“I was working on Sixth Avenue and West Fourth Street in a kind of
dingy, grimy tattoo parlor,” recalls tattoo artist Keith “Bang Bang”
McCurdy of the time he first met Vogue’s April cover star, Rihanna,
almost 10 years ago. “It was right when ‘Umbrella’ came out. I met her,
I tattooed her, then I went home and googled her name.” Now, of course,
he’s a bit more familiar with the fashion icon. “She’s the shit, man.
Her style is fucking dope.”
The duo’s first tattoo together, a Sanskrit verse
etched down Rihanna’s right hip and thigh, is not her most visible or
well known. That honor goes to the henna-inspired hand tattoo, or the
gun beneath her right arm, or even the jaunty “Shhh . . . ” on one bossy
finger (all done by Bang Bang). But it’s a tattoo that launched a
thousand more. Since that first encounter, Bang Bang has been
responsible for a sizeable percentage of well-known celebrity tattoos.
Cara Delevingne’s delicate and ferocious pointer-finger lion, Adele’s
graceful scripted “Paradise,” even Justin Bieber’s “Forgive”—all were done by the dude-next-door, celeb-by-accident tattoo artist. Now, in addition to his eponymous Soho parlor, Bang Bang has his own book, Bang Bang: My Life in Ink;
a leg famously tattooed with celebrity autographs; and a new shop (or
two!) on the horizon (he’s still deciding on a city, but investors are
on board).
And it all started with Rihanna, who got his name from her nipple piercer (naturally). She referred him to Katy Perry, and Swizz Beatz, and Delevingne; from the Caras of the world come the Kylies. (Kendall Jenner was inked at the shop by a staffer; Kim Kardashian West,
however, does not have any tattoos, having famously said that body art
is like putting “a bumper sticker on a Bentley.”) With this kind of
celebrity demand, it’s difficult for normal, non-famous people to get an
appointment with Bang Bang himself, though his team is available six
days a week at his shop. “I don’t even tattoo that much anymore,” he
says. He and his team open up his schedule for two weeks every six
months to a year, during which time he’ll take consultations. After
that, though, the window slams shut. “I’ll plan out maybe 300 hours of
work [during those two weeks],” he says, “but it’s only for five
people.”
For the exceptionally talented and particularly beautiful, though, the rules are different. “When Rihanna calls, I’m available,” Bang Bang says. “I opened the store when it was closed for Kylie.” For Bieber, he even flew all the way to Panama at a moment’s notice to give him the sizable gothic cross in the center of his chest. Perry books him for weeks at a time. He joins her tour, and tattoos her dancers while he’s at it, and she generously foots the entire bill.
Bang Bang certainly has range: He painted Delevingne’s temporary cherry blossom sleeves for the 2015 Met Gala, and this week finds him at Disneyland with NFL players Odell Beckham, Jr., and Von Miller. “I’m going to tattoo Odell all week in Drake’s house,” he says, and then pauses. “It doesn’t make sense. But apparently it’s going to happen.” Will Drake be there? “I have no idea . . . weird shit happens.” But lest anyone think he’s in it for the fame, or the proximity to it, his vibe is decidedly less fanboy, more laid-back homeboy. “I connect with these people, you know? Like, you make friends at work.”
Of course, it’s not just that right-place-right-time factor that has gotten Bang Bang where he is. His work (best viewed on the shop’s Instagram) is hyperrealistic, like a Chuck Close for your forearm. And, like a Chuck Close original, they don’t come cheap: An hour with Bang Bang costs about the same as a Givenchy bag.
“One of my big goals was to bridge the goal between tattooing and fashion,” he says. It worked: Bang Bang has tattooed at least four Vogue cover stars (this is Rihanna’s third appearance) and countless girls and boys who have been featured within (have we mentioned Selena Gomez and Rita Ora?). When his popularity with Vogue is pointed out to him, he just shakes his head and smiles. “That’s why we do this. That’s the coolest feeling in the world!”
Bang Bang Tattoo, 328 Broome Street, New York, New York; bangbangforever.com.
http://www.vogue.com/13417045/bang-bang-rihanna-tattoo-artist/
For the exceptionally talented and particularly beautiful, though, the rules are different. “When Rihanna calls, I’m available,” Bang Bang says. “I opened the store when it was closed for Kylie.” For Bieber, he even flew all the way to Panama at a moment’s notice to give him the sizable gothic cross in the center of his chest. Perry books him for weeks at a time. He joins her tour, and tattoos her dancers while he’s at it, and she generously foots the entire bill.
Bang Bang certainly has range: He painted Delevingne’s temporary cherry blossom sleeves for the 2015 Met Gala, and this week finds him at Disneyland with NFL players Odell Beckham, Jr., and Von Miller. “I’m going to tattoo Odell all week in Drake’s house,” he says, and then pauses. “It doesn’t make sense. But apparently it’s going to happen.” Will Drake be there? “I have no idea . . . weird shit happens.” But lest anyone think he’s in it for the fame, or the proximity to it, his vibe is decidedly less fanboy, more laid-back homeboy. “I connect with these people, you know? Like, you make friends at work.”
Of course, it’s not just that right-place-right-time factor that has gotten Bang Bang where he is. His work (best viewed on the shop’s Instagram) is hyperrealistic, like a Chuck Close for your forearm. And, like a Chuck Close original, they don’t come cheap: An hour with Bang Bang costs about the same as a Givenchy bag.
“One of my big goals was to bridge the goal between tattooing and fashion,” he says. It worked: Bang Bang has tattooed at least four Vogue cover stars (this is Rihanna’s third appearance) and countless girls and boys who have been featured within (have we mentioned Selena Gomez and Rita Ora?). When his popularity with Vogue is pointed out to him, he just shakes his head and smiles. “That’s why we do this. That’s the coolest feeling in the world!”
Bang Bang Tattoo, 328 Broome Street, New York, New York; bangbangforever.com.
http://www.vogue.com/13417045/bang-bang-rihanna-tattoo-artist/
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