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MIAMI BURGESS
OF PSYCHO TATTOO 3 IN DOUGLASVILLE, GA
by Cory Gillispie
Photos courtesy of Miami Burgess
From the November 2004 issue of Prick Magazine.
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 Miami Burgess. |
 Tattoos by Miami Burgess. |
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Miami Burgess' phenomenal use of color and attention to detail caught my eye right away
when I saw his work - from portraits to underwater scenes to movie memorabilia -
so of course I was excited when I was given the opportunity to interview the soft spoken
and thoughtful artist.
Miami is a Florida native, and has been tattooing for 12 years. The last seven years he has been with Deano Cook's Psycho Tattoo, and is currently tattooing at Psycho 3 in Douglasville, Georgia putting
his own spin on realistic to new school tattoos.
Cory: How and why did you get into tattooing?
Miami: I was airbrushing for a tattoo artist, and he wanted to
learn how to airbrush. I wanted to learn to tattoo, so we traded
out. I just thought it was so neat to tattoo, to have your piece out
walking around all over the place, you know? Plus, it's working on a
living canvas. It's totally different; round, rather then a flat piece of
paper. It's more difficult to do, and that's what I like. It's challenging.
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Tell me about working with Deano Cook.
It's awesome. It's something that every artist dreams of
doing, working with someone with a lot of talent like that. He's
inspired me a lot; sometimes he'd push me that extra step. It's made
me become what I am today. It's just too bad that we work in separate
shops now, though. Before, we were in the same booth together.
Now we have separate shops, but we still go diving together.
Who are your mentors and influences?
I watched Tony Olivas a lot. That's where it all came together.
He showed me a couple things, was really cool. I started working
for Deano right after that. You know, when you put somebody into
a shop with a lot of awesome artists, like Deano, you can't help but
progress. It really took off from there.
Some of my influences are, of course, Jack Rudy, Tony Olivas and
Tom Renshaw. They're black and grey artists, but they're good people,
and I love their style. As for color, I'd say Guy Aitchison and
Corey Miller. I love their style and their color. Another big influence of mine is Jime Litwalk. I really like Jime.
What was the first tattoo you ever got? Do you still have it?
Yeah, my first tattoo is the Miami Hurricanes one (upper right arm). The reason I got it is
because I just wanted a tattoo, and I wanted to break my mom into the whole tattoo thing. She's a
big Miami Hurricanes fan, so is my grandmother. I thought if I got a Hurricanes tattoo it would be
cool, and it was, and then I went ape-shit.
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 Tattoos by Miami Burgess. |
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What is your motivation in tattooing?
Every piece I do, I put 110% into it. And the way that turns out, that motivates me. Every time
I see a new piece, or learn a new
trick, it always motivates me. When
I go to tattoo conventions, talking
with different artists, sharing their
tricks, I can't wait to get back to try
something out.
What art forms other
then tattooing do you pursue?
I do a lot of airbrush, a lot
of custom painting on bikes and
cars. Whatever can be painted, I'll
paint it.
Who are you interested
in collecting tattoos from?
I'm trying to finish what I've got now. I've got Deano still
working on my left arm. It's a portrait of my mom with Jesus and
angels, and it looks killer. Brian Warnekros is also doing some great
work for me.
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 Tattoos by Miami Burgess. |
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What are your most and least favorite things about
tattooing?
My favorite thing is seeing all these artists doing all this killer
work, it's something that really motivates me and pushes me. It's
like, 'hey man you need to get back to work in here. You're slacking.'
There's some bad ass artists out there.
The worst thing about this
industry is the small shops who
don't care about anything but the
money, the ones that don't know what they're doing, tattooing
underage kids, giving people flux infections and so forth. They're
giving the whole industry a bad name. That's the only thing I dislike.
If you could own a piece of art from any artist,
what would it be?
Probably an underwater scene - a collaboration of
some of my favorite artists, that would be something to see. I
haven't seen it yet, but Deano just went down to Destin and did
a big wall with Wyland.
Last question, what would you consider to be the
perfect client and tattoo?
It would have to be someone that hates the sun. The
whitest chick or dude you've ever seen with full back and full
sleeve wide open, with nothing on it. Not a mark. That would be my favorite client. I'd hope they liked the underwater stuff. I'd like to do something like that in a full sleeve.
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If you are interested in getting more information or collecting a piece from this top-notch
artist, Miami can be reached at 678.838.8283 during regular shop hours or e-mailed at
MiamiBurgess@netzero.com. His online portfolio can also be found at psychotats.com.
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