Brian Everett Main
Brian Everett (New Mexico, USA)”Portraiture is the pursuit of capturing the soul,” he says. “It’s important that you catch that likeness, that sparkle.”
Beginnings
When he was twelve years old, young Brian was an apprentice to one of the great painters in the southwest, Karl Von Hassler. Affiliated with the exalted Taos Painters, Von Hassler was known as the Dean of Albuquerque Artists and was revered for his depictions of the New Mexican people and panoramas.
In the 1970s while he was attending the University of New Mexico that he opened one of the first tattoo studios in the city of Albuquerque, New Mexico. The popularity of the shop forced him to devote himself full-time to overseeing the business. Then when Jack Rudy told him to “treat your tattoo machine like it’s a pencil”, Brian says, “All of the sudden I realized that if I could do polished work with a pencil then, of course, I could do it with a tattoo machine. That’s when the chains fell off and I was free to develop my own style.”
Now he serves as president of the National Tattoo Association and stands at the apex of his career.
“The tattooing I’m doing now is probably as good as I’ve ever done,” he says, frankly. But Everett isn’t limited to portraiture. He produces a variety of images, and, despite his fame as a black-and-gray icon, he also works in color. His departures from portraiture include some recent forays into flora and fauna. Challenging the boundaries of realism, one of his panels features maple leaves delicately rendered in subtle, pale values found in nature. The effect is almost abstract. In another large, ribpiece, a peacock perches on a crooked branch beneath a cloudy night sky. Everett’s gift for detail creates an interplay of light and dark, with the cascading peacock tail rich in reflected moonlight.
Brian has never limited himself to black-and-gray. “Before I started to specialize in black-and-gray, I did color all the time. But once I started specializing, it was the order of the day.” Yet, never to be hemmed in, one of his latest color pieces is a favorite subject, a pinup girl, her ripe curves blossoming out from under a citrus-striped miniskirt.
He has the luxury of being choosy about his clientele. Everett has high standards for prospective clients. “I’m just taking the cream off the top,” he says. “My clients are educated about what they want. They understand what I do, and they’re as dedicated as I am to the work I’m doing on them.”
Everett’s scrupulous devotion to tattooing goes beyond the artwork itself. He’s applied his energy and talents to every aspect of tattoo, from technique to mechanics. For Everett, an understanding of the tattoo machine itself is integral to achieving quality ink work. “Tattooing is a medium that has a whole tech end,” he says. “You have to know that end of the business in order to be a good tattoo artist.”
Tattoo machines haven’t changed much since they were first patented in 1891, but their manufacture has. Today, most machines are fabricated with CNC robotics-where specs are fed into a machine and a robot arm cuts the perfect shape every time. It’s an efficient process, but notably lacking in artisanship. Not content with conformity, Everett started making his own equipment, the old-fashioned way.
“I believe that the tools you use should be built from scratch,” he says, and his line of machines reflect that gospel. Everett uses the lost wax process to come up with the initial machine and then has the parts die-cast at a shop a short distance from his studio. Everett does the final grinding and fine-tuning by hand. “I want to build these machines the old-school way, like in the ’40s,” he affirms.
He cites Paul Rogers, a mentor to many in Everett’s generation of tattoo artists, as his inspiration in design. “I’ve always used Paul Rogers irons. To me he was the guru of building tattoo machines. I’ve probably incorporated a lot of his philosophy in building mine.” His machines come in several styles: the Mariposa (butterfly), La Avispa Loca (the crazy wasp) and La Tinta Pica (the ink that stings). Consequently, in mechanics and form, the machines are a reflection of Everett’s ideology. “I like the idea of handmade craftsmanship,” he explains. “I want each one to be like a piece of jewelry.”
In 1996 Everett got involved with the conventions when Terry “Tramp” Welker approached him. Tramp saw an opportunity to fuel the shows with some star power and to create a convention that served the best interests of the artists, while Everett saw an opportunity to use his reputation to promote tattooing as a serious art form. He credits Tramp with doing most of the hard work and the organizing, while Everett lends his cred to attracting top-flight artists. “Once you have a certain degree of notoriety, people repeat what you say. I took advantage of that, using it as a tool to promote the right artists,” says Brian.The artists that are going to legitimately push tattooing in the right direction. “It’s an opportunity to keep your thumb on the pulse of what’s going on in tattooing now, today. What we wanted to do was present tattooing-where it is going, not where it’s been. Tattoo is an evolution of new artists, all pushing the envelope further.”
“Tattoo’s my whole life,” he says. “I’m not ever going to be out of the tattoo world. As long as my quality of work doesn’t decline, I’ll continue to tattoo and promote tattooing in its best light. I’ll do until the day that I die.”
Career
Route 66 Fine Line Tattoo
5511 Central NE
Albuquerque, New Mexico 87108
(505) 255-3784
Style
Refined photo-realistic skin art
Brian Everett in Popular Culture
A master black-and-gray artist, Everett—along with Goodtime Charlie Cartwright, Jack Rudy and Freddy Negrete—gave wheels to the single-needle art movement
Business Ventures
Brian is working with landscapes again, albeit with pastels instead of temperas. A consummate builder, Brian prefers pastels because of their capacity to build up color and texture. One of his favorite subjects is the Ghost Ranch, once the home and inspiration of legendary artist Georgia O’Keeffe. This and little, remote New Mexico towns, with their dust-blanched houses and steep mountain vistas, significantly figure into Brian’s artwork. Landscapes are a distinct pleasure for Everett, offering a total change of pace from his tattoo work. “Landscapes offer more freedom than portraiture,” he says. “Portraiture is unforgiving. In landscaping, God has already done the work for you. All you have to do is render the beauty.”
He’s looking forward to opening his own gallery to display his pastels. Like all of his other undertakings, it’s a project that he’s working on from the ground up-from design to construction to operation. He looks at building the gallery as “another chance to create.” Not your typical art space, the site will also serve as a bed and breakfast, and, on occasion, a vacation spot where he can host his friends.
Brian also travels around the country, hitting the car shows. In 1996, Everett, along with Jack Rudy, co-founded the Beatniks Car Club, a small society of heavily tattooed artists devoted to tricked-out vintage rides.
Honors
Chicago’s Best Portrait, Tattoo Rendezvous Best Cover Up, Living Art Association Most Realistic, Old San Juan Tattoo Extravaganza Best Portrait, Mad Hatter’s Tea Party Award for Merit, National Tattoo Association?Artist Choice Award, just to list a handful.
Comments
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I have great respect for this tattoo artist. Not only is he talented in his art but he knows and creates his tattoo machines as well.
Very talented tattoo artist. Cant wait to see the bed and breakfast which will also display his work, should be very interesting.