Adam Hathorn has in the past, simplified his style by describing it as “Ren & Stimpy”. In case you have no idea who Ren & Stimpy are, they were two crazy cartoon characters with their own VH1 series that ran from 1991-1996. It was hilarious and the animation was a cross between spastic and deranged. I mean that of course, in all the best possible ways.
Hathorn has been tattooing for 8 years and in that time he has created work that (as much of a fan of Ren & Stimpy’s animation style as I am), surpasses the quality of the great VH1 cartoon team. Sure there is flourishes of that sort of animation, but Hathorn has certainly developed his own unique style, one that makes me think of horror movies and a time and place where those little cutesy Japanese animation characters take over with machetes and cupcakes, leaving nothing but vibrant colours and sheer insanity in their wake. Once again, I mean that in all the best possible ways. In his own words, Hathorn describes his influences and style like this:
I’m influenced by many different things. I started getting into art through graffiti, and skateboarding. I do want to say that I no longer have much to do with either. Graffiti, because I was never any good, I just liked to destroy stuff, I was more into doing throwups and tags than legal pieces, again cause the skill wasn’t there. Not into skating anymore because I don’t have medical insurance, and judging from my sk8 history, I fell on my hands alot, and I just cant afford to break the money makers. Definately inspired by tattooing, because thats my job, and a huge part of my life. I work with a great group of tattooers, who are awesome artists as well, so I gain my daily inspiration from co-workers. When I attended art school, I was forced to take some art history courses, which at the time I thought were useless, but turned out having a great influence in my art. I discovered art that I would have never seen whithout those courses. The Byzantine stuff I thought was cool because of the creepy emaciated characters and weird religious imagery. I was brought up catholic, but subscribe to no particular religion, art from all religions definitely interests me.
Currently tattooing at San Diego, California’s Guru Tattoo, Hathorn also maintains the site HonkeyKong.com, where his other artwork is available in the form of posters, T-Shirts, prints and sketches. There is also information on his upcoming art shows and much, much more.
But if it’s tattoo work that you’re really looking for, then you’ll want to take a peek (or two, or three, or four) at his online galleries, either here or here. If you’re interested in contacting Adam about getting some work done, he can be reached via email at adam@gurutattoo.com, or on the phone at 858.270.1070.