Jack Douglas
Jack Douglas takes the idea of packing in colour to the next level with his vibrant designs and frenetic artworks. Bright greens smash happily into hot pink, while vivid blues melt into the sublimest purples. Starting out painting the walls and alleyways of Melbourne, Jack soon moved on to inking up skin and has become one of my favourite tattoo artists. Jack is also a purveyor of fine artworks. We caught up with him to hear more about it.
Please tell us a bit about yourself and how you got into art, graff and tattoing?
I grew up obsessed with animation, videogames and all things lowbrow. I used to go into the local tattoo studio when I was a kid and pore over the magazines and portfolios they had in their waiting area, lurk in skate shops admiring the latest skate decks and was perpetually glued to the TV wherever possible. From there it was only a matter of time before friends and teachers in high school introduced me to the pop-surrealism movement and graffiti. Street art was also starting to blow up in Melbourne outside the train-painting scene, making its way into art galleries and larger scale productions from the likes of SDM, ID crew and Everfresh etc.
I got into art school straight out of highschool and was doing (semi) professional painting gigs for local councils and businesses here and there from age 17. In a very roundabout way, doing crummy characters on walls led me to meeting Ed Lim (owner of Forgotten Sons) who was kind enough to teach me to tattoo and I owe him so much still to this day. Tattooing took over my life in the best way possible.
You have a pretty distinctive style – how do you think it has developed and evolved over time?
My teacher stressed that I should always be learning and trying different styles and I still try to push that now. Because I made my way into tattooing via my personal creative practice, people already had an idea of what I liked and I was very fortunate to have some great friends that trusted me with their skin in those early days. I think everything I do is a regurgitation of things I like, so I struggle to see myself as unique in any way, but am very flattered when people say otherwise as I want to grow my more personal work and develop it constantly.
You co-run the amazing Shinra Electric – can you tell us about the shop and how that all came about?
After working Northside for a couple of years and being in tattooing for 7-8 years, I started to have nice chats online with an incredibly talented human that went by Godfrey Atlantis in the tattooing community (now known under Limit Break Customs). Eventually I introduced myself at one of the Melbourne tattoo conventions and we kept chatting. He’d hit a point in his career where he wanted to focus more in a specific direction and wanted to open up his own private space, and he asked if I’d work for/ with him there. We had a great time working together, but sadly the saucy little COVID virus cut our time together short as when we came out of the last lockdown, Godfrey was wanting to be closer to family back in NZ and Limit Break had grown to a point where he wanted to pursue it full time. He offered to sell me the business and sign the lease over. At the time I’d worked with Carly Van Vidler for a little under a month and wanted to continue working with them. I’d seen their passion for their work as well as how amazing and caring they were towards their clients. It was a no-brainer asking them to go into Shinra with me as a partnership, and it’s been a wild ride ever since. We’re not a massive business and far from the powerhouses that I looked up to like Dynamic and Tattoo Magic, but we are stoked to have our little space where clients and artists alike are comfortable and come to us to collect weird nerdy art.
What makes you smile and what scares you the most?
DOGS! Well, all animals bring me joy really, but if you put a whippet in front of me, I’ll lose my mind.
In terms of fear, I’d have to say having something sticky on my hands and shower curtains.
What’s next on the horizon for you – tell us everything!
I’ve been doing little night courses trying to upskill my drawing, learning oil painting (which is still very new to me) and would love to continue trying to learn to sculpt as well. Outside of that just trying to find happiness and contentment where I can between all the chaos.
Links
jackdouglas.com.au
Fast 5ive Zine 