Chris VenneKamp

Renowned tattoo artist Chris Vennekamp insists that kicking himself in the ass everyday is what makes him better at his craft. This, no doubt, the result of a rough-and-tough, small-town childhood that in many ways prepared him for the life of success in the face of adversity he would later lead. Growing up in the outskirts of upstate New York, VenneKamp reflects, "Small towns are just like people say... everyone knows your business and so on. There used to be this one kid named Jimmi that had failed three times and was twice my size. He used to find it funny to kick the crap out of me. He actually helped me in over coming my adversities. Keep getting beat up by a bigger kid... pick up a stick and hit him with it. Works every time."

From New York VenneKamp moved to another small town in North Carolina, where the burgeoning artist once again found himself at odds with his peers and immersed himself in art as an escape mechanism. "Imagine that, the skinny little northern boy thrown to the wolves," he says about those years. "Yeah, it was fun. I was (and still am) really into horror movies and the likes of. Needless to say, I was the weird kid mixed in with a hooplah of jocks and rednecks. Art was my escape and I swam away in it. I really hate that place. Even the people I used to hang out with weren’t really friends. Then I became a vampire. I fought werewolves in my free time. But back to the business at hand… you learn really fast that most people are just out for themselves."

Now based in Georgia, Chris VenneKamp has been tattooing for nine years and is feeling comfortable with his place in the world, though adversity still rears its ugly head from time to time. "Even among artists, people will hate you for being more successful than they," he says. "But, angst ridden expletive them! They don't pay my bills. Anyway, I have been tattooing for almost nine years now and I am just finding my place or at least starting to find myself a little more happy with the art I am producing. I work now with the most talented group of individuals you could put under one roof and it's paying off for us all. Everyday I’m trying to kick myself in the posterior to get better. I will keep doing so..."

Today, VenneKamp works out of All or Nothing Tattoo and Piecing Studio in Atlanta, Georgia, a studio that has been featured in more tattoo magazines than any other shop in the world. You can check out his work by visiting his InkedNation profile here. The following interview consists of InkedNation user submitted questions...