Kansas City Tattoo Shop Loses Artists in Protest against Owner | KCUR
Tattoo Artists Stop Timewalker Over Proprietor’s Misconduct
Practically all of the tattoo artists at Timewalker, a distinguished tattoo parlor within the West Bottoms, made a collective choice to resign from their positions on Monday because of alleged misconduct by the proprietor, Marc Brotemarkle. This sudden departure noticed 9 out of the twelve staff leaving the studio, citing a controversial relationship between Brotemarkle and an worker whom he instantly manages.
The 18-year-old worker in query is reported to be 20 years youthful than Brotemarkle. This case has induced turmoil inside the studio, with solely three people, together with Brotemarkle and the worker, remaining behind.
Describing the affect of the incident, one of many departed artists expressed, “It was this memorable, cherished place, and we in a single day basically needed to depart all of it behind due to one dude’s inappropriate conduct. Everyone’s feeling fairly devastated proper now.”
Departure of Subcontractor Artists
Every of the tattoo artists who determined to go away Timewalker is a subcontractor who operates their very own enterprise inside the studio by renting a sales space for $1,000 a month. The ambiance at Timewalker was as soon as extremely regarded for fostering camaraderie and offering ample house for creative expression.
Many artists initially supported Brotemarkle’s choice to rent a entrance desk employee to handle the studio upon changing into the proprietor. Nevertheless, the scenario has taken a problematic flip as Brotemarkle is now reportedly concerned in a romantic relationship with the identical worker who works on the entrance desk.
Regardless of a number of requests for feedback, neither Brotemarkle nor the entrance desk employee responded to inquiries. Nevertheless, Brotemarkle confirmed the connection by a sequence of posts on his Instagram account, stating, “To anybody that truly cares, we’re doing fantastic and are completely satisfied.”
The Influence on the Kansas Metropolis Tattoo Scene
This mass exodus of artists from Timewalker displays their efforts to guard themselves and their purchasers from what they understand as inappropriate conduct. Ren Dahl, one of many departing artists, emphasised that their intentions had been noble and geared toward distancing themselves from any damaging points of the business, notably regarding predatory conduct by people in positions of energy.
Regardless of the challenges confronted, the artists consider that their walkout will result in optimistic change within the Kansas Metropolis tattoo scene. A few of the artists, together with Dahl and Carlson, are planning to open their very own studio within the upcoming months. Within the interim, Carlson will likely be tattooing at Black Atlas Tattoo in Waldo, whereas Dahl and two different artists will set up themselves at Until Dying Tattoo Collective within the Westside neighborhood.
Carlson expressed his hopes for a extra respectful and supportive surroundings inside the tattoo group, including, “It takes each single a part of the tattoo group to make a great tattoo group.”
It stays to be seen how this important shift within the Kansas Metropolis tattoo panorama will affect the business and form the way forward for creative expression within the area.
