Dan Henk shows us the goods!

Horror Tattoo Spotlight

This month we visit the world of Dan Henk

This edition of our horror tattoo artist spotlight features the work of a rather interesting fellow - Dan Henk. When I was at this years Hell City Tattoo Festival here in Phoenix , the festivals owner Durb Morrison told me that Dan's work would be perfect for our article.

I made my way over to his booth but Dan was busy doing a panel, so instead i looked through his portfolio. Needless to say I was instantly impressed with his Dr. Herbert West Re-Animator tattoo and knew as I kept looking I had stumbled upon a cool artist.

Dan Henk was born on an Army base in Kentucky. His dad is a Colonel in the Military, special forces, and the son of Missionaries. Dan was your basic metal head kid growing up that set things on fire and generally tried to disrupt everything he saw as the normal, straight world.

Things didn't go well. He got into punk rock in high school, and the shit really hit the fan. Dan states, "I think the Fairfax, Virginia police have the very haircut I had on file as mug shots!"

He did well in school and managed to get into an exclusive art school of his choice, but after setting about fourteen of his neighbors fourth of July flags on fire, among other things, he got kicked out of his house. He ended up spending the next eight month homeless, sometimes sleeping in the woods with a rock as his pillow.

Eventually he managed to land in the city, started doing a lot of art for underground fanzines and bands, and despite a car accident that sent him through the windshield, and a knife fight with a crackhead that severed his thumb to the bone, he soldiered on.

Artwork for Maximum Rock and Roll followed, with a year and a half stint doing political cartoons for Madcap Magazine. Dan says, "I received more hate mail than all the other cartoonists combined, so of course the next logical step was to attend art school!"

He continues, "My teacher was really cool, a black dissident artist in the sixties, and he let me get away with murder. On his encouragement, I left school early for an art career in New York City."

Interviews with DC Comics, Penguin books, and a number of magazines followed, The violent and deviant themes of his artwork turned off some, and his stubborn refusal to work on more mainstream projects did him in as far as getting a normal illustrator job. "I painted record covers for Purity Records, Locked in a Vacancy, Shai Hulud, Coalesce, Zombie Apocalypse, and did a lot of side art for Indecision, Beyond Reason, Most Precious Blood, Kashari, and quite a few others."

But it was a matter of time until he finally found his niche. Dan adds, "A friend of my brother's, a tattoo artist named Chad Divel, saw some of my paintings, and had a talk with me about tattooing. I used to see Mike Ness of Social Distortion and other punk icons, and I always wanted to be covered in tattoos, but I had never considered doing it for a living until then. Chad started the ball rolling, and I've been doing it ever since the year 2000."

Dan started out at a flash shop on St. Marks street in New York City. A year later, he ended up in the hospital with what he thought was a brain bleed from a heavy dose of Muy Thai Kickboxing on the side, and it turned out to be brain cancer. He was rushed into surgery, and was recovering two days later in the ICU ward of Bellevue Hospital when the twin towers went down.

A few months later, weakened from chemotherapy and radiation treatments, he married another tattoo artist named Monica Castillo in a downtown bar named Motor City. "I dressed up as a traditional gangster, she as a Japanese Geisha.

Everything was cool for a good six years, as we both made a name for ourselves, and then tragedy struck in May of 2007 when she was killed by a hit and run driver that hit her motorcycle."

Dan launched a massive campaign; he and her brother hired a private investigator and appeared on every local TV station, talked to every radio station and newspaper that would draw coverage, and spread the word through an extremely helpful tattoo and biker community, but nothing ever came of it.

Once again, after a series of below the belt blows he pushed on, hitting as many conventions and guest spots a out of state shops as he could. Nine years later, he ended up working at Eternally Bound Tattoo in Austin, Texas. He tattoo about two thirds of the week, and spend the rest of his time painting and working on his upcoming horror novel Down Highways in the Dark...By Demons Driven.

Dan adds, "I want to give some recognition to the greats like Guy Aitchison, Tom Renshaw, and Aaron Caine, that inspired me to start tattooing, and the modern artists like Robert Hernandez, Joshua Carlton, and Nick Baxter that are pushing the limits of what tattooing can accomplish."

Dan Henk's website is http://danhenk.com, and he can be reached at email is dan@danhenk.com. The shop he currently works at is Eternally Bound Tattoo at 5241 North Lamar Blvd, Austin, TX, 78751

Now for the tattoos!

The American Psycho piece was done on a client at the Baltimore Tattoo Convention. I think it was an excellent choice for his first ever tattoo. When he returned a year later for another horror piece, he was twice as big! I barely recognized him!

Ricky got the Flyboy piece. Apparently he was so in love with it, for days he would just stare at his leg, stroke the tattoo, and mutter softly! Next up he's getting Choptop!

The Dario Argento Opera piece was the first and so far only tattoo on a record store clerk in the East Village! He nearly passed out during the procedure, but loves the piece. On a trip to Italy, he showed it to Dario Argento's manager, who shook his head and said "you crazy Americans!"

The Shining piece is on Craig, who has about 2/3rds of his body covered in B movie horror tattoos by me! This was actually one of his more normal tattoos, as he has a Texas Chainsaw Massacre family portrait across his chest, a bloody girl half eaten by ravenous slugs, and a woman with a knife through her head among other things!

The Bride of Frankenstein is on Aaron, a horror movie editor who has a full sleeve of old school monsters by me.

Eric sports the Re Animator piece. He also has a Return of the Living Dead zombie by me, and in a couple months, he'll be getting the cover to Return of the Living Dead 2.

Edwin has the Baby from the Devil's Rejects movie on him. He also has a Dr. Satan, Carrie, and Jason Vorhees by me. He is solely responsible for getting me into Rob Zombie movies, as he gave me the film as reference for his tattoo.

I wish I had a more interesting story for the Wolfman tattoo! I did it at the Hell City Tattoo Convention in Killumbus, Ohio, and haven't seen the guy since!

Pinhead is on Chrissy, who sports a Gary Oldman as Dracula piece by me, and will be getting the Heath Ledger Joker tattooed on her in a couple months.

Jason Vorhees was one of my favorite tattoos, and was done at the Pittsburgh Tattoo Convention, Meeting of the Marked.

I did the Bill the Butcher piece at the Milwaukee Tattoo Convention, on a local tattoo artist.

The nurse from Silent Hill I tattooed on Beth in Sheffield, England at a guest spot for Thou Art Tattoo. The thing is huge, and she sat 9 hours for it!

The portrait is on the leg of a tattoo shop owner, I hit him up at the Hell City Tattoo Convention in Killumbus, Ohio. He wanted a portrait of his daughter, but in Halloween makeup!

The vampire girl is Steve, a tattoo artist in Long Island, NY's, girlfriend. He says if they ever break up, he'll just say she was a bloodsucker!

Brian Barret, owner of Barret All Tattoos, is the owner of the zombie piece. It's the second zombie I've tattooed on him in a year! A tattoo artist at Brian's shop, has his wife eating his heart tattooed on his thigh. She emailed me and thanked me, whenever she is pissed off she just looks at his leg!

Am I the only one with a Garbage Pail Kid Tattoo?