Having collected over 20 years of experience tattooing in various tattoo shops throughout Chicago, Austin, and New York, Majestic is the first self-owned NYC studio of NYC tattoo artist Adal Ray.
Adal has distinguished himself in the New York City tattoo community through his focus on visionary, colorful, modern tattoo pieces. He is particularly known for fractal and psychedelic tattoo artwork. He is also a painter and muralist.
- How did you get started and what inspired you to become a tattoo artist?
So, as a child, I was always a drawer and I learned about art as a career, very young. I had this angelic art teacher in 7th grade that exposed me to the New York contemporary art world and I developed an obsession to become a
painter, an artist. I got started with tattooing in Chicago as a teenager.
In 1992 I began a year-long apprenticeship with Chicago’s Tattoo Tom B. It was sort of in place of continuing with the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. I did three years in the early college program there but really didn’t have the resources for their college tuition. Tom was a well-known single needle tattoo artist in the area, that worked alone in a traditional biker style.
I knew him through my high school buddy Eric Gillespie (now of Great Lakes Tattoo), who had taken me to him to get my first. He did a lot of tattoos for the kids “underage” in the Chicago scene.
Back then, the legal age to be tattooed was 21, so for a lot of us, he was our way in and he would accommodate our designs in various styles. We weren’t bad kids necessarily, but we kind of ruled ourselves, we worked and hung out in the street, skate and music scenes as much as we could for high schoolers.
Funny thing, there are a handful of tattoo artists that came out of t our circles from that period (Nick Colella, Mario Desa, Eric Gillespie) but then we were teenagers. I had tattoos done by Tom but didn’t think it was anything I wanted to do for a living, even though I loved collecting tattoos and discovering this underground world.
At 17, I met Guy Aitchison, and that is what inspired me to put my art efforts into tattooing. When I met Mike Leatherman, through the scene one day, over Dungeons and Dragons, lol, he was looking through my sketchbook and says”Oh, you’re drawing lots of eyeballs, you should meet my friend Guy who does my tattoos.”
Mike had the most amazing collection of muralistic tattoos from half sleeves onto his torso and rib cage, all done in a really new wave, industrial, fantasy-style as a teenager! Meeting Guy, seeing his work and learning that Chicago had a history of these weirdo progressive artists (Sailor Jerry Swallow, Cliff Raven, Bob Oslan) that took tattooing into new places while maintaining the traditional foundation.
Well, all of those points added up to me making a deal to apprentice under TattooTom, because apprenticeships were the “respectable” way to get started.
- What are your main sources of inspiration and how would you describe your aesthetics?
I have always drawn a lot of inspiration from the modern art classics. It’s what we are taught in school on a timeline. For me, artistic renderings of the late 1800’s –present-day is what I can relate with, it fits my perception of reality
and as artists, we work from the accumulative knowledge base of art history.
I study ancient pyramid cultures architecture, ornament, the renaissance the surrealist, cubists, futurists, Mexican muralists, pop art, then back to landscape paintings then on and on and on…that doesn’t account for the overwhelming influence of the modern world, my family’s Mexican background, pop culture and the realm of signs, symbols plus all of the cultural and graphic information we all take in daily for our entire lives.
I am such a mish mosh and eclectic combination of so many cultural influences, its so hard to say. I believe we all are in this state of hybrid influence. I was age 7-17 during the 80’s and I was super influenced by my surroundings. Music album cover art, surf and skateboard graphics, graffiti, hot rod and weirdo art, math art, fractals and of course tattoo are all areas I pay attention to. I believe the result is this psychedelic expression of form, flow, color and symbolism that is the aesthetic of my work.
The wonderful thing about tattooing is that it causes an artist to work with a vast range of source material and I personally feel enriched by these chances to learn about the world.
- I’ve seen your cover-ups and they are pretty impressive! Could you share with us a few tips on how to get a long-lasting tattoo composition! What are the details we should pay the most attention to when deciding for a design?
Thank you, I have worked hard at developing cover-up techniques. With so much tattoo equipment in the New York City area and now the world, and with no official education regarding its use, there is substantial demand for cover-up work. Not that all cover-ups are going over poorly done tattoos, but a vast majority are. As for composition and long-lasting, I would say that high contrast and large scale are the goals to aim for.
Tattooed skin doesn’t just fade over time, it changes in all sorts of ways. Micro tattoos, to me, are sort of more like novelties as opposed to art. You have to trust examples of aged tattoos. Knowing that black is the most stable ink and therefore the foundation for composition. After that, come deep colors. It really depends on the style; all tattoos will be there for the person’s whole life but will they look good?
