Joe Capobianco
Tattoo artist and illustrator Joe Capobianco has unwittingly created a homage to the Suicide Girls -- an art book dedicated to America's long time obsession: cheesecake...of the pin-up variety. What's Not to Like? is a compilation of illustrations that have graced skin and canvas filled with pages of pouty lips and Double-Ds. But beyond it's obvious sex appeal, the book's artistry shows just why Joe Capobianco has been called one of the world's best tattooers by trade magazines worldwide.
We talked at the London Tattoo Convention about the allure of the classic pin-up.
Marisa DiMattia: You’re the perfect interview for Suicide Girls because of your tattoo tributes to pin-ups. You also have a new art book out devoted to pin-ups as well, so let’s talk about that first.
Joe Capobianco: That started as an idea to do a sketchbook. A friend of ours, Brett Bryan who owns Pulse Tattoo Supply suggested that we do the book, and I put together a bunch of work that I had kicking around -- sketchbooks, art work, everything, -- put them in folders and sent it over there. He sat on it for two weeks and came up with the idea of not doing one book but two books. The first book, the art book, is pretty much the last twelve years of artwork…even more, 15 years, because some of the artwork is from before I even started tattooing, but the majority is the last 6 to 8 years. And the sketchbook includes some art from my sketchbooks – we had about twenty sketchbooks to go through – and some of that artwork were artwork for tattoos and others were just drawings and doodles and stuff like that. Mainly, we put that together in one book to get it all out to the public.
MDM:
And it’s mostly pin-ups?
JC:
The majority is cheesecake, yes. There’s a handful of paintings that aren’t pin-up related, like a painting of a dog, but the majority is pin-up, straight-up.
MDM:
What’s the attraction to this kind of art -- beyond the obvious, big boobs, lips…?
JC:
[laughs] To be honest, I always had a thing for it, I always loved looking at pin-up work. It started with an artist named Olivia … hers is the first work I saw and then from her stuff, I got into Alberto Vargas, Hajime Sorayama, then into the older guys like Gil Elvgren, Earl Moran…And pretty much fell in love with it.
MDM:
For much of their work, there’s a high artistic quality to them; they’re more than the just sexy images.
JC:
Oh, yeah. There’s something about paint as opposed to photographs. I mean, I really enjoy the photographs, but there’s something a bit more wholesome about the [painted] pin-ups. And on top on that I just like that it’s painted. It’s something someone created.
MDM:
With two books, that’s a lot of pages of pin-up imagery. How do you come up with ideas for your girls?
JC:
A lot of the ideas come from clients because I mostly do sketches for skin. I also search the web to find images that strike a nerve and different ideas will come to light. Or I’ll start with a general idea and flesh it out on paper, finding some kind of photo reference to go along with it. A lot of it, though, just strikes like lightening and just turns out the way you want it to.
MDM:
Do you have a particular muse?
JC:
There’s a handful of models I circle around: Aria Giovanni, Masuimi Max, the higher-end fetish models. Those two strike a cord when I think of a type of look for the girls I draw on my own--shapely women with big eyes, heavier lips. But I can’t say there’s one muse in particular. It’s the female form in general.
MDM:
Didn’t you do a tattoo of Suicide Girl Amina?
JC:
Yeah, a customer of mine from Nebraska wanted a tattoo that looked like her—not exactly—but he definitely wanted people to know it was her. I chose to do a portrait/bust piece of her, drawing from what he gave me. He sent me tons of references. He definitely knew what he wanted. Actually, it was pretty freaky. I understand that she’s particular about her image, so I joked while doing the tattoo that we could get sued by copying her tattoo and her image, but he sent [a photo] of it to her and she was fine with it.
MDM:
What is it about cheesecake that makes people want to tattoo it on their skin?
JC:
You know what, I honestly believe that it’s like that old Sailor Jerry stuff, it’s never going to die. There’s something about a pretty girl that everyone can appreciate, whether it be male or female, young or old. Sailor Jerry pin-up girls have been around since the thirties and there have been pin-ups even before him, obviously, and this is just the next incantation of that. And you have other artists take these same types of ideas and designs and doing them their own way. People will never get tired of it, I don’t think. It’s one of those things that will continue to live on and it will never become old hat.
MDM:
Do you have a lot of female clientele?
JC:
I can’t say I have a large female clientele, but those that are getting tattooed are getting sleeves and backpieces, large-scale work, instead of those tiny tattoos…I think it’s pretty cool, it’s a good trade-off.
MDM:
Let’s talk about your tattoo studio. How long has the Hope Gallery been around?
JC:
The Hope Gallery started with Eric Merrill, Julio Rodriguez, and myself and our third year will be this month at this location. We just hired Tim Harris and the four of us pretty much come and go as we please. It’s set up as a gallery so when you walk into the main room it’s not just flash and a couple of couches. It’s a huge space, about 1,500 square feet with nothing but art work. We’ll have occasional art shows to show people what we’re doing and other artists. I wish we had time to do more.
MDM:
With having a tattoo studio/art gallery, do you believe that tattooing is a fine art itself?
JC:
I don’t consider myself to be such an artsy-fartsy guy that I consider tattooing a fine art. I look at a tattoo as a tattoo. If you want to put more meaning into it, that’s fine. But for me, a tattoo is a mark on your body. You’re doing it because it’s on you and you want to make a statement, whatever. A lot of people put their heart and soul into someone else’s piece and there’s nothing wrong with that. I don’t do that. I put pictures on skin.
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