NEW artist for November 2011. Featured on Vol. 2 CCI Ink magazine print, go order today!
“it comes from the heart”. His motivation and love for this art comes from the idea of “leaving storytelling marks on people”.
Turkish-based artist Danny Garcia went through different types of struggles than your average western tattooer. At 25, and after finishing school for graphics and design, Danny moved to Istanbul and somehow got involved in the tattoo culture. Danny learned to tattoo in a way which is typically frowned upon in the industry, but CCI thinks his specific case is special: he had learned to tattoo by practicing on people for free, and didn’t have a mentor considering he was the third person to tattoo in Turkish history. He’s been in the industry since 1998, but it wasn’t until there was a guest artist visiting 5 years ago when he really began to learn the different tools of the trade. Danny describes how he never really realized tattooing would become his career, but that he’s glad that this is where he ended up, “I just loved it and it came from the heart… so I kept exercising by tattooing every day since the first day I started”. Now, he considers tattooing his lifestyle—not necessarily his career.
Overall, Danny seems pretty laidback about his style of business, but he does have his boundaries. For example, Danny will never tattoo something racist, and he would rather not do a tattoo he doesn’t like “because I [will not] love what I did”. Danny describes himself as the only artist in his country to do custom work, and that’s the only type of work he’ll do because “it comes from the heart”. His motivation and love for this art comes from the idea of “leaving storytelling marks on people”. You can check out Danny’s work at http://tr-tr.facebook.com/pages/DANNY-GARCIA-INKSTANBUL-ARTCORE/103128149725805 and if you’re ever in Istanbul be sure to stop in and check him out.