Pain Proof Rubber Girls

Jill Bonny Freak Art
Tattoo Express #24

by Ula (The Pain Proof Rubber Girl)

She had just finished drawing up a black Sailor Jerry style rose to be tattooed on me. Holding it up beside my bare foot Jill squinted critically. "It needs something -- the composition doesn't quite work for me..."

"I got it!" she said, and added a set of crossbones to the design.

Looking at my foot now, a couple years later it just reminds me of how she always had the knack for taking something normal and twisting it into something really bizarre and totally original. We worked together as a sideshow variety act called the Painproof Rubber Girls for 5 years, during which Jill was a student at the Cooper Union School of Fine Art. In the beginning we did a regular circus contortion act, average at best. As time went on it gradually mutated into a pain-proof act including a bed of nails, putting lit cigars out on our tongues, and spitting up fake blood.

W hen I worked with her she went by the name of Sarka. Identical Siamese twins seperated at the age of 2, we used to travel the world doing our contortion/bed of nails act. For the finale of our act, Sarka lay on the bed of nails and I would break a cinderblock on her using a giant sledgehammer. Our first real job was in Austria at the Wild Style tattoo expo. It was 1995. I think this was our first exposure to both Sideshow and Tattoo. In Austria we ran into Todd Robbins the sideshow king and famous artists and tattoo enthusiasts like Spider Webb, Hanky Panky and Clayton Patterson. Throughout the years, sideshow and tattoos have gone hand in hand. At first, the tattooed were in the sideshow -- Michael Wilson was a huge influence to us -- now the freaks have escaped the sideshow to enter the tattoo world.

Eight years after we first met, she is 26 years old, and goes by the name Jill Bonny -- A combined homage to Bonn Scott of ACDC and Anne Bonny, the famed pirate of the 18th century. Since their opening in September 2002, Jill has worked at State of Grace, the shop run by Takehiro Kitamura -- AKA Horitaka. An apprentice to Horiyoshi III of Yokohama, Japan, Horitaka also has two books under his belt -- Bushido and Tattoos of the Floating World. I spent a couple late nights talking to Jill on the phone about her life in San Jose and the good old days:

How do you like working in San Jose?

JB: It's nice to be out of the city. I like working in San Jose because I get to do a lot of big fun pieces. I am fortunate to have had a large portion of my San Francisco clients follow me here from my last shop, Sacred Rose. I love working with Taki and being next door to 45's Forever. Taki is very knowledegable about Japanese tattoos and we push each other to draw a lot. Taki has been a driving force in my Japanese tattoos for sure -- being around his work and his shop has definately helped me really understand tattooing and take it to the next level. Taki is the American version of the Horiyoshi family. His shop is an outpost for Horiyoshi as well.

What do you think sets you apart as an artist from other tattooists?

JB: I think that I pretty much hold discipline on a higher level. I'm committed to my work and always being on time and being there when I say I will and being consistent for customers. I just try to do the best work that I can. I don't really try to compare myself to other people, I just want my customers to be happy with the work I do for them.

How would you describe your style?

JB: I would say that my style reflects an understanding of imagery specific to tattooing. Meaning that, I'm interested in challenging preconceived notions of what a tattoo image should be by acknowledging a history of visual language of tattooing.

It seems like your more recent tattoos are bold and vibrant but without the usual overwhelming amount of bright colors...

JB: I think color has been an important issue for me and I would definately say that the study of color theory was the one way in which art school contributed to my ability to make a tattoo. My teacher was a student of Joseph Alver. Do you know who that is? He's the guy that basically started color theory. If there's like one major color I want to use in a piece I will think about color theory to figure out what other colors would work with it. I'm not the kind of person who goes with a random gut-instinct about color. I take it really seriously and consider all my options and look at it as like an actual problem solving thing -- like a mathematical equation.

How long have you been tattooing?

JB: I started apprenticing the summer of 1996 with Spider Webb. But I didn't start actually tattooing in a shop professionally until 1999.

Who would you say you main teachers were?

