The Creators of NYC: Tattoo Artist Virginia Elwood
Josh Wool spent a decade as an executive chef, opening restaurants across the south. But all that changed in 2010, when the carpal tunnel in his hands meant he could no longer work. To keep from going stir crazy, he picked up a camera and found his next calling. Two years, thousands of portraits, and a move to New York later, Wool is documenting the people who inspire him on a daily basis. Welcome to Creators of NYC.
Virginia Elwood
Tattoo artist Virginia Elwood has been plying her craft for the last 12 years and has made a name for herself at New York Adorned as one of the top talents in the industry. I first saw her work several years ago, and I bumped into her on the G train in Brooklyn shortly after I arrived in New York. After almost a year of exchanging emails, we finally sat down in her Carrol Gardens home.
When did you figure out that tattoo art could be an actual career?
When I was a little kid, I remember wanting to be either a scientist, a ballerina, or a garbage man. I don’t think I had a definition or reference for “art as a career.” I set out on my own at a really young age and drifted from one random job to the next … a career in fine arts was not a realistic or practical goal at that time. The idea that a person could actually get paid to draw didn’t occur to me until I fell head over heals for tattoos as a teenager in the 90s.
Tenth Avenue and 22nd Street and Cranberry and Henry, Brooklyn Heights by Jorge Colombo
“For years and years I have prowled cities for moments such as these,” says artist Jorge Colombo of his distinctive cityscapes. He created these beloved images—Tenth Avenue and 22nd Street graced the cover of the New Yorker—using an iPhone. See more of his work.
