Charlie King
My names Charlie King and I’m a tattoo artist and sculpture from London, studying in Brighton. I started tattooing just over a year ago after getting tattoos myself and just speaking to the artists about how to tattoo. I love the thought that in years to come I might bump into one of my tattoos out in the wild and its a great honour when someone wants to get one of my drawings on them! My sculptures are fairly minimal constructivist inspired works. They don’t hold and profound idea but I look to use form, line and composition to create a strong work that is visually pleasing and sits well within itself. Im excited to continue my work with tattooing and sculpture and looking forward to where it takes me! Instagram: @charlieking2000
Where would you like your work to take you?
I hope my work takes me too lots of places but I really love it in London. I hope I can one day get a studio space that will allow me to make sculptures and tattoo people all in one room, I think that would be really nice. I like the idea of a private studio with multiple creative practices happening at the same time.
Which part of your creative process do you enjoy most?
My favourite part about the creative process with sculpture and tattooing is when you’re right in the middle working and you forget you’re even there. Feeling fully focused on your current task.
Where do you draw inspiration from?
My inspiration for my sculpture comes from the objects that I work with. Usually found objects from the street and then allowing them to shape the piece. Most of my sculpture work is intuitive and doesn’t have much planning. For my tattoos its really about bits of architecture or objects in antique shops that inspire me the most.
What piece of music would you say compliments your work the most?
Its really hard to say what music fits my work the best! I’ve been listening to a lot of Courtney Barnett recently so maybe something from her? To be honest it changes with whatever I’m listening to at the time. With tattoos, I’ll tattoo to whatever music the person I’m working with wants to listen to so anything goes!
Can you list a couple other creatives/friends/people you look to for inspiration?
A lot of my inspiration comes from my friends and working alongside them, @jamesstrirrat, @mattymatman and @edhearn_. Im really inspired by old constructivist sculptors like Vladimir Tatlin as well. For tattoos, I really have to thank @lozkeystoneart for getting me into the idea of tattooing, @stonek.161 for giving me a lot of useful tips. I also really like the styles of @wasper.wames, @studio___39, @faber_lawn and @toni_brutal. I follow a lot of great artists and the list for inspiration would take forever to write in full.
