Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Gabriel Cece. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Hi Gabriel, thanks for joining us today. We’d love to hear about when you first realized that you wanted to pursue a creative path professionally.

Growing up, I played baseball, and I was pretty good at it, like real good actually, and I dreamed of playing professionally, but I stumbled into skateboards and punk rock music, and those newly found (deviant) passions pulled me away from my previous boyhood dreams. From there, I used to think I wanted to be an architect, and then an art teacher, but those ideas faded as I became more immersed in the subcultures of independent music, skateboarding, cigarettes and coffee. Having drawn and painted for as far back in my life as I could remember (as my mother is an artist at heart, and has always doodled eyes and suns) , I got tattooed at 16 years old, by a friend of a friend, and the second the needle hit my skin, I knew that tattooing was it for me.

I had always been interested in tattoos, since I was a kid, the way most young-ins are enamored with colorful pictures in places that they “shouldn’t be,” according to societal norms…but the fascination stuck with me, and being tattooed (illegally) without my parents permission as a teenager, left a lasting impression on me in more ways than one: in my skin, with a burning desire in my heart and soul.

I’m still not sure if it was the smell of the green soap, the seediness of the rickety tat-shack in Hobart (Indiana), the smell of cigarettes, weed, and incense as we walked through the doors, or the process of drawing my own design and giving it the tattooer (Roy Boy Junior), or the feeling of actually getting tattooed after carefully observing him translate my drawing into a stencil on my skin, but something clicked, and I knew that I had to pursue it with everything I had.

As I watched classmates and upperclassmen start getting tattooed as a freshman in highschool, I obsessively drew tattoo ideas for myself and friends since I was 13. In an unusual fashion for tattooers, Roy Junior was kind enough to walk me through the whole process, explain a whole lot to me as he was tattooing, encourage me and give me ideas of tattoo subject matter to draw, and then let me leave with some National Tattoo Supply catalogs that day…which, at the time, way back in 1992, was absolutely unheard of, as tattooing and how too do it, much less get your foot in the door for an apprenticeship, was still a highly guarded secret.

In the beginning of the spring of 1994, I had searched high and low for a proper apprenticeship in Northwest Indiana, and finally landed one at Famous Leg Greg’s in Gary. Unfortunately, I was only there for six months, and it ended poorly, much to my dismay. I hadn’t done anything wrong, but the shop was having legal troubles with a previous apprentice, and they told me that the timing just wasn’t good for them to take me on.

I searched for another apprenticeship, but couldn’t find one at the time. It wasn’t too long after though, with my father’s support, that I had my own tattoo gear (including an autoclave), teaching myself all that I could, and was good enough to land my first real job as a tattooer at Young Guns in Hobart, by the fall of 1995. Ironically, it was the same company, just at a different location, that I got my first tattoo, in 1992. Since then, I’ve learned all I could absorb from those around me, and continue to do so, after 28 years as a professional tattooer.

Gabriel, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

As previously stated, I fell into tattooing mainly because of my attraction to the subversive subculture, that it used to be. Having drawn and painted for as way back as I could hold a pencil in my hand, tattooing was attractive to me as a way to get my art out there into the world, on the most permanent canvas I could imagine, because I knew that what I drew and painted wasn’t meant for art college, the graphic design and fine art worlds, or museums. What was, and is, in my head, isn’t for the mainstream appetite, and tattooing seemed like the path to be able to continue making art, that fit a specific genre of humans (who were also not interested in pop culture or the fads of the times), and somehow make a living, pursuing what made me happy…as it would satisfy the burning passion I had for the tattoo culture, industry, and community that I so deeply respected and wanted to be a part of.

I make tattoos, and sometimes I still get to paint, but mostly just tattooing and the custom drawings required for each project are what I do, on an individual basis, for each new client who I have a consultation with. I suppose that taking people’s ideas and turning them into pieces of art for them to wear on their skins, could be considered problem solving, however, I tend to look at it more like finding a creative solution for situations that cannot be fully explained, yet need to be interpreted.

