Among the current crop of Washington state artists on exhibit at the Lynnwood Convention Center through June is a former cartographer, a video game 3D animator, a tattoo artist and a painter.
His name? Damon Conklin.
“I always do the next thing that seems interesting,” the Tacoma raised artist said, “just following my heart — following whatever my passion is.”
That passion for creating art began in cartography, as a defense mapper in the United States Army, which he says taught him about attention to detail. After completing his military service, he studied at the Art Institute of Seattle, and after graduating became a video game animator and graphic designer.
Not being a gamer himself, he began to look to other artistic outlets, and about 15 years ago discovered the art of tattooing. Apprenticing for one of Seattle top tattoo studios, Slave to the Needle, he went on to open his own shop seven years ago, SuperGenius. Located in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Seattle, his art studio also shares a space in the tattoo parlor, where he spends most of his days.
Conklin’s transition into painting, however, was an intentional move. A decision he actually first arrived at as a young man in art school, he planned to begin painting in his 40s “because I wanted a body of experience behind me.”
Now 42, Conklin is well on that path he planned for himself, as can be seen in the 10 paintings selected for the convention center visit. In painting, Conklin works from a basic three color palette plus white, which “helps me keep the colors really natural.” Painting has a flexibility that tattooing does not, Conklin said. “I feel like painting is a lot more exploratory — obviously a painting isn’t going to run to you and say you messed up a cheekbone.”
Conklin’s faith also informs his artistic pursuits. “Being a man of faith, everything in the world is God’s creation,” he said, “and I feel like painting from nature, I’m learning to paint straight from God… which might sound a little corny…. if a man tried to make a forest, it would never be as beautiful” as those that grow in nature.
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