durb

Wow, I finally got my own account on SG, I am stoked to be a part of such a great website. Hmmm, a little info about myself? I was born in Newark, Ohio December 28th, 1972 and completed high school in 1991. Surviving a childhood that seemed doomed by circumstances, I saturated myself in art and went on to excel in art classes in high school with dreams of attending art college. At the age of 14 a few of us punk kids decided to bust into mom's ol' sewing kit, get some thread and ink, and tattoo each other. My interest quickly grew for tattoos at that moment. I was then slowly introduced into the world of tattooing and fine art through a family member, and abandoned the college dream and focused intensely on the art of tattooing. I began using professional equipment at the age of 17, which was the beginning of my tattoo career. I was mainly self-educated from the start, having a bunch of crazy punk rock friends that would allow me to tattoo them. I was given the opportunity to work in a professional tattoo studio straight out of high school with Tim Miller in Columbus, Oh. Which is what originally brought me to Columbus. I worked in Columbus for about a year before the studio was sold and I decided to travel the country tattooing with fellow artist Dean Deakyne, and settle down in Palms Springs, eventually moving to Anaheim, then Huntington Beach, California. Having met the infamous Sailor Moses while traveling the country, and working his booth at Sturgis, I was given the invitation to move to Biloxi to learn more from Moses, which is where my tattooing really took off. In 1994 I decided to move back to Columbus near family and friends, and open up my first tattoo studio, Stained Skin, which went on to become a staple in the tattoo industry. In 1999 I began work on my second studio in Newark, Ohio called Second Skin, which has taken Newark by storm and remains a top notch studio today. Stained Skin has had an incredible amount of intensely talented tattoo artists work there over the years, giving me the opportunity to constantly grow and expand, meet new artists, and learn new techniques. I enjoy other mediums of art outside of tattooing including, oil and acrylic painting, wood and metal sculpture, and watercolor. I began receiving dozens of awards for my work and started to get my tattooing published in every major national and international tattoo magazine in 1994 and continue today, having been published in International Tattoo Art, Tattoo Artist Magazine, Skin Art, Tattoo Review, Easyrider Tattoo, Savage Magazine and Skin & Ink just to name a few. I have had artwork published in many books including The Art of Modern Rock, "Rolling Stone's" Tattoo Nation, The Electric Frankenstein poster book, Tattoo by Dale Rio, and I have done the album artwork for the Mighty Mighty Bosstones album "Jackknife to a Swan", as well as designed the clothing for their 2004 warped tour. I have tattooed musicians like Ricky Rockett of Poison, Dicky Barret of the Mighty Mighty Bosstones, Coby Dick of Papa Roach, Trevor Keith of Face to Face, and numerous others. Having passed the torch of both Stained Skin Studios, I currently work out of my private studio as well as tattooing on the road, and various conventions around the world. Along with tattooing fulltime, I now organize and promote the Hell City Tattoo Festival in Columbus, Ohio, which has grown to become one of the industry's favorite tattoo conventions. When I'm not tattooing or organizing Hell City I find time to paint, skateboard, snowboard, and hang out with family and friends. My website is not just tattooing, it is a total history of my life and my work. Please take your time to enjoy my website, don't forget to find the hidden link, and please DO NOT copy any works for personal replication of any kind. - Durb

DURBSTER.COM / HELLCITYTATTOOFEST.COM