Sally Davies talks to Mehai Bakaty
Mehai is a tattoo artist and a life long Lower East Sider
Today I’m talking to New York tattoo artist extraordinaire - Mehai Bakaty. Like so many older peeps from the East Village, I knew Mehai’s father Mike. He was the go to tattoo guy back in the 80’s when tattooing was still illegal here. If you knew somebody, who knew somebody, you could get work done. Mehai picked up the needles early on and is still here, working his craft.
Sal
Mehai, you are a dyed in the wool downtown New Yorker. Tell us about growing up on the Bowery, back in the 70’s.
Mehai
My parents moved to a loft at 295 Bowery between Houston and 1st Street in 1970. It was once known as McGurk’s Suicide Hall. I was born in the summer ’72. I spent my childhood and formative years on the Bowery, on New York’s Lower East Side. Rent in the Lower East Side was really low in the 1970s and 80s, and the neighborhood was a magnet for artistic types. My father found the Bowery loft through a connection he made at “Hilly’s on the Bowery” which would later become CBGB’s. The loft space had enough room for him to make his fiberglass/polyester resin sculptures, so he jumped on it. But the place was a wreck. It had been a flop house since the late 1800s when it was McGurk’s and then later as the Liberty Hotel.
My father was forced out of the building in 2005, just before the demolition. There had been an attempt to get the building landmarked. The effort was spearheaded by social activist, feminist, and author Kate Millet. Kate was our next door neighbor.
Sal
When did you leave there?
Mehai
I moved out of 295 Bowery in 1996 after not finding anything affordable in lower Manhattan. I found an apartment in the Gowanus area of downtown Brooklyn, but I never totally left the Lower East Side. I still have an art studio there a few blocks east of the Bowery. A Lower East Side kid still I guess, maybe for life.
Sal
Your work…talk about that. Did you always know you wanted to do that?
Mehai
I was around 10 when I decided that I wanted to learn tattooing. I grew up a latchkey kid, but I did spend a lot of time in my dad’s art studio. When he got into tattooing he was making designs by hand. I saw him coloring in the line drawings and that made total sense to a kid. Sometimes he would let me join in. Things were very different then, nothing like what you see in the tattoo world today. No internet, no tv shows, and not as many talented people involved in the art. But there was my dad, his artist friends, and the other tattooers who he got to know.
My dad had a really big influence on me deciding to be an artist. My folks moved here from Florida via Oregon where my father received his masters in fine art. He was exploring a career in the fine arts, sculpture to be exact. He gained some traction early on, showing in various galleries and was eventually picked up as an in-house artist at the Paley and Lowe gallery and OK Harris, I believe in the early 70s.
My father later built a newer graphic art/tattoo studio in the loft, and I continued to spend time with him there. I started to connect more and more to the tattooing process. It really dawned on me in my teens how special tattooing was, and I asked him if he would teach me.
He eventually moved away from the fine art world as he fell in love with the visual language of tattooing. It was far reaching even then, and still growing. His enthusiasm rubbed off on me, and I grew up very much interested in graphic art and design. So I guess my work is coming from an illustrative and graphic place.
Sal
So how long would you say you have you been a tattoo artist?
Mehai
I started tattooing officially when I was 15 years old. I'm about to turn 53 so I guess around 38 years. Still learning everyday, still trying to keep up with the ever evolving art form and culture.
Mehai
Growing up in New York, I was interested in street art culture and got involved in the 1980s graffiti scene for a little while. Having been around the icon-driven style of design from my dad’s tattoo drawings, graffiti made sense to me. Eventually I got into psychedelic rock poster art and underground comics of the 60s and 70s. I gravitated towards tattooing, graffiti, and psychedelic artists like Stanley Mouse, Rick Griffin, Robert Crumb, Victor Moscoso, Greg Irons, and so on. From there I moved into Japanese style tattooing, which was still just being recognized and explored here in the States. My father introduced me to Japanese ukiyo-e prints. The 18th century printmakers like Kuniyoshi, Kyosai, and Hokusai, all heavily influenced the traditional Japanese tattoo style. These artists seemed so mysterious, and so different than what I was familiar with. These things have influenced me throughout my career and you will find these influences in my painting and tattooing.
