Paul Booth (From Boonton, N.J., USA)”I won’t do unicorns,” he warns. “I just see the darker side of life,”
Beginnings
His 5-foot, 10-inch frame is covered in black tattoos. His favorite–running from the right side of face over the top and back of his buzzed-bald head–is an abstract design sketched by his mentor Felix Leu and inked by Leu’s son Filip (Felix died of cancer before he could finish the job). A hoop ring hangs from between Booth’s nostrils, and dark dreadlocks dangle from his nape to his knees
Booth attended Catholic school through 12th grade in Boonton, N.J., where teachers scolded him for doodling images of monsters and skeletons during class. After high school he tried his hand at graphic design, but that too proved a tough fit. In 1988 he apprenticed at a tattoo studio in nearby Butler, where he inked generic roses, cartoon characters and the occasional skull. His big break came three years later at a Pittsburgh tattoo convention where artists were abuzz over a black and gray demon Booth had emblazoned on the thigh of his then girlfriend.
Soon after, Booth started his own parlor out of his house in Boonton and by 1997 had saved enough to open a studio on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. At its height, Booth had six tattoo artists, including himself. After his move to Hell’s Kitchen in the fall of 2007 he had a falling-out with his crew. Even with a smaller staff, down to three, Booth says Last Rites is on track to exceed $450,000 in annual revenue this year.
The dungeon-like room, lit only by small fluorescent lamps above three chairs, greets the customer with piercing heavy-metal music that sends vibrations through the floor. Flickering red candles illuminate the black walls, adorned with paintings and sculptures of monsters, skulls and bleeding faces. The prefect place to make your nightmares come to life on your skin.
Career
Last Rites Tattoo Theatre in Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen
Style
He won’t do unicorns, but for snakes and skulls, tattoo artist Paul Booth charges $400 an hour. For him the darker the idea the better.
“I consult with the person for hours sometimes before I even touch them,” says Booth, adding, a tad eerily, “I want to get inside their head, find out their fears, what troubles them and what they’re looking for in the image.” The chat is gratis, as is the preliminary sketching. The payment clock starts ticking when needle touches skin.
Paul Booth in Popular Culture
Booth’s masterful paintings and macabre tattoo art is notable for its aggressive nature, and, as such, has been in high demand among dark art and tattoo enthusiasts for decades, including numerous major bands in the metal scene such as Slayer, Slipknot, Pantera, Down, Lamb of god and many more. In 2002, Rolling Stone Magazine featured Booth and proudly crowned him “The new king of rock tattoos.”
Business Ventures
The National Arts Club – one of the oldest and most respected art institutions in the Nation –
Booth is continually driven to help push the tattoo industry forward in as many ways as possible. In 2000, he created an international art movement called “The ArtFusion Experiment” with Filip and Titine Leu, world-renowned tattooists from Switzerland. ArtFusion succeeded and continues to unite leading tattoo artists from around the world to create one–of–a–kind works of art.
He has recently started making films. His directorial debut, the award–winning feature documentary The ArtFusion Experiment, continues to extend the reach and success of the movement he created. As a director and lifelong horror fan, he finds film to be an exciting and fresh form of expression. His experimental, pseudo-documentary Paul Booth’s Last Rites: Volume I deftly illustrates his unique, twisted vision.
his first film: a documentary about artists from around the world coming together to paint and sell their wares to raise money for art education programs. His second film takes viewers on a tour of Booth’s tattoo studio.
Inspirational Hymns:an album of haunting keyboard music
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