Meet Mason Alexander | Tattoo Artist, Musician, Philosopher, human being

We had the good fortune of connecting with Mason Alexander and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Mason, what role has risk played in your life or career?
I especially liked this question because I feel like my personal story revolves largely around the act of takings risks.

Also for me, I believe risks are synonymous with opportunity. A decision that you make in present time that can completely shift the trajectory of your life.

Story time:

I was a member of the track and field in high school. I originally did track and field in middle school because I always enjoyed racing friends, but more specifically I was enamored by the high jump.

I then started practicing and competing in the high jump and I was well, quite bad. However, with consistent practice and the determination to become as good as I could be, I ended up being not too bad at it.

By the end of my high school career I had multiple conference titles, a top 5 performance in my high schools history, as well as second place finish at the Colorado state meet.

This came with an offer to high jump for at a division 2 track and field program in Gunnison, Co at Western State University.

This is where I experienced one of my first large, life shaping decisions .

Reason being I was already set and committed to go to the university of Colorado in Boulder to pursue studies in Pre-medicine so I could try and get into medical school.

My parents were everything but excited to hear that was considering going to another school other than CU, but I was curious to see what Gunnison had to offer me.

Long story short, I decided to take a risk and go visit Western,

In doing this, I created a rift between my family and I and it ultimately ended with me leaving my childhood home weeks before I graduated from high school.

I visited Western and spoke with the coach, toured their amazing new facility, and got to go on a rad camping adventure that night with some of the other team members.

Even though the experience was great, things weren’t really aligning with what I wanted for myself, so I went to CU that fall to study pre medicine.

I wasn’t done with my track career though, so I took another risk and reached out to the CU track and field coach to potentially try and earn a position on the team.

My efforts went noticed and I was able to walk onto the team where I competed for three seasons.

I had ups and downs ( quite literally) and it is a time that I cherish very much to this day.

But Mason, what does this have to do with running a business as a tattoo artist?

Well funny you should ask.

Throughout my track and field career I had success, and I had failure. One failure in specifically set me at the end of a road, two paths lay ahead of me.

And what do you know, I took another risk.

I was cut from the Cu Track and field team due to the head coach and I being on different levels of understanding with each other, and I left Cu and took a risk and moved to Chicago to pursue art.

I was in Chicago for three months and ended up running out of money and was forced to move back to Colorado to find an alternative means of living.

I worked on a Marijuana farm for a couple months and earned enough money to go back to school at CU in the spring,

Upon returning to CU, I shifted my focus to be solely on art.

I had been inspired in one of my art classes and I was getting more and more interested about tattooing. I was reading magazines, watching YouTube videos, and starting my personal collection of tattoos.

I had family members disown me, not understand/ support my decisions, but I did it anyway because it is my life, and no one is going to tell me how to live my life.

I took a risk and bought a tattoo machine off of Amazon and tattooed myself, and some of my friends, it quickly became clear to me that I had no idea of what I was doing.

I then sought out an apprenticeship to learn how to tattoo, and found rejection, upon rejection, upon rejection.

I had no knowledge of how to begin or where to start, but I was determined to become a tattoo artist. And a good one.

I eventually landed a job working at the front counter of a tattoo shop in Longmont Colorado called Tribal Rites, and my tattoo journey had officially begun.

It took me 6 months of working; cleaning toilets, mopping floors, answering phone calls, answering the same questions over and over and over again, long days to eventually earn my self an apprenticeship.

All of those decisions I made I feel placed me in the opportunity of learning how to tattoo, and since I’ve had that opportunity I’ve continued to run with it.

Of course we still run into obstacles and difficulties, but I feel my ability to take a risks had be lead me into the most memorable and meaningful experiences of my life.

I might now be great at many things, like holding a relationship or doing my taxes, but one thing I am good at is living in the moment and making risky decisions that I believe exponentially improves my life experience.

And I will continue to take risks for the rest of my days, including filling out online interview questionnaires.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
It’s hard for me to talk about how “special” I am or what “sets me apart” because we are all in this shit together.

Also artists are all thieves and we all build on the backs of what others have done.

It must be respected and appreciated in this way.

We are one collective of consciousness and I believe I am no better than no one, and no one is better at being me than me.

I will talk about my experience in hopes of creating a point of relation, in turn which hopefully helps us to create a deeper sense of understanding of ourselves, and of others.

Truthfully, I feel like the fact I’m being asked of what I’m proud of, immediately brings up all of the reasons that make me feel like I’m not good enough.

I feel that making art is the way of transmuting the chaos that happens in our life into order, or at least a brief moment of solace or release of the forever spinning world of madness. ( yes I listened to 2000’s emo music)

I work mostly right now in the medium of tattooing.

I really enjoy making Americana traditional, Japanese, and black and grey tattoos.

I also like a lil bit of everything else.

I’m not sure really how to market effectively, or budget effectively, or really do anything normally or by the book. However, I do believe that I’m very good at connecting with people.

I can create a space of friendship and communication that allows us to make the magic that tattooing and art for that matter really is.

Tattooing is an incredibly difficult task and it will show you where you lack immediately, and it isn’t easily fixed.

It’s kind of like a constant torment of showing all of your flaws that you must live with.

