The Tattooed Sloth
Sloth and Jeff Burt, October 2024
About The Artists
Sloth is an artist out of Massachusetts who enjoys painting the lighter side of the dark. Growing up in the 80’s, he was influenced with a lot of Saturday morning cartoons, toys, horror movies, comic books, and listening to punk rock. The art and music were so energetic and vibrant that they complimented each other, and he just couldn’t get enough. He has also come to draw inspiration from nature, primarily birds, due to their colorful hues, vibrancy, musical-stylings, and overall energetic presence.
Jeff Burt is an artist who started his career as a tattoo artist in 1995, living in Newport, Rhode Island. His life then, with beeper in tow, was ‘drawing, tattooing, surfing, partying and repeat’. For three years he honed his craft at a street shop where flash art (aka: pick a pre-drawn design from the wall) was the preferred method and style. This did not sit well with Jeff who wanted to create original pieces of art for clients. Ultimately he opened his own studio Pleasure In Pain in 2001 when tattooing became legal in Massachusettes. In 2005, Jeff began experimenting with watercolors and states “The old timers were right, watercolor is the closest medium to tattooing skin”. He finds great joy in this process of painting and looks forward to it, with every chance he gets.
About The Exhibition
I was asked to come up with a statement about this upcoming show in October 2024 and the only thing I can think of is this show is going to be fun. There’s no agenda, no deep introspective look into what makes us tick but just two creative, talented guys making kick ass art!
During the summer of 2023, while showcasing my artwork at a tattoo expo, I came across a tattooer by the name of Jeff Burt. I fell in love with his artwork immediately and struck up a conversation. We talked about art and tattoos and found out his shop wasn’t far from where I lived. I had remembered I was going to be showcasing my art at my friend’s gallery, The Preservation Framer, in October of 2024 and asked Jeff “we should totally do a collab show together!” He agreed and thus the “Tattooed Sloth” was born.