| While some people have the soul of an artist and others have a mind for business, there are those rarities among us who are able to merge both into a powerhouse of creativity. Welcome to Paul Jeffries’s world. Since opening Smilin’ Buddha Tattoo in 1978, he has garnered countless global tattoo awards and his work is known from San Francisco to Cambodia.
With his full bodysuit of tattoos and uniform of black jeans, skate shoes and T-shirts, Jeffries emits a youthful vibe belying his 52 years. He says modern tattoos are no longer reserved for the fringe elements of society. From desk jockeys to soccer moms, it seems everyone has one nowadays and it’s no longer frowned upon in corporate Calgary.
"I think the stigma is gone," he says. "The in-your-face stuff like a big neck tattoo might slow down your career, but if the boss finds out you have one at the staff pool party, it’s not a big deal anymore."
With more people thinking of their bodies as canvases, the possibilities are endless.
"It’s not a static medium. It’s a constantly evolving thing, the ideas people bring to it will always keep it fresh. It covers everything from eagles and Harleys to abstract forms," he says.
However, he concedes that there has been a recent shift back to traditional images such as daggers and bleeding hearts, emulating Sailor Jerry and the styles of the 1930s.
"It’s coming back to the old school. I’ve spent most of my career covering that stuff up and now people are getting them again," he says with his trademark throaty laugh.
Jeffries’s signature Japanese Western style has earned him a reputation as a leader in his field. He first travelled to Japan in the early 1980s and says meeting Horiyoshi III, a longtime Tokyo icon of tattooing, has had an ongoing influence on his career.
"You just can’t beat a solid outline with properly shaded colour inside," he says of the Japanese style. "Tattoos shouldn’t fade away, they should grow old gracefully with you."
He also says getting drunk on soju with Horiyoshi and trying to cross language barriers was unforgettable. "By the end of the night we were conversing freely in some kind of bizarre Japanese-English booze language," he says with a grin that shows off several diamond-studded teeth.
Jeffries is frequently jetting off to tattoo conventions around the world and has tattooed on every continent except Antarctica. When he’s in Calgary, he spends his downtime cruising on his chopper, playing in a pool league or having an occasional pint at the Unicorn. He takes care of his "homework" (the drawings he does prior to placing each tattoo) in the evenings and on the weekends.
Borrowing the name Smilin’ Buddha from a now closed cabaret in his hometown of Vancouver, Jeffries first opened for business in a dingy Marda Loop strip mall. By the late ’80s, he had moved to the little blue-and-white house on the hill that has been the Buddha’s home ever since. Legend has it a ghost named Sid still inhabits the joint, but Jeffries says he’s been quiet of late.
Representational drawing was Jeffries’s first love, and after displaying talent in high school, he was recommended for a scholarship at the Vancouver School of Art. But fate intervened in the form of an envious classmate who sabotaged his portfolio with indigo ink. He never received the scholarship. "It just wasn’t meant to be," he says.
Shortly after graduation, he began rendering boogie vans with funky medieval imagery, but quickly discovered it wasn’t a long-term career choice. "There was nothing but young painters and dead painters," he says of the toxic fumes that shorten lifespans.
After hanging out in East End tattoo parlours, Jeffries began drawing tattoo designs for his friends, and it wasn’t long before Brian Zuk of Ace Tattoo showed him some tricks of the trade. Shortly after that, he moved to Calgary to open his own shop.
"I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face when there were 11 people waiting on the first day," he says.
So is there any sign of tattoos becoming a thing of the past?
"Someone turns 18 every minute," he quips. "There are at least 20 shops in town with a couple of artists working in each one. Obviously they’re supplying a large demand."
Roberta McDonald is the co-author, with Paul Jeffries, of Smilin’ Buddha: A 25-Year History, available at McNally Robinson Booksellers. |
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