The fact that I am still practicing tattooing is either a sign of mental illness or I have become so obsessed with keeping it around in my life no matter what, it has made it one of my only constants these days in my life. That and crippling existential anxiety.

My path has been anything but easy, perhaps exactly the opposite. It’s been riddled with hardships

Those of the outside world, and those of the ones that I create myself.

I’m easily distracted, by everything. I usually care more about the present moment than I do of the moments to come.

Perhaps I’m misguided about that, but if you’re always living in the moments to come, you never truly experience the fullness of life in the now.

I am proud of that, I haven’t given up.

And believe me, I’ve been close, So. Many. Fuckin.Times.

I’m excited to continue to not give up, because it’s the only way I’ve found to keep me on the horse.

I make art because it allows me freedom. Freedom to explore and create the things that I wanna investigate or refine. Whether that is within myself or in the world around me.

But it’s not a linear pathway. It is pure chaos. Your imagination is not something that can be contained or molded. It’s raw energy that has both the ability to create and destroy.

I used to think I was a “professional’” , but I am just a humble student of something that is much larger than anything I can imagine.

I feel like many challenges I faced, I am still facing. They continue to teach me every single day.

I believe we overcome challenges by continuing to move on anyways, because we never have all of the answers.

The idea of being perfect is just that, an idea. .

With that said, when doing a tattoo the goal is for it to be perfect, or at least that what I used to think.

The reason I tattoo has changed drastically through the years.

It used to be, “let’s make cool tattoos and make lots of money to buy lots of cool things” , to “let’s make tattoos to be the best ever,” to “let’s make tattoos to make any money at all” , to “I want to make tattoos to make people happy and to be able to make one more tattoo. “

Life is a trip and I’ve definitely been tripping hard.

I do know though that tattooing has ripped me apart and has built me back together, as a much better, more experienced, more refined version of myself.

I want the world to know that I am not anything special, there are thousands of artists that you could choose over me, that would do just as well or even better.

But if you were to choose my brand and my story, I’m gonna choose your brand and your story as well.

Interacting and working with people is part of what holds us all together.

Getting through pain and differences in order to create understanding and something that lasts a lifetime, I think might be one of the most fine things in this life.

I want the experience of not only practicing my tattooing and art, but also practice at being a better person, a better listener , better at connecting, and better at understanding who we are in order to create a place that we can continue to grow in.

Life is hard, we shouldn’t make it harder for each other.

We’re the only people that are able to understand each other at the end of the day, so I would just like more of those opportunities to understand and flourish into someone that says and does a few pretty cool things in this life.

So yeah, art is dope.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Oooo well this is a much lighter topic for me to discuss, hahaha ya’ll had me deep in my feels there a second.

Denver is a very interesting and auspicious place.

If you can afford to live here, and then have some extra afterwards there are multiple fun options that I enjoy with myself and others.

I’d definitely recommend checking out some of the many incredible food venues that Denver has established within its metropolitan area.

To name a few, I really enjoy Mr. Oso , Barcelona, and Crema in Rino.

Temaki Den has the best omakase I’ve had.

Post Oak on Tennyson has some fire ass BBQ. Voghera on Tennyson is also a great atmosphere and fantastic quality wines and italian dishes.

Speaking of Tennyson Live Easy tattoo is the most comf tat shack in Colorado.

I’ve had the pleasure of being a semi-resident guest artist there over the past months and I highly recommend each and every artist there if you’re looking for an absolutely killer piece and great experience.

Other tattoo studios I really enjoy is Til Death in Rino, I have both of my sleeves done by the owner Scott Garitson who’s an excellent tattooer and has incredibly talented and high quality crew of artists that work there.

Dedication Tattoo on S. Broadway and Lifetime Tattoo on Colfax are the places for your walk in needs, or larger projects if you want that super rad authentic tattoo shop experience. Loud and covered in flash.

Asides from food and tattoos ( what more does one need?) ya gotta partake in Colorado’s beautiful selection of greens, It helps with the existential dread 😉

If it’s the summer time obviously we gotta go to Water World and Elich Gardens to get our thrills in.

Rockies games are always fun and affordable, and if it’s basketball season you better believe you’ll find me at Ball Arena for the Nuggets home games.

You really just need to be out in Denver, as long as you avoid I-25 and 70, or driving at all I’d say.

Denver also has amazing parks, and views including but not limited to Cheesman, Washington and Central Park. Sloan’s lake, and just 30 mins west you got Red Rocks for a sick hike or a life changing concert of your favorite musical talents.

Denver has been good to me, it will forever hold a large and special place in my heart.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I would like to shout out all of the people that have believed in me and supported my journey of becoming the best person and artist that I can be.

I could name hundreds and hundreds of people, but it would take far too long to type and if I missed someone I’d feel bad, so I’m making it short and sweet:

My mother, for showing me what it means to be loved unconditionally and how beautiful this life really is.

My father for being a pile and inadvertently showing me what not to do.

My siblings, for living in this life alongside me and being there to commune with each other.

My friends and clients for being there to trust me in my efforts and give myself opportunities to grow

My haters for being the ones to cheer me on along the way.

And myself, for being crazy enough to continue to move forward.

Instagram: masonalexander_tattoo

Other: I hate social media and need desperate help lol

Image Credits
Images supplied by Mason Alexander