Hendrikus Johannes Everhardus "Henk" Schiffmacher (born 22 March 1952), also known as Hanky Panky, is a Dutch

tattoo artist A tattoo artist (also tattooer or tattooist) is an individual who applies permanent decorative tattoos, often in an established business called a "tattoo shop", "tattoo studio" or "tattoo parlour". Tattoo artists usually learn their craft via an ...

. He is considered an expert within the field of

body decoration Body art is art made on, with, or consisting of, the human body. Body art covers a wide spectrum including tattoos, body piercings, scarification, and body painting. Body art may include performance art, body art is likewise utilized for investiga ...

, having curated exhibitions, written books, and presented television shows on the subject. Schiffmacher has claimed members of the

Red Hot Chili Peppers Red Hot Chili Peppers are an American rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1983, comprising vocalist Anthony Kiedis, bassist Flea (musician), Flea, drummer Chad Smith, and guitarist John Frusciante. Their music incorporates element ...

and

Pearl Jam Pearl Jam is an American rock band formed in Seattle, Washington, in 1990. The band's lineup consists of founding members Jeff Ament (bass guitar), Stone Gossard (rhythm guitar), Mike McCready (lead guitar), and Eddie Vedder (lead vocals, guita ...

, as well as

Motörhead Motörhead () were an English rock band formed in London in 1975 by Lemmy (lead vocals, bass), Larry Wallis (guitar) and Lucas Fox (drums). Lemmy was also the primary songwriter and only constant member. The band are often considered a precu ...

frontman

Lemmy Ian Fraser Kilmister (24 December 1945 – 28 December 2015), better known as Lemmy Kilmister or simply Lemmy, was an English musician. He was the founder, lead singer, bassist and primary songwriter of the rock band Motörhead, of which he wa ...

, to be amongst his clients. RHCP frontman

Anthony Kiedis Anthony Kiedis ( ; born November 1, 1962) is an American singer and songwriter. He is a founding member and lead vocalist of the rock band Red Hot Chili Peppers. Kiedis and his fellow band members were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fa ...

once described Schiffmacher as "an underground philosopher, artist, Hell's Angels associate, booze hound, drug hound, girl hound, an absolute rapscallion of Dutch proportions."

Biography

Born in

Harderwijk Harderwijk (; Dutch Low Saxon: ) is a municipality and city of the Netherlands. It is served by the Harderwijk railway station. Its population centres are Harderwijk and Hierden. Harderwijk is on the western boundary of the Veluwe. The southea ...

Gelderland Gelderland (), also known as Guelders () in English, is a province of the Netherlands, occupying the centre-east of the country. With a total area of of which is water, it is the largest province of the Netherlands by land area, and second by ...

, Schiffmacher displayed a talent and love for drawing at an early age. In the early 1970s, he studied at the Reclame School REX in Amsterdam. Following stints in various jobs, including employment by ''

Nieuwe Revu The ''Nieuwe Revu'' is a weekly general interest magazine from the Netherlands, published on Wednesdays and written in Dutch. History and profile In the 1970s the magazine was explicitly left-winged and focused on sport, sex, sensation and socia ...

'' as a photographer, Schiffmacher decided to travel. During his travels, Schiffmacher became fascinated by the subject of tattooing, investigating the history of the subject, and upon his return to Amsterdam this fascination led to him opening a

tattoo parlour A tattoo artist (also tattooer or tattooist) is an individual who applies permanent decorative tattoos, often in an established business called a "tattoo shop", "tattoo studio" or "tattoo parlour". Tattoo artists usually learn their craft via an ...

. Schiffmacher also began to organise tattoo conventions and later wrote on the subject, resulting in the books ''Tattoos'', published in 2001, and ''1000 Tattoos'', published in 2005. During this period, Schiffmacher also presented a documentary about tattoos, released on DVD in the Netherlands as ''World of Tattooing'' in 2004. In 2004, the exhibition ''Wear Your Dreams'', curated by Schiffmacher, opened at the

Aboriginal Art Museum Aborigine, aborigine or aboriginal may refer to: * Aborigines (mythology), in Roman mythology * Indigenous peoples, general term for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area *One of several groups of indigenous peoples, see ...

Utrecht Utrecht ( , , ) is the List of cities in the Netherlands by province, fourth-largest city and a List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality of the Netherlands, capital and most populous city of the Provinces of the Netherlands, pro ...

. Schiffmacher explained the title as a literal reading of the art of the tattoo and what it means in aboriginal culture: "These people have nothing. Everything they hold, they carry within. They only cover themselves for important events and rituals by using body decorations, thus revealing thoughts and ideas." Schiffmacher then turned to painting; an exhibition of his paintings was held in

Antwerp Antwerp (; nl, Antwerpen ; french: Anvers ; es, Amberes) is the largest city in Belgium by area at and the capital of Antwerp Province in the Flemish Region. With a population of 520,504,

, Belgium, in 2004. In 1999, Schiffmacher took part in the celebrity version of the Dutch Big Brother, ''Big Brother VIPS''. In June 2006, Schiffmacher sued the Amsterdam clothing company, 10Feet, alleging they had used his images upon their t-shirts without permission. The court ruled for Schiffmacher on all counts and ordered 10Feet to cease printing the t-shirts, fining the company 500

euro The euro ( symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

per summary infringement to a maximum of 25,000 euro. In September 2007, the Schiffmacher's starred in a TV show on Dutch channel

AT5 AT5 (Amstel Television 5) is a local television station in Amsterdam, Netherlands. It first broadcast on April 1, 1992. The city of Amsterdam is a minority shareholder, and has provided financial support to the station. See a ...

about their lives and on 29 September 2007 the opening for the second Hanky Panky tattoo shop in Amsterdam for his daughter Morrison took place. In December 2019, both Henk Schiffmacher and his wife Louise Schiffmacher launched an apparel brand called PYF Ink. Creating garments with artwork drawn and designed by the Schiffmacher's for men and women. In 2021, he was chosen by the Amsterdam municipal health service to design the Covid-19 vaccine plaster used in vaccination centres.

References

External links

Official site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Schiffmacher, Henk 1952 births Living people People from Harderwijk Big Brother (Dutch TV series) Dutch artists Dutch tattoo artists