able to avoid the interest of the local council and health and safety departments, if he wasn’t working within a studio ?
And what if Nick wasn’t working within a studio ?
Thus, unless a tattooist is legit (no need to mention skill here), what other name is there…. ?
Don’t we want to encourage the legitimacy and care most tattooists have pride in showing they offer, and indeed in certain US states they fight for more legitimacy (I’m from the UK).
@Jon P - would you really go to someone you’d heard did good tattoo’s from his living room, or would there have to be other assurances before you’d be happy.
i really do appreciate Rob’s ecouragment thank you and thank you all for the constructive criticism.The fingers are pointed to the fact that i didnt follow an apprenticeship/formal training in tattooing.i dont think im an exeption to the norm and i totattlly agree with you guys regarding safety and health regulations.Because i was getting tattooed by well known/established tattoo artists before i started tattooing,i was already very familiar with all the precautions that we have to take,note that i did a blood-borne pathogens training as well.All this regulations are different from state to state and country to country.I’ve been working professionally in established tattoo shops since 2009.my goal is to work with tattoo artists not against them if that makes sens.
Nick has done over 20 of my tattoos. I did reseach all over L.A., Hollywood, and various tattoo expos, fo many months befoe I decided to choose Nick as my artist. Ever since my first tattoo I recieved from him, I’ve recieved genuine praise from MANY other well-established artists in the industry, as well as people on the street in general. Alan Padilla, Big Gus, Boog Brown, Jose Lopez, Chuey Quintinar, and Nikko Hurtado’s are only a few of the artist who have seen my work in person, and mentioned how impressed they were with the work. I’ll take their word, and my own opinion, ove someone on the internet that is more worried about what kind of rubber gloves Nick is using, rather than the fact that he is a BAD ASS tattooist. Keep grinding Nick. F*ck the haters.