Justin Sandelli

A simple rule of dabbling in psychedelics is that epiphanies on mushrooms should usually be taken with a grain of salt. What seems like a grand idea at the height of a trip may not look so ingenious in the light of day. Justin Sandelli is an exception to the rule as he found serious clarity from his psychedelic experience. The very next day he decided to leave a college soccer scholarship behind to pursue tattooing. Now, he’s a leading black-and-grey artist with a dedicated clientele and talent to spare.

When did you first develop an interest in art?
I’ve had an interest in art for as long as I can remember. My grandma made clothes, my mom decorated cakes, and my aunt painted and sang, so I was always surrounded by art growing up. I was constantly drawing cartoons, doodling or doing little crafts. I can’t remember exactly when, but that interest slowly became an obsession when I found graffiti. And that’s probably where my true love for art stems from.

How did you go about becoming a tattoo artist?
Long story short, I hated school. During my senior year of high school, I wasn’t really planning on going to college, but I ended up getting recruited to play soccer. I loved soccer and college life, I just hated the whole school part of it.

The summer after my freshman year, I had about two weeks until I went back to college. I was hanging with a friend and we decided to eat a bunch of mushrooms. We ended up tripping for, like, six hours and during that time, I reflected on what really made me happy in life—it definitely wasn’t school. Art and graffiti were my escape, so why not take a shot and see if I could make a career out of it? The next day, I went to my local tattoo shop where I had been getting tattooed for a couple years, showed the owner my not-so-great work, and he decided he’d give me a shot.

What led you to black-and-grey realism?
When I actually started taking art seriously, I was drawn to pencil and graphite work—specifically portraiture. I guess it was a natural transition for me to move my tattooing into black-and-grey realism once my technical application was where it needed to be. While learning, I tried a little bit of everything, but I always came back to black-and-grey.

What’s something you haven’t tattooed a lot that you’d like to do more of?
I would love to tattoo more original designs. Normally, this consists of some sort of movie character or musician with my little spin on it. Those are the pieces that usually get the best feedback and the ones people really like to look at. On top of that, those are usually the most fun pieces for me to do.

Would you consider doing color in the future?
I would definitely consider doing color in the future, but probably not realism and probably not any time soon. I think it’s important to try new things and push your art forward, therefore I don’t like closing anything off and saying “never.” But I’m content with continuing to learn and progress my black-and-grey work at the moment. If I were to do color, I would probably end up trying something along the lines of neo-traditional, since I’m pretty infatuated with this style.

Despite tattooing in black-and-grey realism, many of your own tattoos are color neo-traditional. What led you to collect pieces in this style?
I’ve always loved the look of traditional and neo-traditional tattoos, even before I started tattooing. The readability is unmatched, and with how well it holds up over time, I felt like I couldn’t go wrong in wearing it. As much as I liked traditional stuff, I really enjoy the flow, composition and color palette possibilities neo-traditional allows, so that’s what I really fell in love with it.

If you could tattoo one celebrity, who would it be?
Jeff Goldblum or Joe Rogan. I think either would make for amazing conversations and overall experiences. I’m not sure what I would tattoo on either, though I’m sure they would both have some fantastically weird ideas.

Who are your favorite artists to listen to while you tattoo?
Who I listen to really depends on the mood I’m in that day. I listen to a lot of different types of music—everything from Movements, Thousand Below and Capstan to Denzel Curry, Vince Staples and Lil Tecca. The only thing I can’t stand is country music. Music is one of the most important things in my life and I listen to music while I do pretty much everything. I think it’s super important to have the right playlist for the right mood, especially when I’m tattooing.

If you weren’t tattooing, what would you like to do for a career?
I would probably be doing woodworking of some sort or gardening. Before I started tattooing, I did custom built-in home cabinetry and pyrography. I enjoyed it a lot and was pretty good at it, so I wouldn’t mind doing that every day. I also find gardening very therapeutic and relaxing. I feel like they would both give me the same feeling of accomplishment that tattooing does.