Fun City Tattoo is the hottest spot to get inked in NYC. Owned by tattoo trailblazers, Big Steve and Maxx Starr, the spot has racked up quite the stellar reputation. From stamping a range of celebs, NYC cool kids, and being a staple for the East Village community, Fun City Tattoo carries true legacy. In the artists own words, “Our goal is to make our clients happy. No ego, no attitude, just a good positive mental attitude with a hint of sarcasm.” explains owner Big Steve.
Let’s take things back to the 80s, when Jonathan Shaw first founded the shop. Fun City emerged as one of New York City’s first legitimate walk-in shops merging art with hardcore and punk. The show has attracted a diverse client base that included gang members, Hell’s Angels bikers, celebrities, and artists tied to New York high society. Iggy Pop, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Jim Jarmusch, Kate Moss, John Joseph, Naomi Campbell, and a young Freddy Madball were just a few regulars intoxicated by the allure of Fun City’s decked out gonzo fantasy.
Fast-forward to 2001, Big Steve enters the scene. A young apprentice who gained fame on the tattoo circuit with a diverse style drawing heavily on traditional Americana, miniature work, traditional Japanese minimalism, and black and grey imagery. Having tattooed major stars such as SZA, Miley Cyrus, Harry Styles and Kate Moss, it’s clear why Fun City Tattoo is the place to get tatted.
Maxx Starr, co-owner to Fun City, is a multimedia artist and entrepreneur, who has called New York City home for over a decade. Working primarily in writing, visual art, and film, his work is often a reflective musing on the unique, uncanny, and unrelenting circumstances of city life.
The shop still offers walk-ins and appointments, and the current artist lineup includes a range of tattoo artists hailing from all over the world including Joel Baca, Ryan E, Dylan Kraus, Diego, Tessa BX, Jesus Antonio and rotating artists monthly.
We sat down with Maxx to delve deeper into his journey to falling in love with the ink, memories at Fun City Tattoo and his development as an artist…
When did you first begin working in art and how has your approach evolved over time?
My father is a sculptor and professor. Both my sister and I grew up in his studio. I realised early on that making art of any kind is a privilege. The men painting in caves were either out of their minds or the chiefs who had the time to create art given their status. I grew up working class so I put my creative mind to rest for many years. I always wanted to pay my own way through life which is difficult when living in big cities and having no financial support from family. These days I’ve had more time and free space in my head to write, paint, and make movies. I was never one to sacrifice my life for the sake of art as I watched my dad take on that burden. My first painting I felt good about was Mount Fuji in a peachy cream colour with a white cap and black background. Above the mountain was my name in Japanese (I started learning Japanese in sixth grade) and below it I wrote “fuck you”. It was a gift for my dad. I was eleven. He has it centrally located on one of the walls in his studio still today.
How would you describe your artistic style?
I lean happy. I grew up in a rough city and while my family is great as most families we are a bit splintered. Exploring good feelings has been the best way for me to move. I like colour, comedy, and life in cities. Inscribing bright sentences down on paper or warm colours on canvas adds progression to my static feeling of “what is going on?”. Making visual art is very much dictated by your surroundings. Living in New York and going through extended times of being broke typically means having a small space to work. I’m only writing now. Using words and making sentences forces honesty. It reminds me to make my truth happy. I hope to end up mastering the art of romantic comedy both in prose and on film. I am an amorist. There’s nothing better than love.
What was it about Fun City Tattoo that you fell in love with?
Big Steve and I owning Fun City has brought back the spirit of the shop when the original owner Jonathan Shaw opened the place back in the 70s. Painters, punk rockers, rappers, drug dealers, models, skaters, graffiti writers all came through. The shop feels like classic New York City here, a true melting pot of society. It’s exactly what the name is and this is what myself and everyone that walks in falls in love with. “Fun City”.
Can you talk a bit about the community that Fun City Tattoo fosters? How do you create this positive energy?
