Gabe @ Ace Dragon Tattoo
I went to visit my friend & tattooist Gabe at Ace Dragon Tattoo yesterday, hoping to get some new ink. Its been a while since I went there & not surprisingly he was booked solid as usual. I hung around for a bit, & in between clients, Gabe had a few minutes to “blow water” with me & catch up on things. For those of you that don’t know, Gabe was the genius behind my Cyber-Carp tattoo & inked some of my other tats; many of my friends were also inked by Gabe. ( I think he is probably the best tattooist in Hong Kong, & possibly one of the best in SE Asia! )
the guy who inked me
I was very curious to ask Gabe about David Beckham (yeah, that David Beckham) & how Mr. Beckham found him & what Tats he got, etc etc etc… & it was a very interesting story indeed….
see the big autographed picture behind the counter?
I’m not a big football fan, (mad respect to David Beckham, tho) but I am a tattoo fan; I was curious to find out more about Beckham & the new tats Gabe did for him.
Apparently, Beckham’s tats were done by a personal freind of his from Manchester, UK, so Gabe is the only other Tattooist to ink Beckham.
The story goes something like this, Gabe got a call one morning from someone claiming to be Beckham’s assistant. Since it was super early in the morning & thinking it was a prank, Gabe just gave the dude some abuse & hung up. Minutes later, another call & a different voice claiming to be Beckham himself spoke to Gabe. Days later, when Beckham visited Hong Kong, he just showed up at Gabe’s studio flanked with a couple of burly bodyguards. Gabe’s assistant was in shock when he opened the door & saw Mr. Beckham. Gabe said his assistant was so gob-struck that he could not speak properly. Beckham was in Hong Kong for Galaxy’s tour.
Yeah! Beckham’s & wZa’s Tattooist right here.
I can’t disclose too many details of what Mr. Beckham got, but basically he got some proper Chinese Calligraphy with a very special personal meaning. All I can say is that it is fucking DOPE & totally matches David Beckham! I’m sure if y’all search the internet, you can find many pics of his new Tat.
from telegraph.co.uk:
The letters are said to represent a Chinese proverb that translates to “Death and life have determined appointments. Riches and honour depend upon heaven.”
(FYI, Chinese Calligraphy tattoos are really popular in the west, but most of the ones I see are fucked up!! Mad props to Mr Becks for finding & getting the BEST)
photos of friends, celebs & homies that were inked by Gabe.
I also noticed Gabe had some ink in progress on his left arm; although he Tattoos, he never had any tattoos himself… Turns out to be a tattoo in progress by Leon Lam-Hien, a renowned Tattooist from France. Check out his work at his website, quite amazing & unique stuff!! I was SUPER impressed with Leon since Gabe got him to give him tattoos
Leon & another tattoist Dennis are in town & working exclusively at Ace Dragon for a limited time only.
Leon busy inking while Dennis flashes a gang sign.
Here is a pic of Gabe & the VIP customer
Here is a pic of Gabe & the Super VVIP customer & homie
Haaaa!!!!! So now I can brag that my tats are done by the same guy that inked Beckham, LEGIT!
Anyway, for y’all thinking about getting a tat, go pay Gabe a visit & check out his stuff. I’ll update y’all what I’m getting next from the “See Fu”!
Posted on April 16th, 2008 by WZA
Filed under: WZA's News
Wow….what can I say….you’ve got the best tattoo.
Babette
i guess i’m shit out of luck if i want to get new tats in hk.
Yeah man! Gabe is the man…!
I remember reading an article from a magazine a few months ago written by a new British tattoo artist in Hong Kong. I’ll just call her “F.J.” for those of you who hadn’t read the magazine. She mentioned if you want to find a good tattoo artist don’t choose one that has no tattoo on them; and if you want to find a good restaurant go to ones that has a fat chef because a skinny chef can’t cook a good dish. As a chef with tattoo myself I think those were some ignorant remarks. How well you cook and tattoo has nothing to do with outside appearance. For anyone who appreciate good tattoos and food could tell you that’s the last thing you look for when deciding on which tattoo artist or restaurant to go to. As a chef myself I refuse to cook for someone like “F.J.” and I will tell all my friends to do the same. I will not service someone of that ignorance. You can’t be the best until you have other’s respect. Humility is something “F.J.” have to learn. Originally I was going to let XXXX XXXX Tattoo do my future tattoos but after reading Warren’s article I decide to go with Gabe instead!
I don’t have any tattoo but knowing there are great tattoo artists like Gabe in HK made me proud to be Chinese!
Hey Dan,
thanks for the comment, I heard about that story you posted, it was featured in a magazine here…..
Yeah, my friend has a skate shop right next door to them; & someone from that tattoo shop stuck their banners/flyers ON my friend’s shop light box. Imagine that, you have a shop with a light box, & your neighbor sticks banners over it.
Thats just plain rude; no respect /courtesy at all.
When my friend confronted the tattoo shop about this, they said they had every right to do so…. are they nuts? What right? Its some one else’s shop light box that they paid lots of $$ for .
I’ll probably try to interview all the people I know with bad experiences @ at that Tattoo store & post them here.
Thanks again.
[...] Went down to Clique to the Skin:inks auction event last week; here they were auctioning art work by renowned Tattooists in Hong Kong, with 100% of the proceeds going to charity; so it was a very meaningful event. A number of these Tattooists were doing live tattoos at the event, so I went down to support my homie Gabe. [...]
Gabe is the man !!!!!!!!
I met him at the 09 singapore tattoo convention and i feel lucky to have a massive back peice done by him in chinese caligraphy seems he has 18 years experiance in chinese caligraphy who else would you get !!!
also to top it off amazing guy with great energy! if you have an oppurtunity get a tatt from Gabe !!!!
Highly Recomended
I’ve got mine done by Leon at Gabe’s shop a couple months ago. The weird things is that both Gabe’s his website ( http://www.acedragontattoo.com/ ) and Leo’s are down..
Both great artist tough!
I had a tatoo by Gabe on Sat and loved it so much. He is the best tatoo artist in HK and a great guy too. Had a fab time! Will definitely go back for more. Highly highly recommended.