She is young, pretty and talented. Meet our cover girl in this issue of Z Tattoo: Mathilde Høyberg alias Thick Shady. Though only 23 years of age she has already been a tattoo artist for five years, currently working in one of Copenhagen’s finest studios, The Get Well Gift Shop, owned by her boyfriend Jesper ”Gator Tattoo” Jørgensen.
You were trained in Aarhus, but who trained you?
– I was trained at Sinners Ink in Aarhus. I had already been tattooing just a little bit in two other shops and certainly wasn’t very good. But Mark Wosgerau, who took me in, may have seen something in me and I am very thankful to him. I worked there for two years and the one who was most influential for my development would be Jakob Holst. He has been a tremendously supportive of me and my work. He has always given me feedback and constructive criticism and for this I will always be grateful.
These days you’re working at The Get Well Gift Shop, owned by your boyfriend Jesper Jørgensen alias Gator Tattoo.
– It’s an absolutely amazing shop to be working at, and my haven. Every day is a party, since I get to work with some incredibly skilled, funny and intelligent people. This is definitely a studio with a lot of character, and you can see that clearly both from the expression of the shop and what kind of weird personalities all of us inside probably would be.
You have been tattooing for five years and have specialised in the traditional style. What is it about the old school thing that appeals to you, and what tattoo artists inspire you?
– When I first started learning my style leaned far more to the neo-traditional, and that style holds a very special place in my heart. But I believe that I wanted to challenge myself even further, and making tattoos as simple and clean as those of the old school variety is, believe it or not, a colossal challenge. I love everything contained within the word ”tattoos”, but for me the old traditions is a part of how i perceive tattoos. And in a town like Copenhagen, that hold such an ancient tattoo history, makes doing old school tattoos even more meaningful to me. I’m inspired by many different tattoo artists with many different styles, for instance Tony Blue Arms, Becca Genné-Bacon, Electric Martina, Florian Santus och Claudia De Sabe.
You have made a cool flash art where it says ”I like big butts and I can not lie”. Could you tell me about that?
– I really like adding a sense of humor to my tattoos and flash or draw parallels to songs or movies, which I also think that people easily can relate to. It’s also partly because I love women of all shapes and sizes, and since I’m not exactly petite myself and live butts, my own included, I thought that this would be a fun thing.
You’re pretty heavily tattooed yourself. Who have done your tattoos?
– I am primarily tattooed by people that I’ve been worked with, steadily or as guest artists. These include my boyfriend Jesper – alias Gator Tattoo –Zooki, Jakob Holst and Nichlas Vendelbo. I have also been tattooed by Rodrigo Kalaka from Barcelona and Pari Corbitt and Demi Iacopetta from Australia.
FOTO Jimmie Weideman
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