Truth be told...

We have been really lucky to have some coverage in The Star's Metro section earlier this week on Dec 2. Got some phone calls, some curious, some kinda .... weird, but you know, it's all good. Here's the story, if ya'll missed it:
http://thestar.com.my/metro/story.asp?file=/2010/12/2/central/7509592&sec=central

Checked our emails after work this evening to find that we've received a bunch of messages, all alerting us to malicious allegations and slanderous remarks made by another artist/shop owner on his Facebook page.

This is the page:
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/profile.php?id=721874433&v=wall

It came as a rude shock to see someone in the industry would behave this way. In response, here's what we have to say:


My thanks to those of you who have taken the time to let me know what is being said about me and mine on Facebook. However, I am not in the tattoo business to spend my time in such childish pursuits as personal attacks on people I don't even know. My focus is on the art, the artform, and doing what I do to further the recognition of tattooing as a true form of artistic expression. And while I must agree with the vast majority of you who have described his attacks as "an act of desperation trying to maintain his waning stranglehold on the tattoo scene in Malaysia", the simple fact that any warring between artists and shop owners does absolutely nothing to improve public perception of tattooing and the tattooed, it only makes all of us appear childish and desperate. And that I will have nothing to do with.

As I said in The Star, a tattoo community wherein artists and shop owners are friends, where professionals in the business trade information and techniques, and where another artist's work can be openly appreciated even when being viewed by people from another shop, progresses rapidly into a world where life for everyone is improved. One where the art coming from the area soon reaches out to touch the entire world. And that is where my efforts will remain focused.

This kind of thing is what gets the most attention - The Drama. Whether we realize it or not, as professionals in this industry we have a responsibility to our clients and the entirety of the tattoo community NOT to engage in behavior that causes a bad light to be shone on those who express themselves through tattoos. As a professional, and as a man who genuinely loves tattooing as an artform, I will gladly take the abuse from one bad apple rather than reacting to it and disparaging the artform that I love so much. Tattooing in Malaysia has enough hurdles to overcome, sociological, religious, and historical among others. It is just starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel here. I can fight back, gain nothing I don't already have, and set the community back decades, or I can go on with my life, uninjured and reaching for the stars. And, in the words of the immortal Jimmi Hendrix, "'Scuse me, while I kiss the sky!"

One other thought here before I close. I want to make absolutely clear that this writing was brought on by the actions of one single artist/owner, and that other people tattooing in that same shop do not seem to be involved to the best of my knowledge. I have seen recent work done by Simon, and work done by Lina, and have nothing but good things to say about the both of them. My respect for them as people and artists remains intact, as it does for their contribution in furthering tattooing as an artform.

Randy.