Jack Rudy
Jack Rudy (1954–2025)[1][better source needed] was an American tattoo artist notable for his development of the black-and-gray style of tattooing, including realistic portraits, and his use of a single needle for fine line work.[2]
Career
[edit]After leaving the Marines in 1975, Rudy began his career as an apprentice at Goodtime Charlie’s Tattooland, in East Los Angeles.[2] Under the watch of Charlie Cartwright, a friend he met while visiting the old Long Beach Pike, Rudy and Cartwright began to hone their craft of single-needle, black-and-gray style tattoos.[3] Rudy was known for his use of light and dark shades of black and grey. In addition to creating a softer and more realistic style of tattooing, with the advent of the new single needle tattoo technology, artists were now able to use a much greater level of detail than previously attainable utilizing older and more readily accepted tattoo machine and needle configurations.[2] As the client base of East Los Angeles began requesting this 'penitentiary-style', the pair decided to create a single-needle configured tattoo machine.[4]
Rudy was the president of the Beatnik's Car Club - a car club which requires the members to own 50s-styled hot rods and 'lots of tattoos'.[5] He was the owner of Tattooland, an 'old school' street shop, located in Anaheim, California.[6]
References
[edit]- ^ Roy, Arkaprovo (2025-01-27). "Who Was Jack Rudy? Legendary California Tattoo Artist Dies, Tributes Pour In". Times Now. Retrieved 2025-01-26.
- ^ a b c Giant, Mike. "Jack Rudy". Swindle Magazine. Archived from the original on March 10, 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-12.
- ^ DeMello, Margo (2014-05-30). "Cartwright, Charlie". Inked: Tattoos and Body Art around the World: [2 volumes]. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. ISBN 979-8-216-10279-3.
- ^ Douglas, Theo (June 23, 2005). "An Arresting Style". OC Weekly. Archived from the original on 13 March 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-12.
- ^ Ula. "The Beatnik Art Show". Pain-Proof Rubber Girls. Archived from the original on 2008-03-11. Retrieved 2008-05-12.
- ^ Ward, Matthew (December 2004). ""Rock of Ages Fest" and Jack Rudy's Tattooland". Prick Magazine. Archived from the original on October 2, 2008.