Reviews
-Acclaimmagazine, Aus, October 2009
-City weekly, Aus, October 2009
-Bizarre magazine, UK, July 2009
-Little Things, CN, July 2009
-Tattoo Burst, JP, July 2009
-Plus1 mag, UK, March 2009
-Tattoo.com, USA, February 2009
-Supersweet, UK, December 2008
(interview below]
-Rise Magazine, Fr, September 2008
-Traffic, Fr, October 2008
-AXN Magazine, Aus, July 2008
-Inked, US, June 2008
-City Weekly, Aus, June 2008
-Week Magazine, CH, April 2008
-Juice magazine HK, December 2007
-Total Tattoo UK, December 2007
-Deadbeat Magazine, Aus, November 2007
-Tattooed Heart, Aus, October 2007
-Plastique, September 2007
-Tatowier magazin, Ger, August 2007
-Etappe, Fr, August 2007
-Planet, July 2007
-Sang Bleu, CH, May 2007
-Tattoolife, It, March 2007
-Acclaimmagazine, Aus, March 2007
-The extra finger, February 2007
-Down under tattoo, Aus, August 2006
-Tattooenergy, It, July 2006
-Amsterdam weekly, NL, September 2005
-Amsterdam weekly, NL, September 2004
-Club international, September 2004
-Carbon 14, USA, May 2004
-International tattoo art, USA, August 2004
-Juxtapoz tattoo special, USA, spring 2004
-Tattoolife, It, March 2004
-Penthouse, NL, May 2003
-Veronica magazine, NL, May 2003
-BG magazine, April 2003
-Juxtapoz tattoo special, USA, summer 2003
“It seems like you’re almost special if you don’t have a tattoo nowadays,” admits Angelique Houtkamp, Amsterdam’s hottest tattoo artist and painter extraordinaire.
This wasn’t the case twenty years ago, when she struggled to find a tattooing apprenticeship in the Netherland’s capital. Despite the city’s seeming appeal for tattoo art, the lack of outlets meant cashing in a favor with a friend to get the gig. After years of developing her own style, she arrived at her current base the Admiraal Tattoo Studio.
This isn’t just any street-side, spur-of-the-moment kind of shop - if you want a tattoo with Angelique, be prepared to fly to Amsterdam, make an appointment and drop upwards of one hundred and fifty Euros. “You get people with more of a purpose,” she explains. In return, they end up with a work of art on their body from a serious artist, rather than a color-by-numbers ink clone.
Appointment tattooing is more than just a job for this buoyantly beautiful and dedicated visionary; it’s a way to help people express something important to them, whether it’s a memory, a reminder, or a seductively potent design. “Some things in life are really important for people, so they want to emphasize that in their design…That’s what usually touches me, when you realise how important this is to a particular person.”
Input from the customer is obviously crucial, though Angelique creates all the designs herself. Her style is instantly recognizable for its darkly retro influences, goth’ glam and Jazz Age ladies. Buxom cowgirls wink at Voodoo Talullahs, finger-waved faces sit incarcerated in rose heads; skulls bust into flower…everything the modern sailor gal could want exists right here in Angelique’s imagination, and on the bodies of the many young women who line up for it...
"Traditionally, tattooing was a tough thing to do. Now I think it’s become more of an adornment…Women view it more like jewelry or clothing.” Emphasising this parallel between tattoo and art is Angelique’s imagery adorning clothing and accessories companies like Fornarina and Nookart, an Australian brand that sells belts, pins and bags. Even metal flasks get a witty makeover with a ‘drink to forget’ enamel tattoo.
The recent flare in tattoo art may well be attributed to this visionary grand dame, who realized the powerful distinctiveness and refreshing zeal of tattooing products rather than skin, transcending bodies to the outer- limits of the design world. Now a successful, full-time watercolour artist, her work sells feverishly in the States, Europe and Australia.
“The strange thing is that a lot of tattooers say my paintings don’t have that much tattoo, but people who are not tattooers recognize it straightaway.” Either way, her art is striking at first glance, and hypnotizing at the second, third, and fourth. Long may the lady save us from lame tattoos everywhere.
Words: Casey Acierno
Nothing on this website may be reproduced without permission of Angelique Houtkamp. ©Angelique Houtkamp
