Nick Bubash by John Wyatt “Under My Skin” 2003
I still remember the first time I saw his arm tattoos. Layers of patterns and shapes. Back then I only knew Nick as Bella’s dad. I was in 7th grade at a public art school in Pittsburgh, PA. I knew that he was a tattoo artist. And I knew that his tattoos were unlike any others I had ever seen.
A few years later - I was watching a short documentary about Thom DeVita. I had already been captivated by DeVita’s work. As a young person just entering the world of tattooing - DeVita’s work shook me to my core and expanded my ideas of what was possible for an artist. And then, a few minutes into the video, I heard a voice I wouldn’t miss anywhere. I learned that Nick Bubash - a person I’ve known since I was 13 had apprenticed under my tattoo hero.
Nick came up under DeVita at a time when tattooing was still illegal in New York. He was a young artist - and the way he found DeVita was nothing short of magic. He writes about the signs that lead him two DeVita’s door: a flock of birds, a truck with an arrow, bit of gossip picked up on from neighbors. He eventually found Thom and from there blossomed a friendship that would last over 30 years.
Around the time that I recognized Nick in the documentary, DeVita was having an art show at Great Lakes Tattoo in Chicago. Seeing the paintings in person was an entirely different experience. The brushstrokes, the texture of the rubbings, the sheer volume of work that Thom (in his 80s at the time) had made for this show - all blew me away. And of course Nick was there. It was there I got to meet DeVita.
The next time I was visiting family in Pittsburgh - I went and got tattooed by Nick at his shop in McKees Rocks. I drove out by myself through the Liberty Tunnels with a plate of baklavah my mom had sent me with. When I got there Nick was having a consult with a kid not much younger than I was - he was turning 18 and about to get his first tattoo. Nick had this incredible back story and fine arts practice but at the end of the day he was also just the neighborhood tattoo guy.
The shop Route 60 Tattoo was right off the highway and seemed more like an art studio than a tattoo shop. I was surprised I could see the walls after seeing photos of DeVita’s shop. But Nick was different - he was more of a sculptor, a fine artist - who found tattooing. He kept his art practice and his tattoo practice very separate- but he embodied both roles fully. He was an artist as well as a tattooer.
I didn’t know what I was going to get, going into the shop. But we ended up just talking about my family’s background and finding an image that way. I got a hand sized Syrian tribal design on my shoulder. Its one of my favorite tattoos to this day.
Sitting down in Nicks chair felt like something I had been waiting for since I first saw his tattoos. He was super old school, sometimes wiping his mouth with the same paper towel he was wiping my tattoo with!
I wanted to talk to him about DeVita and Hardy and Paul Rogers and Tux Farrar - people who shaped the corner of tattooing I had found myself immersed in. But Nick was my childhood friend’s dad first and foremost - we talked about his daughter, my friend group from Pittsburgh and my family. We ended up talking just as much about high school dyke drama as we did tattooing. But that was what made being around Nick so special - when you were around him you were family.
I would run into Nick a few more times over the years. He had a studio sale in Pittsburgh and I asked my dad to go for me. They just chatted for hours - one of my family’s rare glimpses into the tattoo world. I bought his paintings. I talked to him after DeVita died. I would see Nick at Old Soul Tattoo and then eventually in Chicago when he moved there briefly. I would just run into Nick on the street by my shop near Tony Fitzpatrick’s gallery. He would always day “Hi darlin!” and bring me in for a hug. He was my tattoo family in every city I lived in.
My dear friend Ivan called me the other day to tell me that Nick passed away. It was totally out of the blue. He had a fast moving cancer that spread in just a few weeks. After we got off the phone - both me and Ivan went back to work and finished out tattoos. The very thing that connected us to Nick.
Later that night I went to my books. Eye Tattooed America, DeVita and Under My Skin. Looking at photos of my friend Nick and reading his words. He was known for being an artist and a tattooer but the man also knew how to tell a good story. In an essay he wrote in “Under My Skin” he writes “I didn’t realize the chain is broken - but the links aren’t” He was talking about using traditional tattoo imagery to tell different stories. Using the links to build a new chain. Something that I strive to do in my work every day.
I’m so grateful I got to know Nick Bubash. In Pittsburgh, Chicago and eventually in New York. He was one of a kind. We’ll all miss him dearly but in some ways it feels good to know he’s once again reunited with his old friend DeVita.