Try and keep to high contrast between the elements and areas you want to communicate. There are tattoos that can be seen and read from across the street, and others that need to be seen up-close. Both are ok as long as the contrast is high enough to separate the components. Designs should be clear to read without clutter. I always aim for tattoos that fit the scale and form of the muscular system.
- What’s been your favorite moment in your career, so far?
I must admit that tattooing has treated me very well. It has been a career, and who could imagine a life of basically drawing pictures onto people? It has been a mysterious world full of colorful people and lots of special moments. One that stands out happened in 2000 after a lecture by Ed Hardy at the Museum of Natural History here in New York. I was lucky enough to be invited to have brunch with an amazing group who included Ed Hardy, Michael McCabe and Steve Gilbertto name a few.
I mean, what an honor, these guys were the real deal with so much history, and me, the youngest person at the table and into new wave tattoos. So as we were being seated, Lyle Tuttle is taking seat his next to me and looks at me while tapping his wristwatch repeatedly with his index finger. He says,” I see you’re on tattoo time.” I look down to see we have the exact same Timex wristwatch on, exact!
Timex has made thousands of watch designs over the years and hundreds every year. What are the odds? We went on to chit-chat about watches. Lyle is a great example of the unique quality of the tattoo world I’ve experienced. That’s it, one of my favorite tattoo moments.
- What do you like to do when you’re not tattooing?
Aside from brainstorming new art and multi-media projects, I enjoy traveling with my family. I have a beautiful and talented wife who is a DJ amongst other things. I have a middle school aged son and I place a lot of energy and time on raising him.
Together we travel and enjoy friends, nature, art, music, food, culture, and our pets. Also, I have an interest in restoring and riding vintage motorcycles, typical.
- What advice can you give to tattoo artists who are just starting out?
The best advice I can think to give is to dedicate yourself to learning for a set period of time without distraction. Make it half of your life not less. If you really want it, go all the way in.
I am sorry to say, but it’s not a thing to learn on a “part-time” basis. Get heavily tattooed because that is the first step in and will teach you so much. Once you have a teacher, reach out for every tattoo education resource available.
Lastly, just because there are Instagram pictures of tattoos in every conceivable style of art, start by allowing yourself to be influenced by only the more traditional styles. This is not to say traditional American tattoos, but maybe tattoos done pre-year 2000.
Otherwise, you may misinform yourself. Because tattoos are done with fine needles, it is possible to do very fine work but only stay looking so good for a short period. This doesn’t mean all tattoos have to look like Sailor Jerry designs but there is a lot to be learned through the structure. I do hope artists starting out are looking for advice.
After all of that said, I have to admit, I don’t even know how a person would start out tattooing these days.
- In the old days, tattooing used to be regarded as a sub-cultural activity, but now with all the social media apps it seems to be more mainstream. What are your thoughts about that?
I promise you, in the old days, which were not long ago, tattoo was a subculture. I believe it still falls just under the mainstream mark though. The ’90s was a decade when all kinds of sub-cultures like video games, skateboarding, conspiracy theorizing, extreme sports, alt-rock, indie-rock, techno-rave culture, gangster rap, gay culture, biker culture, hippie culture, couture fashion, body piercing, veganism and so many more labeled sub-cultures came boiling to the top and all became slightly mainstream in a way. I feel the explosion happened right before social media.
The 2000’s up till now have brought technology into the mainstream and the mashing of all of those subcultures onto the internet which is now in people’s hands every day and in their faces every few minutes. So here we are, desensitized to how intense it once was to actually see a person with a full sleeve of ink. That used to be a special encounter and now it is even on the feed of the people that don’t get tattooed. So, everyone is informed.Tattoo artists can become social media famous before ever having worked in an established shop or studio.
Its not right that social media success is gifted by those without an understanding of what the criteria for a good tattoo should be, but it also helps to expose the art in general. It’s like a complex product without a user manual and lots of counterfeits. It is good and bad evenly in my opinion. It’s sort of like a wild free for all, which seems to match the state of the world.
- A few tips on tattoo aftercare?
Use a regular moisturizing lotion daily! I have more detailed processes described on my website.
- Talking about the tattoo industry, what would you like to see done differently in the future compared to now?
I don’t really have any ideas for reform at this point.
It seems the cat is out of the bag and I’m just waiting to see what is next.
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