5/1/2023 0 Comments Skin deep tattoo shopOne of her contributions to “Thaw” is the Goth-inspired oil painting “Star Stuff,” an image, in part, of a skull whose eye sockets are filled with glittering celestial colors and light. “We paint on skin - my needles are basically my brushes.” “My goal is to integrate more of the fine arts into my tattooing, to look at things like contrast, light, and perspective,” Laabs said. She later took up oil painting and block printing, and though she didn’t earn a college degree in art, she’s continued over the years to take art workshops and to study on her own. The tattoo artist, who’s originally from Arizona, says she’s been drawing “ever since I was old enough to hold a pencil.” It’s the kind of show Off the Map likes to stage on a periodic basis, shop owner Gabriel Ripley says, both to give staff a chance to display their “outside” art and to remind customers and the public that tattoo artists are just that: artists.Ī fine arts background of some sort, says Ripley, “is pretty important in this kind of work.” If the shop isn’t necessarily looking for people with art degrees, he notes, “we like to see some kind of equivalency.”Ĭonsider Nicole Laabs, who organized the new exhibit and has contributed work to it. Thematically, it’s work that’s been inspired by winter, with a little hint of early spring thrown in for good measure. “Thaw,” which is on display at Off The Map through early April, offers a range of paintings, prints, drawings and other work by the parlor’s resident artists and support staff. When they aren’t crafting designs on someone’s skin, they’re often working on paper or canvas with a paintbrush, pencil, or pen and ink. Image courtesy of Off the Map Tattooįew acts are more intimate than tattooing an image on someone else’s skin, but it’s often an act that’s done in private - in a tattoo parlor.Ī new exhibit at Easthampton’s Off the Map Tattoo aims to introduce the public to the artists behind the scenes, many of whom bring considerable training to their work. ”a “I Felt a Funeral in My Brain,” pen and ink drawing by Natalie Kassirer. Nicole Laabs hangs illustrations by Natalie Kassirer of Amherst for “Thaw,” an exhibit by resident artists and staff at Off the Map Tattoo in Easthampton. At left is “Steambreather” and at right "I Felt a Funeral in My Brain.” GAZETTE STAFF/JERREY ROBERTSĪ tattoo designed by Nicole Laabs, a resident artist at Off the Map Tattoo in Easthampton who’s organized a show at the shop of paintings, drawing and other work by staff. Nicole Laabs hangs “Alfred’s Last Evening,” a fabric work by Jo O'Lone-Hahn of Northampton, for "Thaw," an exhibit of art by resident artists and staff from Off the Map Tattoo in Easthampton. Off the Map Tattoo shop in located in downtown Easthampton in the old Majestic Theater building. “Star Stuff,” oil painting by Nicole Laabs. Laabs has organized a show of work by the shop’s tattoo artists. Nicole Laabs, of Holyoke, creates a rose tattoo on the thigh of Kate Churco, of Southampton, at Off the Map Tattoo in Easthampton. “Untimely Beginning,” oil painting by Maximilian Rothert.
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