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Westy tattoo artists administer Tribal Rites

Contributed by: Sean Cronin/YourHub.com on 4/6/2007

A simple tattoo can keep you from serving in the Marines.

Ten years ago that flaming skull on your forearm would not have been an obstacle to your becoming one of the few, the proud, the shaved-headed.

Nowadays when recruiters at the office at 7355 W. 88th Ave., Broomfield see any ink on a potential grunt that, according to Corps policy published at their Web site, could be interpreted as "sexist, racist, vulgar, anti-American, anti-social, gang related, or extremist group or organization related," they send them to Tribal Rites in Westminster.

YourHub.com contacted the Broomfield recruiting office on April 3 and a Corps representative declined to comment.

Tattoo artist Greg Fuller pulls a photo album from under his desk at the Westminster shop and produces a color photo of a forearm, tattooed in green, white and red graffiti-style letters that clearly read "Italy." Recruiters saw this piece of nationalistic pride and sent the wannabe jarhead to Fuller to get it altered.

"I don't know what was wrong with that one," laughs Fuller who altered the tattoo for the recruit. "I hope for his sake he didn't wash out, because he's got 'U.S.M.C' on his arm now."

The irony here is rich: nothing else about this tattoo shop says "military friendly." Except for maybe tattoo artist Nicko Horlocker's high and tight haircut and the shop's necessary obsession with cleanliness and order, Tribal Rites, located at 7735 W. 92nd Ave., is a den of nonconformity. Fuller, Horlacher and Jeremy Costilow have worked out a separation of duties that fits the artistic talents of each.

The Tribal Rites Web site says Fuller caters to sci-fi freaks who love Star Wars. On his desk sits a LEGO model of an Imperial All-Terrain Armored Transport like the one Luke trips up in The Empire Strikes Back. It took him six hours to make and earned him a shop-made plaque to go with it that reads, "Official Nerd Trophy."

He has two examples of Star Wars tattoos in his book of unfinished work. One is a three-quarter sleeve centered on Darth Vader's face, which he sadly couldn't complete because his client died. The other features the intergalactic bounty hunter Boba Fett and should be finished soon, says Fuller. But no, YourHub.com readers, you can't see either. Fuller won't let most people see unfinished work.

But Fuller's real love is graffiti. Growing up in Dallas, he saw neighborhood kids writing on walls and he started doing the same. His paintings hang on the wall in the shop, and his fine touch on canvas translates well to a fluid stroke on flesh. The man can paint on any canvas. Falling in love with paint, he studied fine art and tried to make a living at it.

"I wasn't making much money at the time, and ..."

"I couldn't do anything else," interjects Costilow. Whereas Fuller is laid back and laconic, Costilow always has something to say. And it's bound to be interesting. "I couldn't work on a schedule. Nine to five, somebody telling me what to do and when? That's not why I got into this business."

Costilow, born and raised in Mississippi, says he came to Colorado because he believes the tattoo shops in the South cater to the lowest common denominator. They call it "flash." It's pre-drawn, stock-image tattoos that most artists could do in their sleep, but most tattooists with any talent for art would rather not touch, he says.

"In the South, it's all Tasmanian devils and Confederate flags, I couldn't do that anymore," says Costilow.

Costilow's best work is in realism. His portraiture is spot on. A recent piece that covers the entire side of a client's torso is an impressive display of detail.

Strange though. It features rock star drummer Travis Barker from the knee up. Barker's own tattoos are scaled down and executed flawlessly on this shrunken scale. Costilow even managed to capture the sheen of the hair gel in Barker's mohawk. Impressive stuff.

But if the work of each artist in the shop expresses individuality and artistic flair, there are some things on which they can all agree. Tattoo reality shows, for example, suck. There is a love-hate thing going on here. On one hand, popular acceptance of tattoos brings in more business. On the other, everybody and their mother wants to be a tattoo artist these days, say Fuller and Costilow.

"If I was looking for an apprentice right now, which I'm not, the first thing I would do is make sure the person was an artist," he says. "It all starts with art; people don't realize that."

And it gets worse. People who watch those reality tattoo shows now feel like they have to explain the meaning of their tattoos, and nobody in this shop wants to hear it. They all recognize that there is meaning in art, and they will turn you down if you want to get the face of one of those Juggalos from Insane Clown Posse tattooed on your forehead. But for the love of everything sacred and scarred, please don't come into the shop and cry while you explain how meaningful your tattoo is.

"The only time I want to see a customer cry is if it hurts or they're gonna go broke from gettin' it," says Costilow.

Nobody in the shop seems to disagree.


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CONTRIBUTOR INFORMATION

Sean Cronin

Denver , CO

Sean Cronin has posted 72 stories and 5 comments since joining on 11/21/2006. Sean Cronin's average story rating is 4.78.
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