[Si] TV

In recent years the art of tattooing has moved from a form of expression for society’s outcasts to a part of a Red State resident’s drunken night on the town. Thanks to reality TV and attitude that runs over, Kat Von D stands at the forefront of this artistic statement. The sexy, business savvy Latina, who is tatted from head-to-toe, was once a fixture on TLC’s popular Miami Ink. Irreconcilable differences with co-owner Ami James led to Kat getting canned. But it also brought her and her talents back home to L.A., where she’s debuted her own show, LA Ink, also on TLC. With a nearly an all female staff of artists working at the sexy, chic shop, Ms. Von D shows the world a different take on this male-dominated industry. “It’s not just for gangsters, hookers, and bikers anymore,” Kat explains. “Everyone from soccer moms to grandmothers are getting tattooed…[It is classic art form] and something that won’t ever go out of style.”

The art form appealed to Ms. Von D at an age when most kids are still riding bikes and playing double-dutch. “I’ve been drawing since I was a kid…hanging out with a lot of punk rock kids and in the punk rock scene around the time I was 12 and 13,” she says. “Everyone around me had tattoos. [It was] just one of those things that really appealed to me.”

The first time Kat Von D’s got pricked, she was 14. The sassy mistress of ink got a love memento, an Old English letter “J,” tatted on her ankle. “It was for the guy I was dating around that time,” she says. At the same age, Kat anxiously gave her very first tattoo. “I never went through a traditional apprenticeship,” she harkens of her first gig. “I was kind of self-taught. Once I turned 16, I got my first professional tattoo shop job and people began helping me out, giving me tips and guiding me.” The first act-in-ink that Kat left on her friend was The Misfits skull logo. With punk rock, friends, and Los Angeles as her scene of inspiration, Kat was on her way to honing her craft.

This Colton, California-native was born in Nuevo Leon, Mexico to Argentine parents, and didn’t grow up aspiring to make people bleed for a living. In fact, Kat was headed down a very different path. “My dad is a sixth generation doctor and I always thought that when I grew up, I would be like my dad because he is my hero,” Kat says. 

Kat burst onto the boob tube at 24, to become the first female artist to work for the famed Miami Ink. But in Miami she was uninspired and clashing with her boss. Now back home in L.A. and around her Mexican roots her talents are flourishing. “I definitely think that my cultural heritage contributes to my art,” Kat enthuses. “Just living in Los Angeles most of my life and being around Mexican culture and being born in Mexico, I take a lot of my fine-line influence from that. I think you can definitely see that quality in my work.” The raven-haired beauty who’s a fan of 1950’s Mexican cinema, counts portraits of screen sirens like Maria Felix and Yolanda Montes, among others, on her body. “My culture definitely has influenced me.”

Although she never went to med school Kat is still a healer. Known worldwide for her portrait work, her specialty lies in realism. “With portraits, someone is getting them for an important reason, whether it’s to remember someone they idolize, or a family member, or someone that has passed away,” she says. “They’re always very important events in people’s lives, so the fact that you can tattoo something on someone and impress them so much and touch them, is the best part about it.”

—Additional reporting by Samantha McQuibban