Meet Axi Goregots | Painter/tattoo artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Axi Goregots and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Axi, what led you to pursuing a creative path professionally?
I would like to quote Mexican artist Diego Rivera’s reply to his future wife Frida Kahlo when she asked him wether she had enough talent to become a full time artist. “I just want your serious opinion”, she said. He replied – “What do you care about my opinion? If you’re a real painter, you’ll paint because you can’t live without painting.” I can’t live without painting, I never had to make a decision whether or not I should become an artist. Even no other person could ever see my art, if I was the only human left on earth, I’d still be making it, I simply have to. According to my parents I started compulsively scribble on walls in our apartment as soon as I was learned to walk and basically covered all the wallpapered surface I could reach. They tried to get me to stop, but I still kept doing it, even at the very moment they were telling me off, I was there looking back at them, listening them but my hand was still scribbling on the wall as if it had the mind of it’s own. They eventually gave up trying to stop me, realising that neither they nor I could control it. The wallpaper at my parents’ apartment was replaced but there’s still some relics can be found on the wall framing.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
It’s hard for me not to have any current projects any tasks to do. However, I consider myself lazy in many aspects that don’t have to do with drawing or painting. It seems I only have two gears – I can either be apathetic or obsessive. Sometimes I have to restrain myself from getting behind the easel after a certain hour at night, because if I do, I risk getting sucked in and staying up til 4 am. I don’t really philosophize my need to draw and paint, it would feel performative for me. I really think my art is not no deeper than subconscious part of one’s mind. Images come uninvited inside your head and cause the urge to recreate them. It’s the spontaneous and uncontrollable inspiration attacks the results of which can be interesting to decode afterwards.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I would definitely visit art galleries such as Gallery Strega, Vermilion and of course Seattle Art Museum. I myself would really want go to the club called “The Mercury” again, but I would need to have someone with a membership to take my friend and I. It’s a goth club with awesome music to dance to, everyone is dressed for Halloween all year and you can smoke inside. I would definitely take my friend to ride the Ferris Wheel during the annual appearance of thousands of moon jellyfish swimming in Puget Sound that you can observe from the top. I would also take my friend to the Seattle Aquarium, a lot of really cool stuff there, I myself visited it several times.

Shoutout is all about shouting out others who you feel deserve additional recognition and exposure. Who would you like to shoutout?
Of course, I want to pay my respect to Geneva, the beautiful proprietrix of Gallery Strega for giving such great support to local artists, providing them with a platform to exhibit their work. One of those artists that I’d like to mention is Dustin Burt of Dark Matter Gallery studio where I have the privilege to work as a tattoo artist. I also would like to thank the brilliant painter Kyle Abernathy for teaching me everything I know about painting with oil.

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