Michael T. Gardner
Snohomish, WA
Michael is a lifelong artist and a career tattooist. Each informs the other and he is happiest while bringing beauty into the world.
Message
Michael T. Gardner was born into a supportive blue collar family in the American heartland where he was encouraged to be creative and self sufficient. After two years of art school he relocated to the Southwest intending to create an artistic life for himself. Tattooing caught his attention soon after arrival and he launched a career in tattooing that he continues to practice today.
Upon leaving the Southwest he travelled a bit and ended up close to his childhood home in the fall of September 2001. The events of 9/11 changed the course of so many lives and his was among them. In 2002 he relocated again, this time to the Puget Sound area of the Pacific Northwest where he currently lives with his wife and family.
Statement
My personal work has always been about exploration. Most of this comes in the form of seeing what's possible in between the established margins of acceptable art while trying to avoid predictable outcomes. Mixed media exemplifies this and allows the expression of messages that are themselves mixed and divergent from the expected parameters of conventional thought. A love of nature and geometric forms coalesce with a distrust of what's considered sacred. Radial and repeating patterns permeate the work with animals and organic elements making frequent appearances.
My tattoo career has saturated and often overwhelmed my personal work, but the necessity of realizing the visions of others has left me joyously chasing my own. Exploring how I fit into the world is a major motivator for my self expression and much of my work is more interested in questions rather than answers.