JB: Um, well working under Spider I met Ronda Hoelzer who was a great help and inspiration to me, and later when she went to work at Sacred Tattoo I followed her and met Kazz (now working at NY Adorned) and eventually I started working. I started at True Blue Tattoo in Queens. I would say that the time that I spent in San Francisco my ideas of tattooing changed a lot and I got to work with a lot of really awesome artists there too. I think all that kind of contributed. Ed Hardy got me my first job in San Francisco over at Sacred Rose and then later hooked me up with Taki in San Jose. I've also been tattooed by lots of different people and I feel that every time I've gotten tattooed I've learned a lot.

Wanna talk about Cooper Union?

JB: Cooper Union is a very small elite art school in New York that only accepts 40 to 50 art students a year and everyone who gets in receives a full scholarship. I would say that going to CU definately influenced my work ethic in a lot of ways. And having such a strong foundation in different disciplines of art like having such hard-core drawing classes and color theory and painting was really demanding of my output of work and pretty much just a rigorous program: if anyone slacked off they would just throw them out. I think that being in a very competitive art environment turned out to be a good experience for my career in tattooing. I take tattooing as seriously as I would any other art discipline.

What made you decide to go to a low-brow media like tattooing after graduating from a fine arts school?

JB: I actually got interested in tattooing while I was in college and at that time I was also in the carnival and doing free-lance circus work. I got exposed to tattoos through performing at tattoo related exhibitions in Europe. I met Michael Wilson while working at the Coney Island Sideshow. He was definately the first person to introduce me to tattooers and people who could teach me. The first person to show me anything was Mike Bellamy from XXX tattoo. He was working for Huggy Bear at the time, and Huggy was always out at Coney events.

I guess your apprenticeship at Spider Webb's studio was kind of a discipline too because he was always having people draw stuff. It seems like you always had some project. Like wasn't he like this week we are drawing butterfly's! or Quentin Crisp homages and shit like that?

JB: Oh totally. Before I even did any tattoos he would make me draw all of his flyers. I would have to trace and make stencils of all the tattoos that he did and draw a bunch of tattoos for him you know. He was also into having an art studio where we'd always be drawing and painting for exhibitions he'd be having. Working for the sideshow and working for Spider kind of went together because a lot of the circus people were hanging around the studio and everyone was friends at that time too. So it all kind of melded together for a while there. Cause like, you were around and Dick Zigun would be around and eEk and you know and Camille also and Michael Wilson and Merle Allen -- GG Allen's brother and all these weirdoes and kind of carneys and you know it was a crazy group of people. That was kind of neat about working for him at that time.

Do you find a similar feeling at Taki's with all the heavy-duty yakuza horishi coming through? Do you do Japanese-style art projects?

JB: Well right now there is one project that we're working on for a collection of flash that's going to be coming out, but me and Taki both draw -- I mean Taki really draws on skin primarily, but I do pretty much exclusively custom work. I guess that's what people seek me out for, but I'm just drawing all the time anyway. We definately have a unique group of people that hang around our shop just being next door to the 45's Forever. Roman, and all the guys over there are in and out so we kind of have a sort of family here now too.

Is it hard to be a woman in this industry?

JB: Uh oh. Are you ready for my tirade?

Go for it.

JB: I guess I never saw myself as a female tattooer. I always just saw myself as a tattooer. What I see of female tattoo artists in magazines is mostly women that feel like getting boob jobs is more important for their career than being heavily tattooed. A lot of women slide by with mediocre work and I think the general standard for female tattooers is a lot lower than it is for men so I'd much rather compete with guys. Most of the women out there that are getting media attention aren't really adding anything to the art of tattooing. I just want to work really hard and attract clients through talent rather than looks. I'm not knocking all female tattooers. There are definately a bunch of women that I look up to as well like Morbella of Spain and Alex Herman.

Where do you hope to take your work?

JB: I want to be doing large work and custom -- definately Japanese tattoos and also American tattoos and -- I'm getting into doing medieval tattoos also. I like all the heraldy, weapons and knives and stuff. I just did a big conquistador on this Mexican guy's arm that was pretty cool too. He had a Mayan warrior on the other arm. I guess I'd also like to travel more. It would be great to return to Europe as a tattoo artist this time instead of a sideshow performer.