From Berlin to Bristol: Chris Hurst
Surreal, graphic and black.
Manchester-born tattoo artist Chris Hurst is one of a kind, armed with his warrior look and needles for fingers mixed with a delicate natural flow of lines. He has been storming around the globe for the past 4 years, inking up whoever would be up for it and mastering certain mantras and topics for his art. Bristol is one lucky duck, Hurst is now at the infamous Purple Rose and is available for walk in’s from today!
We had a chat with Hurst to discuss his time in Berlin, Broken Teeth Club and his move to Bristol.
We last saw each other at the opening party of Broken Teeth Club down Spuistraat, what have you been doing since?
Primarily getting set up for the move to Bristol, I’ve been holding on to a lot of the big project pieces. I’ve been taking a few trips over, getting myself established and spending time with my girlfriend.
What have you been having to think about your move to Bristol?
Just the usual kinds of aspects of moving your life from one place to another, how much I’m allowed to take on a plane and that kinda shit.
It’s a fucking nightmare isn’t it
A little bit, it’s alright because I’ve travelled around quite a lot for a fair few years, this is the first place I really settled down. It’s not like I’ve built up a lot of random crap anyway. My life can fit in a backpack or two.
How long have you been in Berlin for?
Just over a year ago. At that point, I turned up last May just after going to Thailand.
How would you describe Berlin’s tattoo scene?
The scene in Berlin is fucking huge. You can’t throw a stick in the city without hitting a tattoo shop. That can be really good in some ways because you have a huge network and you can meet loads of people and it’s great for guesting and stuff like that. You meet loads of really cool people and amazing artists like our man Dave, Matteo.
As a base, it can be quite difficult because it’s so saturated but you know, you have to do what you can to stand out. For anything networking is really good, I think I’ve met most of my good clients by being out and going to Kit Kat and Sisyphus Food and before you know it you’ve made that connection. That happened exactly at Kit Kat, I met one of my best friends in Berlin. My first full sleeve we ran into each other and started off with wanting something little but it just grew.
Do many people come to Berlin specifically to get tattooed?
I’ve had a couple of people travel over to get tattoo’s from me because Berlins you know, an amazing city and people want to come here. As I said, there are a lot of really well-known artists like @maldenti_ and The Girl With Matchstick Tattoos, especially in black-work. So yeah, I would say it’s a fairly good place to come over for a weekend to get tattoos and party.
You are from good old Blighty, we may still be clinging on to Europe with our fingernails, but do you see a difference between tattoo culture in England and the rest of Europe, or is it more complex than that?
I haven’t spent a massive amount of time in shops in England, some guesting in Aberdeen at a shop called Sailor Max 13, the people are there are really great. In Manchester, I have tattooed in a few places and have really enjoyed it, as well as London and Bristol.
I think a lot of it is that there are different types of people everywhere and scenes, that is reflected like up in Bern and Outlawz which are a bunch of entrepreneurial people, really graphic-centric. Fucking solid energy. Whereas, shops like Purple Rose, it’s more established like the artists are a bit older and the artists are just doing their thing. That has a different energy to it, I think shops sometimes are just as varied as the people.
You mix up realism with abstract themes and a touch of Hurst, how did your style develop, has it always been like this or is it ever-evolving?
It’s been a constant evolution, I tend to find something I like and stick to it, actually that’s a complete lie, total bullshit. I have a vibe and I will find what I like about it, I feel as though I tend to get 10 good pieces out and then I’ll find something else. In doing so, I’ll keep revisiting similar themes and find something that I learnt and change the theme and feed bits into it. A while ago, when I just started out, I did a study on Tibetan Skulls, and then I started creating loads of Tibetan skulls and a load of hyper-psychedelic imagery, deconstructing them and taking chunks, stuff like that. From that, the eyes of the Tibetan skulls are really quite prevalent, they are a very obvious feature and quite recognisable. That is kinda where a lot of the eyes in my work come from. Like the eye emblems, the boldness and different ways from this and that. That’s something I really like, the human body, the textures.
I’m not a big fan of soft grey work because I like contrasting my work, so throwing in some textures and blacks. I like my tattoos to have some real energy rather than just sliding on the skin, I would rather an impact. Like bam, there’s a fucking tattoo.
You have this natural movement with it as well, as you comply with the autonomy of the eyes but they are being shown in the flowery floral structure
As a tattoo artist, your designs should have a flow to it, something to make it feel more alive. I have respect for the new-age stuff, like post-it note tattoos, having a small concise image. With bigger pieces, you can create a dynamic movement within the image which can be really nice.
What’s the story behind you meeting the Broken Teeth Club crew?
When I first came to 1928, obviously I got talking to people there and once we started they asked if I was from Manchester, which I am, they asked if I knew Dave. I didn’t know Dave. I went away to work in another shop for a while and when I came back to work in 1928, Dave was there. This wasn’t a single case, I would get it quite a lot — ‘you know tattoo Dave?’. I don’t fucking know Dave. Loads of people were just showing me his work and kept talking about him, I showed up and I was like ‘are you fucking Dave?’ and he replied ‘I’m Dave!’.
We instantly got on, fucking Northern boys, a bit of fucking banter you know. The first or second time we met, my partner and I did a collab piece of the back of his leg. It’s one of my favourite pieces to date honestly. He’s a really fucking sound guy and with the opening of the shop, he invited me over and Matteo, Lino, Mauri and we went over to hit it up for 4 days. We just tattooed the shit out of some people.
What is it about the Broken Teeth Club?
I think it’s Dave, he is a very unique person with such explosive and loving energy. He’s a little but jivvy, but he made me feel really welcome and ready to be there. I think there is something that can be said about that, anyone that goes to that place knows that he is really happy for them to be there.
How do you feel about being back in the mainland?
I have mixed feelings because it feels like a real level of settling down and having a base and really starting my life with my partner, who is also a hand-poke tattoo artist. It’s a step that a younger me has not been ready to make for a long time but now committing to this, having a base and building real-life feels like a big step. But also, it’s going to be really nice to be close to my family again, back in England. I left a good few years ago, maybe 4 / 5, when I left the army I went to Thailand, was living in Cambodia and things like that. They haven’t seen much of me, now I feel like it’s time to step up and actually spend some time with my family and be there for my little sister.
You already have a shop as your base don’t you?
Yes! Purple Rose in Bristol-, it’s one of the oldest and well-established shops in Bristol, there are a lot of really skilled artists there. It’s really great to be excepted there, I feel quite nice to be able to walk in there acknowledging that it’s a great shop and being offered a job.
What’s the story of you getting the guest spot?
Well, it would be my partner. She works in Bristol and has been working there for quite a while! Scarlett is a really fucking good tattoo artist, that was my foot in the door. I dropped them an email, they put up a post about finding an artist so I sent them my stuff. From there they liked my stuff and here we are.
Have you worked in a studio with Scarlett before?
This will be the first one, it’s going to be interesting. It is a big shop and we will be in different parts, you know, we won’t be in each other’s pockets. Scarlett was guesting in 1928 before, which was great, we were in the backroom tattooing at the same time and it was quite romantic.
Find Chris and Scarlett on Instagram at @ink.hurst and @ink_dotdot