Sal
I love that Fineline Tattoo was sort of the family business. You opened the 1st Ave shop with your Dad as soon as tattooing was legal again.
Mehai
After the tattooing ban was lifted in 1997, we built and opened the shop on First Ave down near Houston St. We ended up working together, sharing ideas and collaborating for the next 25 years. I never looked back and still think of him everyday. He passed on in 2013.
Sal
Thoughts on the East Village now?
Mehai
The rents are beyond the reach of the average person now. With so much high-end development happening all over the city, it makes you wonder who can afford to be here. I wonder where their money is coming from? I miss the Kiev, Odessa, Kim's Video, and Gem Spa. I miss having my street shop and getting to know all the local characters. Most of my family is gone now and most close friends of my family have passed away or moved on. The artists and weirdos of downtown have been replaced with people from higher tax brackets. At one point, it looked like the country was on an upswing, but now the landscape is not so encouraging. Everything is more expensive, and there is less tourism. It’s non-stop stress these days, but I’m still tattooing and trying to make a living.
Sal
What inspires you?
Mehai
It changes all the time. I rely on my customers a lot for inspiration. I enjoy the collaboration and sometimes improvisation of putting together a design. And as I get older, I offer more artistic input than I used to.
Sal
People? Music? Film? Other artists?
Mehai
Yes, people, music, film! So many artists from all over the world and timelines to even approach here.
“Oh-oh-oh, people are the main spring
Turning the world around”
—King Crimson
Sal
Who would you like to sit down for dinner with…dead or alive?
Mehai
This is difficult for me to answer. Maybe Paul Giamatti? Nothing to do with tattooing, but wow, what a great actor. (Maybe as much for his role as Harvey Pekar in American Splendor.) Other than him, there are too many people to name. Being from an artistic family, I’ve been really lucky to meet a lot of really amazing artists, musicians, and actors. Some famous, some not famous, but who really should have been.
Sal
Thoughts on the business these days?
Mehai
The world’s gone mad! The city is not what it was and will never be again, for better or worse. The country and all businesses are in flux. Tattooing is like punk rock- the roots are there but the tree is suffering from over exposure. It's like holding a magnifying glass over an ant. Too much attention can kill a culture.
Sal
Very good point and well said. Certain things that were once counter culture signposts for members only, have become cliches - visual souvenirs of what came before. Where have all the rebels gone?
Sal
What positive stuff are you incorporating into your daily life to combat the current political malaise?
Mehai
Ugh. Well, I get out of bed. I make my bed. And I just pray in my little way that the sun will come out tomorrow and things will even out for the 98% of us again. Something’s gotta give! The rent’s too damn high! But I still talk to a good number of upbeat people, and I hope that a city like New York, which has been life time home , will continue to support its communities, and we will emerge from all the chaos in a better place. In the meantime I will be here polishing my craft and waiting for that next project. God bless the Lower East Side.
Sal
Mehai, you are a piece of NY history. I moved here in the 80s and still consider myself a visitor and an outsider, but you were born here and you still live here! At times in the past, NYC felt like a pot luck dinner that we all brought some weird homemade food to. As time goes by though, it feels more like a deep and rich tapestry that changed history forever...and one that will not be forgotten anytime soon.
You can schedule your tattoo session at the website:
and you can see more Fineline groovy stuff on their Instagram page.
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Sally Davies has exhibited in NYC for 35 years. Her work can be found in the Museum of the City of NY, The 9/11 Museum and others. She is the author of two books, New Yorkers and California Dreamers.
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Mehai is the real deal! It was great to see that picture of the loft. Thanks for posting this interview.
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