New York has many great attractions, from the Statue of Liberty, to the Empire State Building, to Central Park. But one of the greatest attractions of the biggest metropolitan city in America is the people, especially the artists of the canvas and the skin. New York may have the MoMa and the Met, but let’s not forget the tattoo art scene. People come from all over the globe to be tattooed by the talented artists that New York has to offer, one of which being Mike Carro from Undead Ink in Oceanside, New York.
Mike Carro, the lead artist and owner of Undead, has established a prestigious reputation of talent at his Long Island shop. He began tattooing in 2006, and nearly nine years later, he has mastered a stylized realism. “When I draw my own stuff, it tends to be realistic but doesn’t necessarily look photorealistic, so it’s something of a comic book style of realism,” says Carro on his signature style. And his expertise of tattooing isn’t the only aspect of his art that pulls from the comic book style. Very often, Carro brings his favorite cult culture, nerd-tastic, and film featured characters to his skins.
“I’m a nerd and a cinephile,” says Carro, remarking on his choice of using popular film characters as the portrait subjects of his tattoos. Carro has tattooed everything from science fiction, to horror, to comic book characters, covering every aspect of the nerd universe. “At this point I’ve pretty much tattooed everything I’ve wanted to. I never in my wildest dreams thought I would tattoo the iconic comic book images that I’ve looked at since I was five, but I got to this year, and it was awesome. The only thing that I haven’t done that I would really love to do is to reproduce a Michelangelo painting. He’s my favorite artist of all time,” remarks Carro on the whirlwind of artistic opportunities that he’s taken on since beginning his tattoo journey.
Whether an artist uses a paintbrush, a tattoo machine, or even a piano, they pull inspiration from somewhere. Inspiration is what gives art meaning, depth, and emotion; and I wanted to investigate what goes on behind Carro’s beautiful works of art. “I’m heavily inspired by movies, comic books, and Renaissance art. My favorite artists tend to be from the Renaissance Era, but the things I look to every day for inspiration are movies and comics. They are both great artistic mediums that have come a long way and have elevated to the highest form of art. Comic art has really become incredible over the years and has influenced how I do everything in my career,” explains Carro.
So whether you are a science fiction lover like Carro or Sex in the City is more your scene, it is clear to say that we all have our own passions and tattoos are an amazing way to show off what we are nerdy about.