Interview by Dominic Ciambrone
Photos by Bryan Villacres
Aside from being the birthplace of Peanuts creator Charles Schultz, Santa Rosa, California isn’t exactly known as a creative hotspot. Both live up to this reputation Artist Noah Minuskin and shoe surgeon Dominic Ciambrone had to leap from their hometown pond into the great ocean of Los Angeles to chase their dreams. Now, 15 years after the two met in a tattoo shop, Ciambrone meets up with Minuskin, a painter and black-and-grey tattoo artist, at his house studio to reminisce about the old days and their travels discuss and much more.
Can you introduce yourself?
My name is Noah Minuskin. I’m someone who can explore art, see the world through art and use my art to communicate how I think, how I feel and the things I want to put out into the world to inspire others.
And we’re both from Santa Rosa…
Cut from the same fabric.
I met you about 15 years ago when I was looking for a portrait piece. I didn’t even know what portrait I wanted at the time. I think it was a Wyatt Earp or a Doc Holliday.
“Tombstone.”
Yes, “tombstone”.
Great movie.
Then I think a year later you were gone, you had moved to Los Angeles. What was it like growing up in Santa Rosa?
Dear Santa Rosa. I think you and I can understand how impactful it was, who we are, the community we grew up in, you know how special it was. I think you and I can understand as well that Santa Rosa probably couldn’t achieve those dreams for what we wanted to achieve. We jumped into the big pond to push ourselves. That was my real commitment to the trip. That was me, sink all ships behind me and get going. You know, I’m not coming back here until I’ve done what I set out to do.
How did you get into tattooing?
I was a wild teenager. Me and my friends, we’ve been wandering the neighborhoods, we kind of didn’t shy away from the streets, you know? A lot of the people we dealt with had tattoos and that really intrigued me. And it wasn’t until my best friend’s older brother, who did tattoos in prison, came out and tattooed us that I was really hooked.
What’s your first tattoo?
My surname. minuskin.
minuskin. Where does this name come from?
This name is East Russian. My mother and father were immigrants from Poland. Fled the war, came here via Ellis Island, what was that, 1949? Actually came to LA, which is interesting. Born and raised in LA, Pops then moved to Santa Rosa. Start a family, start a family and somehow escape the madness.
So after getting this tattoo when did you start thinking about tattooing yourself?
Early. Pretty soon after I got my first tattoo I would say no more than a week or two after that, lets say 15 years. I’ve never really waited for people to give me permission to explore life and the things I’m naturally drawn to. I think it’s really important to keep that spark alive and get started right away. I tattooed one of my best friends in my parents garage.
How did your parents feel about that?
How does a parent feel when their kid is 15, you know? Now they are such a big support system in my life. Back then, you didn’t really know what to do with it. And I didn’t know what I was getting myself into either. I didn’t know how to take it at the time, but it definitely grabbed me in a way that made me want to build a homemade tattoo machine and put something permanent on my boyfriend when I had no idea what I was doing .
What did you do with the tattoo machine? Do you have it?
You know, funny enough, I forgot because I got caught up in the whirlwind of exploring art and all that stuff, and it wasn’t maybe five years ago when I came home and my mom surprised me and pulled out one cup and said, “I’ve stuck with it for the last 10 years.”
Wow. How did you feel?
At first all I thought about was my mother’s love and how much she supported me and how much trust she gave me throughout my life and how she gave me the confidence to be myself and not frighten or worry too much to move. And you know, she saved that like a little kid’s drawing. I just think it’s cute that she had that raw tattoo machine with freaking ink on it.
Who was your mentor?
Angel was my first mentor. He gave me my first chance in a real tattoo parlor. That was in Petaluma. When I came here, I came into contact with Jose Lopez Jr. And I was with him for the next three to four years before I started my own thing, House Studios. These two people are very important for my journey. Now I’m at a place where I’m excited to mentor other artists. It was a role that I kind of shied away from for a long time because I didn’t feel I had the space to give this title the respect it deserved. A lot had to do with how important my mentors were. But watch she Leave that huge impact to other shoemakers who strive to evolve in the way you really inspired me with shoemaking. It’s just how do I get there? And now that I’m here, it’s amazing. It’s so fulfilling to be able to share all the things I’ve been able to learn and gain over all these years and now to contribute and share that with these guys and hopefully empower them to reach their full potential with their dreams.
I mean, do you think people ever… do you think you’ve reached your full potential?
I hope that I never get where I want to go in my whole life. I hope that when I’m 90 I’m still trying to get there. I never want to feel like I’ve arrived. That’s not what I’m talking about. For me it’s not about the cup, whether I win the league or not; it’s about the journey I’m going on. That’s what it’s always been about.
Let’s talk about your art. You have these pieces that you’ve studied around the world to see how the greats did it. And you’ve done a lot of that, and now you’re going into a different kind of form.
I feel like I’m in a really great place creatively right now. I took some time to really step away from everything I was doing to regroup and reevaluate my journey as an artist. I started to dig much deeper into myself and think more deeply about the art I wanted to make. I’ve been painting for well over 10 years, but this is the first time I’ve allowed myself to truly immerse myself in this art form. It’s a little different than tattooing. When tattooing, I let myself be inspired by others. I draw from other people’s deep truths about life and themselves. I take that meaning and then make artwork out of it.
With painting I dig deep into my own well and challenge my own expression and questions I ask myself when making this work and how I answer them. I’m super excited about what I’ve made. It’s so different and unique than anything I’ve ever done before.
It’s kind of like creating a bespoke shoe that’s already on the market, or selling something because I know what’s going to sell. It’s similar to tattooing someone because they want it. And then this stuff that I actually want to create, it’s different.
Creativity can be imprisoned by so many things. Success can imprison creativity. Having a successful idea can limit your creativity to continue exploring in ways your audience might not understand.