Liam Monahan
I was always into art as a kid and wanted to be a tattoo artist when I grew up. I started spray painting when I was about 12 years old, at first illegally on walls and trains around the town I grew up in Ocean Grove Victoria, Australia until I was approached by the city council. They decided to employ a team of artists to spray giant murals on walls around the city to brighten up the town and put a stop to graffiti. As we were respected artists the walls stayed untouched.
At the age of 14 I got into airbrushing when a class was offered at my school. I continued to pursue this through night classes and as I went up levels I actually started spending holidays and taking time off school to do more advanced classes. Eventually I received an invitation to the most advanced airbrush course in Australia, available to 20 students and held the first Saturday and Sunday of every month for a year. Once I finished this I dropped out of school and did a year of visual arts at TAFE (a trade college).
At 18 I decided to move to the Gold Coast, Queensland, a 26 hour drive from my hometown, to chase my dream. It was there that I started spraying custom designs on surfboards for Diverse Surfboards, which was a major supplier to Indonesia and all over Australia. Eight months later I landed my dream job as a tattoo artist, which was put to a sudden halt when the shop got into trouble with a local bike club. Not long after that I moved back to my hometown and started from scratch.
I decided to start my own airbrushing business and took out a loan, working full time until I could get on as an apprentice tattoo artist again. I hired one of my friends, a qualified spray painter panel beater, and we started specializing in custom motor bikes, helmets, custom cars and once again wall murals. Just before my 21st birthday I got a job offer back in the tattoo industry, closed the factory and continued to pursue my dream job.
I spent two years training and tattooing before I decided to travel to America with a fellow tattoo artist (Mick Squires) to learn more about the industry and further our careers. We stayed with well known tattoo artist John Montgomery, part owner of Alla Prima Ink. He took us through the factory and taught us about inks so we knew what we were using was safe. We then went to the Hell City Tattoo Convention (the biggest tattoo convention in America) in Phoenix Arizona. It was there that I met some of my childhood idles and even had the pleasure of having my entire arm tattooed by one of my favourite artists Carson Hill whom I remain friends with today.
From there the trip took us to Brooklyn where I stayed with Stefano Alcantara who worked at the all-time famous dark arts Last Rights Tattoo Studio with owner Paul Booth in New York. This shop itself is a work of art. We continued to Boston, Massachusetts to attend the Paradise Tattoo Gathering. I was accepted into the first three day seminar held by Guy Atchison, the tattoo artist that inspired my career, and attended a few more seminars held by major players in the industry.
Having finished my trip I continued my tattoo career back in Australia. My all time dream was to be able to tattoo and snowboard in the same place, not possible where I currently was. In January 2010 the possibility presented itself thanks to the lucky coincidence of a lost phone, belonging to Jessie Krienke from Poison Apple Tattoo studio in Fernie. A group of my friends had moved to Fernie a few months prior and when they returned the phone they got to talking about a friend they had in Australia. Becca Macdonald and Jessie looked into my work and seemingly out of nowhere I received an email offering me a full time job. Not thinking twice I left my job, sold my cars, cut the lease on my house, and left within four weeks. That’s what brought me to the wonderful town of Fernie, where I finally get to snowboard and tattoo in the same place.
It’s not very often you have a job that you look forward to every day and can also take with you all over the world. It becomes a very big part of life - you’re pretty much working all of the time even after hours when you go to bars etc. People want to talk about their tattoo ideas and ask for ideas to add to their existing tattoos. We do what we have to, to keep promoting our work.
My style has changed over the years. It started as graffiti style art work which progressed into a traditional tattoo style, then into more of a Japanese tattoo style to what I do today, which is both bio organic and portrait realism with my own stylized twist. My style will continue to change over the years by other influences that come into my life, traveling to different countries around the world and picking up their art culture, and the more I change as an individual. It’s safe to say that I’m never gonna stop learning and growing in the industry as long as I keep the passion I have today.
