Josh Nieman - Tattoo Artist

Halifax, Canada

“My name is Josh Nieman, I'm currently located in Halifax, Nova Scotia. I've been drawing and painting for as long as I can remember. I fell into punk and hardcore when I was in my early teens by way of a good friend's older brother and I think the notion of conventional work went out the window somewhere around the same time. The last five or six years I've mainly been focused on tattooing and traveling, but in being grounded by COVID my practice has changed a lot even in the last year or so. I suppose that some influences that my work has taken are more obvious than others; things like punk or 60's and 70's biker culture are generally always at the forefront of the aesthetics that I lean into but I take a lot of influence from more contemporary artists and painters as well. Recently I think a lot of my work deals with abstracting simple or common images I like to work with every day. Tattooing can be a very demanding job to work in, people want a very perfect or polished image right out of the gate so in my own work I try to do things a little more loosely. I've included a little bit of both my professional and personal work here. I'm really grateful to be included in this round of artists with so many people that I admire, and am looking forward to meeting a few of them in person when things get to be a little less isolating.”