What do you do?
I run a vintage stall called Clash Dolly on Brick Lane Market, I also do freelance styling.
Eyes on the prizeMermaid
What got you into tattoos and what was your first tattoo?
I looked at heavily tattooed people and really liked what I saw. I always knew I wanted a big tattoo, but just wasn’t sure what I wanted and wasn’t brave enough. So to start with I got some little tattoos, which have now been covered over, thank god. My first big piece was the mermaid on my back.
What inspires you?
Street art and street style, I love clashing different cultures and styles, I think this inspiration comes from growing up in London. I love mixing Indian style clothes and accessories with ’90s street style.
In terms of tattoo inspiration I liked the war-time pictures in my Nan’s house and images of ladies, haha, I like women.
Who would you like to get tattooed by? Saira Hunjan, I love her Indian style.
Love Doll
Have you got anything else planned?
I think I want a different style from my other tattoos, maybe some henna-style tattoos on my legs and feet. I love clashing different styles in clothing and this carries through to my tattoo style too. I really like dot work, e.g. Xed LeHead.
Do you have a favourite tattoo?
I love my mermaid, it’s by Silvia Zed. She does amazing portraits, she works at Lal Hardy‘s shop, New Wave Tattoo.
Do your tattoos have meanings?
They do to me, but it’s hard to explain them in words, I like to keep things to myself. People don’t always get it and it’s nice little feeling for me, I’ll let other people take what they want from them.
Former POP editor Dasha Zhukova‘s new art and fashion bible, Garage magazine, is set to launch next week. It has already caused controversy over one of the cover images, in which a butterfly is placed provocatively over a lady’s, urm, parts. Zhukova approached several contemporary artists with the brief to design a tattoo, which would then be inked onto a ‘living canvas’.
23-year-old Shauna Taylor agreed to get a butterfly tattoo, from artist Damien Hirst, on her crotch for the feature. Tattoo artist Mo Coppoletta (The Family Business, London) was picked by Hirst himself to ink the green-and-black tattoo. The tattoo took two sessions to complete.
The black-and-white image which appears on the cover of the magazine has a butterfly sticker hiding the tattoo and reads ‘peel slowly and see.’ Inside the magazine is an innovative photo-feature titled: Inked. The subject matter has been making headlines and is considered to be somewhat controversial, it has even been banned from the shelves of UK newsagent WHSmith.
Famous artists including Jeff Koons, Jake and Dinos Chapman, John Baldessari and Paul McCarthy also feature in this project. The spread features a number of ‘willing canvases’, an assortment of men and women and raises questions about the permanency of contemporary art. ‘What are they worth? Something more than the skin on their backs?’ asks Garage’s Becky Poostchi.
The feature, despite causing some controversy, highlights the growing status of tattoos as art objects, finally people are beginning to see that tattoos themselves can be art. Some of the sketches for the tattoos are now the property of the Gagosian Gallery, only proving their status as valuable works of art.
Richard Prince’s signature smiley face was tattooed on Conrad Lochner, a 31-year-old from New York
Name: Ami Volkert, Clash Dolly, London
Who would you like to get tattooed by?
Have you got anything else planned?
Take a look at Ami’s website: www.clashdolly.com
