Paradox of Communication

May 4, 2019 By Thomas Hooper in tattoo portfolio, Tattooing. Tags: Art, dot work tattoo, dotwork, Hexagon, hooper, mandala, patterns, tattoo, tattooing, thomas hooper, Thomas Hooper Tattooing, thomashooper, thomashoopertattooing Leave a comment

I realize haven’t posted any new tattoos on here for awhile, in part due to laziness and also because of the ease of posting on Instagram. As the algorithms change in social media I am left with the problem of how to communicate what I do and what I have to offer to people who are interested in my work…….

How would you like to see my work?

That is the main question that keeps presenting itself. As I grapple with this obstacle I thought it might be nice to post some recent tattoos on here, maybe some of you have seen them, or maybe my feed doesn’t come up for you to see it and maybe some of you are not on social media, either way enjoy and as always an endless thank you for your continued support and interest in what I do.

First up is hunters recently completed sleeve…..

I really enjoyed this one, mixed some very old Polynesian influences against some of my more current geometric simple shapes and more complex dotwork mandalas.

Next up is Michael Waters finished and healed back piece, this I really enjoyed as we got to do some color mixed in with pattern work, a horse, wolf and a giant ornate human skull. This took a few years to compete as we finished the skull and took a break, thank you for your trust and patience Michael, it is immense!

April has been a good month for finishing projects! Here’s is Allen’s leg all finished up, really excited with how this one came together, I’ll let the pictures do the talking, thank you Allen.

Really happy with how Marks piece turned out below, a very non literal interpretation of a volcano. I love how this one sits on the arm by itself and has such a strong simple overall shape.

Below are some images of Kian’s sleeve, Really loved doing this one, the mix of Persian and Arabic ornament was a lot of fun and really interesting to research the beautiful historic art.

And the last images for this post are of Alana’s torso, I got to add to a really incredible collection of work, tattoos by Scott Sylvia, Jeff Rassier and Tim Lehi to name a few. Thank you for your trust Alana and patience to see this one through to the end.

Thank you so much for taking the time to look at my work and read through this post – Thomas.

Adventure Time with Jeff

December 8, 2018 By Thomas Hooper in tattoo portfolio, Tattooing 2018 Tags: thomas hooper, Thomas Hooper Tattooing Leave a comment

I’ve been tattooing Jeff Zellner for the past 8 years, we started at Saved Tattoo in Brooklyn NY when I was a resident there, now we’ve both relocated and I’m extremely grateful that he continues to travel to get tattooed by me. Both hands, sleeves and back are by me, his chest panels are by Michael Aul and the torch on his sternum is by his wife Lana Zellner.

I am extremely grateful for the trust he has given me and the opportunities to explore new ideas on his skin that he continues to give me the freedom to do.

These photographs were taken yesterday at the end of a session on his back.

Thank you Jeff!

Thomas Hooper Tattooing fun with Jeff -25

A Canadian Body Suit

November 3, 2018 By Thomas Hooper in tattoo portfolio Leave a comment

Edwin Lawes first came to get tattooed August 27 2012, when I worked at Saved Tattoo in Brooklyn NY. Six years later as we draw closer to finishing his body suit which will conclude in the next few years with tattooing his sleeves, I have the opportunity to reflect on what an amazing project this has been.

Tattooing is an amazing experience, both as the artist and as the client, which I have had the honor of being both for 20 something years. Working on this project has been a challenging and rewarding experience with a massive learning curve both in how to conceptualize such a large body of work but also to make progress without causing too much physical pain each visit. Edwin and his wife Jennifer (an incredibly talented tattooist) travel to see me once or twice a year from Port Perry Canada, we usually do 3-4 days in a row. This is an extremely difficult way to get tattooed, very painful and a drain on the body’s immune system. This last trip we did 5 days in a row, two long sessions and 3 short sessions. Below you can see some photographs from the results of this last trip, a lot of healed areas and the final sections of his torso and legs mapped out before we move onto his sleeves. The final task with his torso and legs will be to add shading to separate all the layered elements, this will give the shapes space and depth and make the overall look of the imagery much less confusing and chaotic.

Ted day 5-11 Ted day 5-8 Ted day 5-9 Ted day 5-10 Ted day 5-7 Ted day 5-5

Ted is an amazing woodworker and made my family a beautiful chess set as a thank you.

Thank you so much Edwin and Jennifer for all the trust and commitment.

You can see some more of Edwin’s beautiful carpentry here –

https://instagram.com/tedtables?utm_source=ig_profile_share&igshid=1va1qmbzpwldq

And some of Jennifer’s amazing tattooing here –

https://instagram.com/jenniferlawes?utm_source=ig_profile_share&igshid=10s2i0xye7zdv

Looking back to move forwards

September 12, 2018 By Thomas Hooper in tattoo portfolio, Tattooing 2018 Tags: borneo tattoo, ornamental tattoo, rock of ages tattooing, Thomas Hooper Tattooing, tribal tattoo Leave a comment

I think that for my work to have a steady progression and to still use the visual language I employ in my tattoos, that it is necessary to look back at my older work and see what it is that worked in the designs, how did they fit the body? how did they look from afar? and how will they age? More importantly to study what it is the customer and myself enjoyed about doing it!

I have a few openings at @londontattooconvention end of this month and in LA in October, as well as in Austin towards the end of the year. I will give priority to simple large-scale work as I have a lot of intensely detail and layered projects on my schedule right now.

A few examples of the older work I am wanting to reference, a layered Borneo and Thai ornament inspired sleeve from around 2008, done in NYC, a very simple negative Borneo inspired piece that incorporated a lot of cover ups, from 2005 and a simple Borneo piece on a hand to cover up some old handpicked tattoos from 2004.

For more examples please see my archives here ————-> Archives

Thank you for you support. Please don’t DM me about projects, I have a new contact page here ————-> Contact

Numbers 6 and 7

November 21, 2017 By Thomas Hooper in tattoo portfolio

After the amazing response I received for the paintings in the A state of Matter exhibition (see previous post) I found myself inspired and motivated to continue the Raven series rather than moving on to another subject matter.

And here I find my self with Unitled Ravens VI and VII – this is unlikely the end of this.