Stepping into Star Crossed Tattoo at the hip, expat-friendly Wanchai Star Street location, you would feel strangely comforted rather than pumped up with adrenaline, and ready for the pain from the needle rush. Ross Turpin and his team decorated the new studio with his own paintings from previous gallery exhibitions and other pieces of collections just as any art collector would in their own homes. These pieces are intriguing to stare at as you lay at the artist’s mercy.Ross is soft spoken when consulting on design concepts. He puts you at ease right away with his calm demeanour, the studio clean and clear as a doctor’s office, him eager to prescribe the best piece of art on your body.Born in South Africa with Scottish roots, Ross immigrated to Hong Kong in 2010. His first career after graduating from Durban University of Technology was in advertising in South Africa. The lack of creativity and monotony of the office grind pushed him to explore tattooing as a career, a practice well versed in the Punk Music scene he is into. Tattoo artists have intimate and trusting interaction with the clients, something that was lacking in advertising. But business was also lacking in South Africa and being adventurous, he travelled and found Hong Kong to have a robust budding appetite for tattoos.Ross likes to clarify that he is an immigrant in Hong Kong as opposed to an expatriate. He is not leaving Hong Kong. This is refreshing while we are in another era of brain drain due to the local freedom-threatening political landscape deterioration. Indeed, typical profiles of expats often come with generous living expenses complimented by their company packages: private school tuition, beach-side apartments, access to members-only clubs. Oftentimes expats stay for their 3 or 5 year term commitments and off they go on to another adventure or return home. This glamorous arrangement oftentimes breeds entitlement.Ross came to Hong Kong committed to making a tattoo business thrive bearing all the risks involved. The intention was to have a new opportunity in a new place where you have no idea if it would work out. He knew Hong Kong was the best opportunity he had at the time and the harder he worked the better it would turn out for him. It was not easy to get a visa approved by HK authorities. After two rejections, Ross and his partner finally armed themselves with a consultant on the process and finally found the right business language welcomed, reflecting how complicated the system is here.“You don’t find that kind of spirit in Hong Kong very much as a Westerner here.” A lot of locals ask him if he was born locally as they find it incredulous that a foreigner can be successful in this business coming as a working class immigrant. But that is not entirely true, being a world class international city, chefs, teachers, hair stylists, merchants, along with white collar “finance bros”, flock here for better opportunities too.We spoke about how the Hong Kong spirit reflects in different ways here. In many ways, all walks of life here are the same: we all came here for better opportunities and we all “hustle” for it, no matter where we came from originally. Culturally yes, Ross may have a lot of similarities with westerners, but values wise, he finds himself aligning with Indian-Hong Kongers who dominate the local merchandising market with grit, ingenuity and flexibility. Not only are they proficient in the Cantonese language and culture, they balance their values along with it. Hong Kong is also attractive because civility is still very much alive due to it being a melting pot of cultures. Something that was missing in South Africa where violence, burglary, hijacking are frequent topics of discussions.Something unique in Hong Kong we both loved is the local tattoo scene that has not yet fully mingled with Western influences. My own first interaction with tattoos was growing up in North Point. My mother would take me to the wet market for groceries and I often saw young, at peak physical shape, men shirtless on hot summer days. The full backs and full chests of intricate Chinese dragons full of might and fiery, then balanced with elegant but powerful phoenixes. I would stare in awe while my mother pulled my wrists in the opposite direction.Ross loves these tattoo styles too. We both admitted in hushed voices that these maybe Triad tattoos to show strength, power, being at the fringe of normal and that they are against the status quo. This resonates with the Punk spirit, which we both nodded to in mutual admiration. One time, Ross’s studio needed some maintenance work. The contractors came and he noticed they had these massive dragon tattoos but ironically the contractors never wanted to chat with him about his studio for tattooing. Ross laments maybe that the studio is still not cool enough.But certainly others still think Star Crossed Tattoo studio is cool enough. The studio has grown roughly 10X in the client base since 2010. In the 2010s, the clientele was still mainly tourists or expats but locals also came for slightly conservative body art. Eventually the trend shifted to more original, intricate, and exposed tattoos that highlighted Ross’ artistic skills in composition. The quality of Ross’s works attracts locals to this studio as it is evident that the art is not just a print copied from elsewhere but possesses originality. It is worth mentioning that Ross’s paintings have been already exhibited with 2 solo shows and 5 group shows. Working with Young Soy Gallery who has a strong online presence in the Hong Kong art scene, Ross’s visual art themes are entirely different from his tattoo art. Seas away from the Japanese influenced tattoo motifs, his mixed media paintings bring South Africa to life with movement and bright colours that invoke hard emotions. His next solo show starts on June 17th 2021!Art is the most vocal yet quiet form of speech. Living in a historical time for Hong Kong, tattooing Hong Kongers marks the frontier of speech with the recent passing of National Security Law where boundaries are unclear. The Umbrella movement in 2014 saw a high demand for protest themes and again spiked in 2019, but since NSL was enacted in 2020, they have slowed down. Would censorship laws on Art in China work with the art scene in Hong Kong? Ross thinks it would create monopolies for defiant artists which would counter the aim to allow voices of populace to sound in art. I am not sure if any artists are prepared fully to comply just as Ross cannot fathom if authorities would threaten shut down of business if somehow they are found to be not compliant to this murky law. This is the next test of the Hong Kong spirit for everyone loving Hong Kong. Add Oil Ross!&nbsp;<a href="https://www.instagram.com/ross_turpin_/">See more of Ross Turpin Tattoos on Instagram</a>&nbsp;This <a href="https://omnifinery.com/editorial/art">Art Story</a> is brought to you by <a href="https://www.instagram.com/instituteavetisian/">Institute Avetisian</a>, a contemporary art gallery, which is focused on Art Brut, Conceptualism, <a href="https://omnifinery.com/editorial/minimalism">Minimalism</a>, Video and Abstract Art. <a href="https://www.instagram.com/instituteavetisian/">Follow Institute Avetisian on Instagram</a> to see more exciting works and learn more about contemporary artists.&nbsp;Omnifinery - Feel Comfort in Your Individuality&nbsp;Text:&nbsp;Angela ChongOmnifinery Editorial: 2021 June Art Article 001

Ross Turpin: Body as a Canvas, or a Timeless Triad Tattoo Scene in a Modern Hong Kong Setting

Related Products

Kometa.a

Kometa.a

Kometa.a

Ad Astra

Ad Astra

Ad Astra

Ad Astra

Related Stories

KOMETA.A: ‘An Arrival of a LADYBUG’

Become an Omnifinery Member to Share Your Creative Spirit and Be a Part of an Artistic Community

Next Story

'A Dream for All and None'. An avant-garde fashion brand, where dreams can move the mountains. Presenting ‘Ad Astra’ by Evgeny Avetisian

Related Products

Kometa.a

Kometa.a

Kometa.a

Ad Astra

Related Stories

'A Dream for All and None'. An avant-garde fashion brand, where dreams can move the mountains. Presenting ‘Ad Astra’ by Evgeny Avetisian

KOMETA.A: ‘An Arrival of a LADYBUG’

Next Story

'A Dream for All and None'. An avant-garde fashion brand, where dreams can move the mountains. Presenting ‘Ad Astra’ by Evgeny Avetisian