Carl "Shotsie" Gorman (born 1951) is an American tattoo artist, painter, sculptor and poet. Gorman has been tattooing for over 42 years and is the co-founder of the Alliance of Professional Tattooists. As a poet, he was a second place winner of the Allen Ginsberg Poetry Award in 1998 for his poem "Grandpa's Kitchen Tricks".

Early life and education

Carl Gorman was born in 1951 in

Paterson, New Jersey Paterson ( ) is the largest City (New Jersey), city in and the county seat of Passaic County, New Jersey, Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. His nickname is a German word meaning "Sweetie". As a child, his family lived in the Brook Sloate housing project for a time. His father was a police officer. Gorman's father considered art an inappropriate career for a man to pursue. According to Gorman, his father considered the word "artist" a

euphemism A euphemism () is an innocuous word or expression used in place of one that is deemed offensive or suggests something unpleasant. Some euphemisms are intended to amuse, while others use bland, inoffensive terms for concepts that the user wishes ...

for homosexual. Gorman hid his interest in art from his parents. His father expected him to become a police officer. As a child, Gorman was riding the bus with his mother when she pointed out the man sitting in front of them. It was the poet Allen Ginsberg, a regular visitor to Paterson. The poet would be a major influence on Gorman's work as an adult. Gorman played baseball in middle school. In 1964, he had a grand slam and helped lead the team to a state championship in 1964. After he graduated from John F. Kennedy High School in 1969, Gorman expressed interest in attending art school. His father did not support him in that endeavor. Gorman worked an office job, quitting after three years. He eventually moved to SoHo in New York City and began working with artists. He learned sculpture and carpentry and sought work as an actor. He taught painting and sculpture at

Choate Rosemary Hall Choate Rosemary Hall (often known as Choate; ) is a private, co-educational, college-preparatory boarding school in Wallingford, Connecticut, United States. Choate is currently ranked as the second best boarding school and third best private high ...

in Wallingford, Connecticut for a summer semester. A friend took him to a tattoo studio around 1976. At the studio, Gorman perused a book about Japanese tattooing, which was the catalyst for him pursuing a career in tattooing.

Career

Tattooing

Shotsie Gorman began tattooing in the 1970s in New York City when tattooing was still illegal in the city. Self-taught, he learned how to draw flash influenced by photographs he'd find in old wedding albums he'd buy at flea markets. He did not undergo a formal apprenticeship, which is industry standard. The first tattoo he gave was to a man who wanted three roses and a snake to celebrate the birth of his brother's triplets. Gorman's hands shook during the session and he suffered from nightmares in the wake of it. Gorman began publishing ''Tattoo Advocate'' in 1988, a bi-annual magazine that promoted tattooing, politics, art criticism, history and short fiction. He operated a tattoo shop in

Haledon, New Jersey Haledon ( ) is a borough in Passaic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2020 United States census, the borough's population was 9,052, an increase of 734 (+8.8%) from the 2010 census count of 8,318, which in turn reflected an in ...

called Shotsie's Tattoos. One journalist described Shotsie's Tattoos "more like a hair salon than a stereotypical seedy tattoo parlor depicted in movies." Classical music played while Gorman worked on clients. It was estimated, as of 1995, that he had tattooed over 60,000 people at this point in his career. That same year, he held a tattoo fundraiser for a local homeless shelter, raising $10,000 by giving people tattoos. During this time, tattooing was illegal in certain jurisdictions in New Jersey. Gorman met with

Bill Pascrell William James Pascrell Jr. (born January 25, 1937) is an American politician who is the U.S. representative for , having served in this position since January 2013. A member of the Democratic Party and a native of Paterson, New Jersey, Pascrel ...

to advocate for tattoo artists to require licenses to weed out amateurs and help further legitimize the art form. He continues to advocate for tattoo artist's rights. By 1991, Gorman had re-located Shotsie's Tattoo to Wayne, New Jersey and opened a second shop in West Milford, New Jersey. At that time, Gorman charged up to $200 an hour for tattooing. The majority of Gorman's clients were business professionals, which he described to '' The New York Times'' as "wearing their $1,000 suits. But they take their clothes off, they're covered with tattoos." Gorman sold his Wayne tattoo shop in March 2006. The shop still operates today with the name Shotsie's Tattoos. He moved to

