Today we’d like to introduce you to Matthew Tarkman
Hi Matthew , please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I’m not sure if you’re asking for my whole story or when I came to Texas. But I figure I will give you both in 1. My childhood and teenage years I’ve always wanted to be a cop on the SWAT team. My mother ended up sabotaging that even while I was homeless from 16 to 22. When I was 20 I found tattooing. I was at my friend’s apartment that night or that week rather I was sleeping on his living room floor and his neighbor came in and suggested tattooing so I went and I picked up a magazine and purchased a tattoo kit. First year I was having fun with it went and got an apprenticeship right away that I had to pay for which is unheard of. 5 months into the apprenticeship my teacher ended up selling the shop with me included to my next boss which taught me fine line tattooing and I later got an award in 2002.
He later fired me not for beating him in fine line tattooing but drama at the shop 6 months later he sold me the tattoo shop. I immediately got involved with the county and the City. Help them save their cities annual events, help the nonprofit for moms and helped a non-profit for a school. Was on the radio a couple of times and the newspaper back when those were relevant LOL. 23 found my wife. Got involved with another 2 non-profits. One was Raising money for the homeless and the other one was raising money for children shelters. Started getting into the magazines. In 2004-5 opened up my second shop. Was asked to be on TV for Ink Masters 4 years in a row. Didn’t do that. Ha. Started traveling the world tattooing. Got involved with the local schools to raise money. 2008 my second daughter was born and went through a divorce which almost killed me. 2012 opened up my third shop. Was in magazines and TV. still was traveling the world tattooing. 2 years I did a blanket Drive to collect blankets for homeless. Attempted to start a nonprofit for covering up stuff and replacing nipples for people that have had mastectomies. Got married in 2014. 2015 my third daughter was born and my second wife was diagnosed with cancer. 2016 she left for another man. 2017 I was homeless and had to liquidate everything that I had because my Ex-Wives were coming for all of my money on top of the children which got me to leave California with $1,500 on a credit card to come to Austin Texas. One of my clients/friend allowed me to sleep on his couch. Within 3 months I had enough money to get my apartment and get my life going again while I was still fighting in court. Worked for forsaken tattoos, Atomic Tattoos, deep well tattoos, and now Earthen. I’ve always kept the Mt tattoos name partially because I’m holding on to What’s Left of my legacy and I already had a decent amount of clients attached to it because I have been going back and forth from Austin to San Francisco for my clients and Court. That pretty much brings you up to date plus I’m engaged LOL
I did this with talk to text so forgive the autocorrect
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Nope…. got fired moved around from shop to shop all while fighting for custody of my third daughter.
Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
Artist, entrepreneur, CEO.
I’m part of my adaptability and to be the Jack of all trades. I love different styles of tattooing and I like dabbling in all of them my realism and my neo traditional anime black and gray work I think I’m known for. What sets me apart is with me you’re not just getting a tattoo you’re getting more of like an event a great conversation that could make you think or just pure silliness.
What are your plans for the future?
My plans are to retire in 6 years. But for me retirement doesn’t mean stop tattooing it means I don’t rely on it for an income. A major goal of mine is to tattoo for free and to be able to give back to the community.
Pricing:
- 220 hr
- Min 140
Contact Info:
- Website: https://Mttattoos.com
- Instagram: Mttattoos
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/15bsSDq9Xi/
- Youtube: https://youtube.com/@matthewtarkman?feature=shared
