Disengagement via Shaping Light

January 14, 2020 By Thomas Hooper in 2020, Art, Photography, Tattooing. Tags: film photography, Inspiration, life, space, tattooing, Tattoos, thomas hooper, thomashooper Leave a comment

A rose from my garden, Hasselblad 500cm Ilford sfx 200.

The beginning of this year has been one of creativity introspection, I made a rash decision on the 1st of January to not post any tattoos on my main Instagram ( I may have started a new one that’s private for now as I attempt to do one abstract painting a day for the whole year…… more on that later) and try my best to disengage from any interaction on the platform for a while, instead turning that time into drawing and reading.

Creativity is the Key to surviving 2020!

The Secret Life of a Rock, Hasselblad 500cm Ilford sfx 200.

My good friend David Hines recommended this book towards the end of last year and it is providing a wonderful insight into the way I look at pictures, wether it is something I am photographing or a drawing/painting I am creating.

I now find myself wanting to capture more of my tattooing on film, below are some images from the last few months, thank you for reading through and taking a look at the photographs.

A portrait of Carl Brunson, an inspiring and talented painter I am very fortunate to tattoo.

Carl Brunson Koni Omega Rapid M Fuji POrtra 800-1

A visit from an old friend and client.

Emmanuel, tattooed at Saved Brooklyn 2009-2012. Hassleblad 500cm on Fuji Portra 800 pushes one stop.

Stepped back into the ring with an old friend.

Kyle Hasselblad 500cm january 2019 sfx 200 Thomas hooper

Getting close to the finish line with a wonderful client.

hasselblad tattoo pics dec 19 Thomas Hooper

Hasselblad 500cm with Fuji Portra pushed 1 stop.

Joel Miller has been a client since 2005 and I’m honored we get to continue this journey here in ATX as he now lives local!

Joel 35mm in 120mm tattoo pics dec 2019 Thomas Hooper

Joel 35mm with 120mm spool adapters in Hasselblad Super Wide C on Ilford Delta 400 pushed 2 stops, shot full Negative to cover sprockets holes.

A recurring favorite Michael waters with the start of his legs.

Michael Waters Hasselblad super wide c Thomas Hooper

Starting Michael Waters legs, Hasselblad Super Wide C on Ilford 3200.

Michae’s healed back, Hasselblad Super Wide C on Ilford 3200.

Daniel 4 x 5 large format photo Thomas Hooper Tattooing

Daniel, the day after we finished his back.

Justin Timid Steps Thomas Hooper Tattooing

Justin, Crown Graphic 4×5 Ilford 100 Delta.

And as a little foot note, today my good friend Dennis Mcnett AKA @Wolfbat dropped by the studio today and gifted me this set of woodblock printing tools and materials as he will be teaching me some of his amazing craft, more info on that as it progresses!

Thank you Dennis and thank YOU for taking the time to look at my work.

X Thomas.

A slow crawl through chaos to find order.

November 27, 2019 By Thomas Hooper in body suit, Tattooing. Tags: Art, body suit, bodysuit, dot work tattoo, dot work., dotwork, Hexagon, hexahedron, hooper, hooperselectric, mandala, patterns, space, tattoo, tattooing, tessellation, Thomas, thomas hooper, Thomas Hooper Tattooing, thomashooper, thomashooperart, thomashoopertattooing Leave a comment

Creating art is something that I have found to be a necessary way to feel at peace and ease with myself and my surroundings, creating art and ornamental decoration for the human body is a complete privilege and a total honor. It is something I constantly marvel at, it feels magical and is a totally surreal occupation for both the artist and canvas. Ted has been coming to get tattooed by me since 2012, we started at Saved tattoo in Brooklyn and continued in Austin Texas, at Rock of Ages, he is one of only a few customers who only get tattooed by me, a stoic and kind man who has constantly followed through, completing each stage of his body suit with a keen integrity. His level of commitment traveling from Port Perry in Canada to get tattooed is nothing short of incredible. As we round the corner to the final stages with only one session left on his legs and his sleeves to start and complete, I wanted to take a moment to thank him and share some images of our last two sessions that we just finished up this week whilst I was guesting at Saved Tattoo.

Thank you Ted for sticking with it on this journey, I really can’t put into words how grateful I am.

JBXTH I II III IV

May 4, 2019 By Thomas Hooper in Art Tags: Abstract Forms, Art, art show, converge, deathwishinc, exhibition, fullbleed, geometry, Hexagon, hexahedron, Jacob Bannon, live screen printing, mandala, painting, patterns, printmaking, prints, Residual Self Image, skull, skulls, space, tattoo, tattooing, Tattoos, tessellation, thomas hooper, thomas hooper painting, Thomas Hooper Tattooing, thomashooper, thomashooperart, thomashoopertattooing Leave a comment

The first print in the JBXTH Series is available via the Burlesque of North America website.

https://burlesquedesign.com/collections/jacob-bannon-x-thomas-hooper

Last month I had the honor of collaborating again with my old friend and peer Jacob Bannon on a new print series called JBXTH.

Each print was made live at Full Bleed Exhibition last month in the Netherlands. A total of 100 hand painted were created alongside 80 mono printed backgrounds.

Embellished and mono printed 15×22” & 16×20″ prints, silkscreened and mono printed live at @fullbleedexhibition by @gemma_monostereo & @benbrlsq, each print in the series is an edition of 25/15 respectively.

These were available at the exhibition all weekend in April, and now the prints we set aside for online sales will be placed available consecutively in the coming weeks on the @brlsq website, starting this Tuesday with JBXTH I.

Thank you for your support and to everyone who came by the exhibition, said hi and/or picked up a print.

-Thomas.⠀

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.

New Hoodies, Shirts and Bandanas.

December 12, 2017 By Thomas Hooper in apparell, Art, painting, video Tags: Art, drawing time lapse, pen and ink, skull drawing, t shirt, thomas hooper, thomashooper, timelapse

Following up from last month, I have refined my webstore and made it run a bit smoother. Thank you to everyone who picked up something from the clear out I had, I really appreciate it!

I took a lot of time off from tattooing over the last two months due to an accident and spent a lot of time at home, so I used the time well and did a lot of drawing!

Here are a couple of time lapses I made whilst drawing two of my new T-shirt designs.

So I’ve been working on these new designs for the last two months and they are finally ready. I’ve switched everything over to selling and fulfilling them all myself, so its now all packed and shipped by me. Thank you for the support, Thomas.

https://thomas-hooper.myshopify.com