Sedona, Arizona Sedona is a city that straddles the county line between Coconino and Yavapai counties in the northern Verde Valley region of the U.S. state of Arizona. As of the 2010 census, its population was 10,031. It is within the Coconino National Fo ...

where he focused on his painting career. Gorman moved to Sonoma, California in 2007. He opened tattoo shop in Boyes Hot Springs in 2014. The shop, Tarot Art & Tattoo Gallery, also doubles as an art gallery and tarot salon operated by his wife, Kristine. That year, the couple started the annual Ugly Tattoo Contest in Sonoma in 2015. Funds raised from the event benefit nonprofits and feature a competition, judged by tattoo artists, with the winner with the ugliest tattoo winning a prize. In 2018, Gorman spoke at the

Contemporary Jewish Museum The Contemporary Jewish Museum (CJM) is a non-collecting museum at 736 Mission Street at Yerba Buena Lane in the South of Market (SoMa) neighborhood of San Francisco, California. The museum, which was founded in 1984, is located in the historic ...

, alongside Lyle Tuttle, as part of the museum's Porchlight series in support of the exhibition ''Lew the Jew and His Circle: Origins of American Tattoo.''. Gorman was named one of the "50 most innovative artists on the planet" by ''Tattoo Flash'' magazine in 2015. In March 2017, filmmaker Tim Wetzel produced ''Birdnan'', a short film starring Gorman. The film was featured at the Sonoma International Film Festival. After the October 2017 Northern California wildfires, Sonoma County used the term "Sonoma Strong" to promote rebuilding and community building in the wake of the destructive wildfires. Gorman held an all day event at his tattoo shop, tattooing "Sonoma Strong" on people with proceeds benefiting wildfire relief efforts. When the COVID-19 pandemic required Gorman to close his tattoo shop in March 2020, he worried that the business would close. It was the first time in his career that his tattoo business was under threat to close due to finances. He received only $500 from the Paycheck Protection Program and was declined state unemployment benefits. He reached out to Assembly-member Cecilia Aguiar-Curry, who helped him secure unemployment benefits. Gorman credits the unemployment benefits in helping him keep his business afloat until he was able to reopen in the fall of 2020. Gorman met with Sonoma County health officials and advocated for tattoo shops to remain open during the pandemic due to the strict health and safety guidelines the shops are required to follow.

Process and style

Gorman has at length discussions with clients before tattooing them, finalizing designs while ensuring the client's commitment to getting the tattoo. He will not hesitate to try to talk a client out of a tattoo or decline to give a tattoo, if necessary, particularly if he believes the client may regret it later. Gorman will not tattoo company logos or pieces that are racist, sexist, anti-Semitic, homophobic, or otherwise discriminatory in nature. He utilizes

photorealism Photorealism is a genre of art that encompasses painting, drawing and other graphic media, in which an artist studies a photograph and then attempts to reproduce the image as realistically as possible in another medium. Although the term can be ...

in much of his tattoo work and is notable for oversized portraits. One of his most notable pieces is a full back portrait of Charles Lindbergh which took 33 hours to complete. Gorman has also tattooed large works of

James Dean James Byron Dean (February 8, 1931September 30, 1955) was an American actor. He is remembered as a cultural icon of teenage disillusionment and social estrangement, as expressed in the title of his most celebrated film, ''Rebel Without a Cause' ...

, Our Lady of Guadalupe, Che Guevara, and Ferdinand Magellan. He's tattooed members of the Talking Heads, Murphy's Law and the Allman Brothers. Gorman and his work has been featured on '' Geraldo'', '' The Howard Stern Show'', '' Sally'', ''

The Morton Downey Jr. Show ''The Morton Downey Jr. Show'' is a syndicated American talk show presented by Morton Downey Jr. that ran from 1987 to 1989. The show and its host pioneered the concept of "trash TV" format. Starting as a local program on New York-New Jersey super ...

'', ''

Good Morning America ''Good Morning America'' (often abbreviated as ''GMA'') is an American morning television program that is broadcast on ABC. It debuted on November 3, 1975, and first expanded to weekends with the debut of a Sunday edition on January 3, 1993. Th ...

