Internationally recognized artist joins 3rd Heart Tattoo

Ever since he was young, Dan Attoe has been fascinated by the history, traditions and artistic intricacies of tattoo art, an interest that stems from his passion for skateboarding and punk rock culture.

Therefore, it’s no surprise that Attoe has joined 3rd Heart Tattoo in Washougal as a part-time licensed artist. He’s certainly not a newcomer to art; his paintings have been exhibited around the world for more than a decade. But Attoe said he views his transition into tattooing as “a natural step.”

“I always liked tattoos, and have always been influenced by them. My artwork is influenced by them,” he said. “My experience with art definitely helps (with tattooing). A lot of tattooing is being able to draw and construct in space, (and picturing) the architecture of an image, so it helped me to already have that background. There’s actually a lot of overlap between the fine art world and tattoo art world. But I’m learning that there’s a lot to this medium — people’s skin, the instruments, the machine. Getting a feel for those things takes some time.”

Attoe and 3rd Heart Tattoo owner Ryan Boomhower first met in 2009, when Boomhower was working at Painless Ric’s tattoo shop in downtown Camas.

“He came to me to have a sketch of his turned into a tattoo. Not knowing Dan’s reputation as an artist, I asked if he wanted me to draw my version of what he brought me or to use his exactly the way it was presented,” Boomhauer said. “The latter was chosen, and we set the appointment for a few days later. I already appreciated not having to change up the art or do anything additional to it, but I really appreciated the art style that Dan had.”

“We continued knocking out piece after piece when Dan would feel inspired to put something on his body. Our one-on-one time turned into a solid friendship very quickly. It wasn’t until the third or fourth time we got together that I was alerted by a friend to how popular and sought-after an artist he was in the modern art world.”

Attoe’s previous art experience has helped him as a tattoo artist, according to Boomhower.

“Dan is in a really neat place that not many tattoo artists get to be in when they start out,” he said. “(He’s had) huge prior success in art forms like oil and pencil, among a lot of other mediums, then transferred (his abilities) to machine, needle and ink. I feel that initially some locals, and those who are unaware of Dan’s prior works, will be pleasantly surprised at who has done their tattoo, not just for his skill with a tattoo machine but who Dan is in the art world outside of tattooing. ”

Artist receives worldwide exposure at young age

Attoe was born in Bremerton, Washington, grew up in parts of Washington, Idaho, Minnesota and Wisconsin, and attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where he studied psychology and art. He then received a master’s degree in fine art degree from the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa.

Attoe’s work attracted the attention of Javier Peres, owner of Peres Projects, a Berlin-based gallery that promotes contemporary artists to an international audience, operating project spaces and presenting exhibitions of contemporary art in San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, Athens, Stockholm and Berlin.

“If you’re a friend of Dan’s or simply a stranger observing, its easy to see his family comes first above all. To be frank, It’s not so much the artistic things I admire about Dan — although there are many — but the everyday guy that Dan is to the world and people around him, whether it be a stranger or kindred. I am truly honored to call him one of my closest friends and to have him working with me.”

‘Trying to make sense of the world’

Attoe’s work has been in numerous group shows in galleries and museums in the United States and Europe. He worked with and was part of the inspiration for a line of clothing by fashion designer Adam Kimmel in 2011. He’s also one of the founders of Paintallica, an artist collective that has presented performative installations across the United States.

“Attoe’s paintings depict natural wonders — waterfalls, beaches, mountains, rocky cliffs, oversized forests — populated by tiny figures spouting even tinier diaristic missives, painted in silver and culled from the artist’s stream of consciousness,” according to westernexhibitions.com. “The miniature humans disrupt the grandeur of nature with their small stature and utterances. His drawings share the same concerns but inverted — the phrases and disconnected images are larger and often cartoonish, creating small-scaled narrative vignettes.”

“He is incredibly talented in many aspects of art and art composition,” Boomhower said. “His oil work has literally left me speechless and inspired so many times I can’t count. I am fascinated at his ability to take the average everyday thought and turn into a even more thought-provoking thought. It’s like a layer cake on top of another layer cake turned upside down  — a common thought then matched up visually with something you never would have imagined. But it makes sense.”

Attoe said his art is “useful,” and incorporates natural beauty and humor.

“I think it goes back to interest in psychology,” he said. “I think that all art is psychologically useful, but some of it is also sociologically useful and historically and politically and culturally useful as well, and I dip into all those things. My art is my way of trying to make sense of the world. I guess I hope that other people can get something from it, or make some kind of sense of it as well.”