I have always maintained my way of doing things as different, whether it be in tattooing clients, or hosting the tattooers who work at Studio Evolve, and have done my best to give people what I didn’t have as client in the chair, or a tattooer working at a shop. Plainly put, I want everyone to have what I never had, but always wanted for. I do my best to make everyone happy, comfortable, and feeling safe. I am open to suggestion, I listen to what people want so I can give them what they need, and I communicate honestly, as detailed as possible, so that clients and tattooers alike can know what to expect from me, or what my limitations might be, as a tattooer, or as a business owner. There’s no bullshit about me, I don’t cut corners, and I always do my best for anyone who needs it from me, as a working professional, business owner, father, partner, and human in general.

I am most proud of what Studio Evolve has become since we opened our doors in July of 2010, and all of the lives it supports for those who work there, from the receptionist, to the shop manager, to all the tattooers who have ever done a tattoo within our walls. What started out as a dream to be different from every shop I’ve ever worked in, has grown into a full building of about twenty tattooer renters, six or more employees, a maintenance and cleaning Joe (who’s the main man behind the scenes), and a handful of outside contractors doing work for the shop. It’s a pretty well oiled machine, it has everything a tattooer could need to do their work. We support everyone who comes through our doors to work there the same, we all make great tattoos at fair prices, treat our customers with appreciation and respect, and we have no drama. We are a tribe, we all do our thing, come and go as we please, work together or separately, and we’re there for eachother if anyone needs it.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Resilient is a word that I often use to remind myself that I have been, for the almost thirty years since I fell in love with tattooing, and hope to be for the rest of my days. Tattooing isn’t kind, it’ll kick you to the ground and almost stomp the life out of you, before you get back up, dust off the debris, and try again, and try again, and try again until you get it right. My entire career, if not my entire life, has been an exercise in building resilience, there is not one singular story about it that I can share, that sums it all up. It has been the sum total of all my experiences, the daily struggle, the weekly, monthly, and sometimes years long series of several dumpster fires at once, that require constant attention, so they don’t burn down your entire life.

Not having served an entirely full apprenticeship has its disadvantages in how other working professional tattooers look at you, but it also leaves lots of questions unanswered. I didn’t know everything I wanted to when I first got that first gig at a tattoo shop, but I knew I needed to know more. That attitude of always needing to know more has kept me grounded and learning, all the time, every day…and overcoming the stigma of “he didn’t serve a real apprenticeship” has empowered me to always do better than those who doubted me, and give my all to everyone, so that I am constantly growing, and never giving up.

Not having any real world business experience before opening Studio Evolve, and using the model of just wanting to be different from any place I ever worked, wasn’t exactly the best way to go about things, but somehow, it’s panned out well enough. I can look back at all the missteps and mistakes as learning experiences, knowing that if I hadn’t erred along the way, we wouldn’t be where we are now, and I wouldn’t be as grateful as I am for landing on my feet.

I could type for miles about all that I’ve lost (sleep, friendships, relationships, my sanity) to tattooing and my shop over the years, but that wouldn’t properly depict the happy endings I’ve landed at, nor would it be very positive commentary. I can sum it all up into a few sentences, a few mantras I’ve repeated to myself as I’ve need them though: Everything is temporary, this too shall pass, just keep going, just keep going, just keep going, never give up, and don’t fuckin’die.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

The resource that I’ve used the most, but never gave appropriate credit to, and never actually realized that I depended on as much as I was, is me. That may sound arrogant, but I mean this in a way that is meant to be a reminder to anyone reading, that all you ever need is you. Yes, it is true that our ideas, goals, plans, knowledge, execution, and support along the way are all hugely important…but we all know plans don’t usually go to plan, and in the end, the only one we can actually one hundred percent count on all the time is ourselves.

What I’ve realized at this point in my career, at this halfway to dead age, is all the self doubt, self criticism, self induced confusion, over analyzing, worrying, anxiety, fear, frustration, anger, even self hatred at times, coupled with multiple instances of wanting to give up and walk away from Studio Evolve, or even tattooing, could have been prevented, if I only just trusted myself more.

I have learned to take a deep breath, or at least five rather, and step back enough to have a clearer overview of things, so that I can soak it all in, absorb all the information, and react more appropriately to each situation that comes my way.

Trust yourself, it’s what matters most.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://studioevolvetattoo.com/tattoo-artists/gabriel-cece/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gabriel_cece/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gabriel.cece
• Other: http://gabrielcece.com/

Image Credits
Gabriel Cece