'', '' CBS Overnight News'', and ''

Today in New York ''Today in New York'' (displayed on-air as "''Today in NY''") is a local morning news and entertainment television program airing on WNBC, an NBC owned-and-operated television station in New York City. The program is broadcast each weekday mo ...

'' and in '' Health'', the '' New York Times'', '' Newsweek'', ''

New York Daily News The New York ''Daily News'', officially titled the ''Daily News'', is an American newspaper based in Jersey City, NJ. It was founded in 1919 by Joseph Medill Patterson as the ''Illustrated Daily News''. It was the first U.S. daily printed in ta ...

'', and the Associated Press.

Poetry

Gorman cites Allen Ginsberg as an influence. When Gorman was a teenager, he saw Ginsberg perform at the Bottom of the Barrel Cafe in New Jersey. Gorman studied poetry with

Mark Doty Mark Doty (born August 10, 1953) is an American poet and memoirist best known for his work ''My Alexandria.'' He was the winner of the National Book Award for Poetry in 2008. Early life Mark Doty was born in Maryville, Tennessee to Lawrence an ...

. He published the retrospective ''The Black Marks He Made : Poetry'' in 1999. Gorman was named a second place winner of the Allen Ginsberg Poetry Award and selected work from the book was published in the '' Paterson Literary Review'' in 1999. Gorman has read poetry at the

Knitting Factory The Knitting Factory is a nightclub in New York City that features eclectic music and entertainment. After opening in 1987, various other locations were opened in the United States. The Knitting Factory gave its audience poetry readings, perform ...

, the School of Visual Arts, the Paterson Museum, and New Jersey City University.

Painting and sculpture

Gorman works out of his studio and gallery in

Boyes Hot Springs, California Boyes Hot Springs (also called Boyes Springs or The Springs)is a census-designated place (CDP) in Sonoma Valley, Sonoma County, California, United States. The population was 6,656 people at the 2010 census. Resorts in Boyes Hot Springs, El Verano ...

. New Jersey City University held a retrospective of Gorman's art and tattoos in 1998. After initially retiring from tattooing in 2006, Gorman moved to

, where he had an art gallery and studio for a brief time before moving to California. Gorman's work was featured in the group exhibition "Purely Abstract: Visions in Line, Form and Color" at the Healdsburg Center for the Arts in 2018. In 2019, Gorman's painting of a hawk flying over vineyards was on the cover of the ''

North Bay Bohemian The ''North Bay Bohemian'' is a weekly newspaper published in the North Bay subregion of the San Francisco Bay Area, in California, United States. The newspaper is distributed in Sonoma and Napa counties. The newspaper began publication in 197 ...

''. In 2020, he participated in "Springtime in the Springs!", a group exhibition. His mural featuring a lizard and

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was displayed along

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in Boyes Hot Springs.

Personal life

His nickname "Shotsie" is a version of the German word ''schatzi'' which means treasure or sweetie. Over sixty percent of Shotsie Gorman's body is tattooed. One of his tattoos is a portrait of Gandhi. He's a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

. Gorman lived in rural Orange County, New York for many years with his first wife, Janet. He moved to Sonoma, California in 2007. Prior to Sonoma, he lived in Sedona. Gorman is married to Kristine Gorman, a tarot reader and artist.

References

External links

* *
Shotsie Gorman's YouTube channel
featuring poetry readings
"Renaissance man Shotsie Gorman finds niche in skin art"
in ''The Verde Valley Independent''
Shotsie Gorman talking about working in NYC for Spider Webb
with ''Villain Arts Tattoo News Magazine'' in 2021
"How to Get a Tattoo"
featuring Shotsie Gorman {{DEFAULTSORT:Gorman, Shotsie 1951 births American tattoo artists 20th-century American painters 21st-century American painters Painters from California Painters from New Jersey American male painters 20th-century American sculptors 21st-century American sculptors Sculptors from California Sculptors from New Jersey American male sculptors 21st-century American poets 20th-century American poets American male poets American spoken word poets John F. Kennedy High School (Paterson, New Jersey) alumni Poets from California Poets from New Jersey Artists from Paterson, New Jersey Baseball players from New Jersey People from Sonoma, California People from Sedona, Arizona People from Orange County, New York Photorealist artists California Democrats New Jersey Democrats New York (state) Democrats Arizona Democrats 20th-century American male writers Living people 21st-century American male writers 20th-century American male artists