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 Daredevil Tattoo has been a fixture in the New York Tattoo scene for over a Decade. Specializing in custom tattoos and a diverse crew that can deliver everything from dead on traditional tattooing to stunning Japanese style work.
Tattoo Magazine featured Dare Devil in a cover story May 2007
TATTOOING IN GOTHAM - NYC 'S DIVERSE DARE DEVIL CREW
BY MICHELLE DELIO
It's sometimes hard to remember that not too long ago, New York City, which prides itself on being the center of all things cool and wonderful, had a law that banned art. For 36 years, in the city where mofern electric tattooing was born nack in the 1860's, tattooing was illegal. Not that the law ever stopped anyone from getting tattooed, but it did manage to keep tattooing underground. There were no street shops, and while getting ink wasn't exactly difficult, it did usually involve secret handshakes and personal introductions. It wasn't easy for artists to tattoo in thecity. Happily, the ban was finally lifted in February 1997.
The only inadvertant good thing that came of all this legal nonsense is thatby outlawing tattooing, the whole NYC skin art scene developed a unique interesting underground old school vibe which still lingers to this day. And the artist who were here back in the bad old days when their art was banned, are a special, super dedicated group of people. Daredevil Tattoo, a distinctly old-school shop, is owned by
a woman who has been a fixture in the NYC tattoo scene for over a decade -
Michelle Myles. Michelle and her partner Brad Fink own Daredevil and Fun
City Tattoo, the city’s oldest existing tattoo shop.
“I want my work to pay homage to the history of tattooing in
NYC, modern tattooing was pretty much created here in the city with Samuel
O’Reilly and Charlie Wagner’s patents for the first electric tattoo machines.”
Says Michelle. “It’s amazing to me that the place where modern tattooing was
born ever banned it. Thankfully those days are gone now.”
Michelle got her first tattoo when she was 17 in Texas. She co-owns both
shops with uber-talented tattooist Brad Fink. “I’ve known Brad since high
school. I grew up in St.Louis where Brad still lives and owns Iron Age Studio.
Brad comes to work in New York
every month or so. He’s like my brother and the person I most admire in
the business and the person with the biggest influence on me,” says
Michelle.
Daredevil is primarily dedicated to doing custom work. One
thing that’s immediately apparent in the shop is the strong creative vibe. If
the artist aren’t tattooing they’re likely to be painting or drawing flash, or
making signs, or doing something interesting. When they are tattooing the work
is likely to be big and bold. Michelle really enjoys doing traditional American
style tattoos and says that all he work is influenced by that style. “I would
say all of our artist have a heavy slant towards traditional style work, but many
also do Japanese style tattoos,” says Michelle. “We’re all about creating the
kind of tattoos that you can read across the street.”
Michelle loves working in the city, saying that one of the
best things about working in an ultra urban environment is that people are hip
to whatever sort of ideas you come up with. “More people get heavily tattooed
in bigger cities, so we get the chance to develop relationships with our
customers that lead to some great work and opportunities to try almost
anything,” adds Michelle.
Michelle also says she loves making her living with a craft
that’s remained virtually unchanged for the last 100 years. “So many things in
our society are disposable these days and tattoos can’t easily be thrown away,”
she says, ”I love working in the city that is the birthplace of modern
tattooing. I love history and especially the history that tattooing was born
from. I don’t get bored as a tattooer, especially working in shops as dynamic
as Daredevil Tattoo and Fun
City. New York attracts some of the most creative
and fascinating people in the world and this business sorts out the most
interesting segment of those people.
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