The shop has been open since 1976, and has its own trajectory just as stories do. Fun City operates a bit outside the tattoo industry. The personality of the brand falls more in line with a Downtown New York store rather than a classic tattoo shop. In tattooing there are people that identify with the culture of it while our customers relate more to the city of New York and also happen to be people that get tattooed. When Jonathan Shaw was here you could find him tattooing Johnny Depp and Kate Moss alongside Hells Angels. That’s a motley crew. The shop’s location is on St Marks which is one of the most culturally rich streets in the city spanning only three blocks. Steve and I are here to help guide and nurture the spirit of what’s already been here. Fun City is an institution. Hopefully someone else will still be taking care of it when Steve and I are long gone so we can watch from above and have some laughs.
Tattoos can often feel so personal or emotional to someone. How does it feel when someone leaves the studio with such a meaningful and special piece?
We treat all tattoos the same. A small outline of a heart which might not seem unique to one person is important to someone else. Fun City has an atmosphere where we are happy to put anything on a customer because getting tattooed no matter the design is an important act. Getting tattooed can be growth. You leave the shop with a new body, your skin is changed forever. If you approach that experience with mindfulness you leave feeling renewed. Loss in its many forms, can multiply the force of gravity on your heart and mind and this can be lessened by getting a tattoo. The same goes for celebrations in life. Graduations, marriage, or simply a good day with your friends that you want to remember. This is happiness added to happiness. I’m happy to provide a place where that can happen.
Are there any artists at the studio who are particularly exciting to you right now?
We currently have the best crew we’ve ever had. Fun city is tiny. It’s a must that we get along. That’s the most important as it keeps the shop fun. Secondly, they are creating the best tattoos we’ve ever had walk out of the shop. Interesting to look at, the team brings excitement and the tattoos do not need any touch ups. Our team provides good conversation while doing one of the more daunting tasks in any industry, putting an image on a body that will be there their whole life. It’s not easy to have all these pieces that make for a great tattooer but everyone working at the shop right now has these qualities.
Can you tell us about your book, Freedom, Told Through Line and Color, and your short film, The Crusaders?
The book was years ago. Gagosian carried it with some paintings and a ring I designed for their gift shop. The short film I wrote and directed was much more difficult. It’s a gritty New York crime film starring Peter Greene (Pulp fiction, Mask) and a classic downtown crowd with some of the old legends of the area and the up and coming younger kids . Writing is hard, and I’d never directed before. Everyone on earth has their own sense of rhythm, their own opinions and that shows when you let people work with you on a film. That’s a great part about making a movie, you can never guess what it will be in the end. I’m going back to writing prose right now. I’m currently working on a book of short stories called “Cowboy Love” about what love is and how it can last a minute, or a lifetime. My friend Paige Silveria that runs Daisies NYC will be publishing it.
How do you balance your time between your work as an artist and as an entrepreneur?
I think about what I need to do and how to do it until I fall asleep and usually wake up a couple times throughout the night thinking about what I was thinking about before I fell asleep. I am lucky. I’ve set myself up to pay my bills, I can have some drinks and dinners, but I’m not flying to the Maldives anytime soon. I have time in my days where I can play with ideas and execute the ones that tickle me most. I don’t need as much as some people. There is freedom in that.
What is the best part of running Fun City Tattoo?
I’m my own boss. My partner and I get along effortlessly. I get to take part in one of the last cool retail spaces in New York city. It’s fun. I’d love to bottle this up and put it in other cities. London would be the next best place. So many good things have happened and continue to happen there. I’d love to take part in it and add a New York City touch to life in London.
Do you have a favourite memory from the studio?
Early on when Steve and I took over Fun City an older man named “Wild Bill” stopped in. He was 78 when I met him. He was dressed like most men of his age. He had on a brown golf jacket with a white collared shirt underneath and a pair of khakis. I’d heard about Bill but this was my first time meeting him. He was completely covered in tattoos, including his face, ears, and scalp. Bright. Neon dragons coming down his nose. He started getting tattooed only a couple years before I’d met him. I asked him why and he told me “Being older, I’ve figured out all the ways I am able to make people happy. I wanted more ways. These tattoos make people happy.” Well done!
