Meet Marcus Tate of Truth-N-Art Tattoo and Art Gallery in Spartanburg South Carolina

Today we’d like to introduce you to Marcus Tate.

Marcus, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
My story is a story of survival, I grew up poor, and I mean poor. And for someone in my situation as a child, you have to find a way to escape your reality or crumble, and my art became my way out. I grew up in the small town of Gaffney South Carolina, where I lived part of my life in the projects, where I learned real quick that this world is unfair and cruel.

And the other half in the country where my story really beings. Our house was literally just a roof over our heads; there was no running water, toilet Or even a tub or electricity. We went into survival mode. Me my father, mother and my two older brother’s my sister Ginger was lucky enough to have been primarily raised by our aunt so she was able to escape our reality. And not having these basic necessities taught me what survival really was (survival is not just a physical act but a mental one) I remember at seven years old of contemplating suicide for the first time, At the time I felt as if I had nothing to look forward to.

Why go home when there wasn’t nothing there for me from love to food. What I say next is in no way of putting my parents down by no means because as a grown man with kids of my own I realize now that my parents did the best they could with what they had! But I couldn’t tell you what it feels like as a child to wake up on Christmas morning excited to open my gifts because there was no difference between December 7th and the 25th for me holidays were just normal days, nothing special about them at all and birthdays were no different.

We survived by any means necessary from picking up and recycling can’s to stealing and selling candy. I never really cared to steal from others but it was purely out of survival. What else is left for a kid to do who literally had to dig threw the garbage in search for a better life! In this hurricane called my life, I found an outlet in Art my oldest brother Daniel and one of my older cousins were these two natural, born artist who could draw anything they put their minds to. It didn’t come so easy for me. All I knew was that they had the power to create life with just a pencil. I watched them bring these characters they created in their mind to live and gave them personalities names and powers that I only wish I had!

And it was then that I realized that being an artist is the closest that we’ll ever get to the mind of GOD. Like him/her, I could create life in my image and likeness I could create worlds and I wanted to be as close as I could be to him/her so I drew. And like any little brother I looked up to my big brother so I followed him and I kept drawing. I’m not sure why my brother began to draw but I would assume it was to leave our world and escape just as I did! So Comic books became my life from X-men to Wildcats to Spawn I was hooked. But then life took hold and art was the last thing on my mind for some years I fell into street life following in the footsteps of my brother. How could I not at the time, once again, he showed me away out.

But this time, it was through drug dealing. We had new clothes name brand shoes jewelry you name it we had it! Then my brother got locked up which left me alone, I had my middle brother Quincy of course but truth be told at that point in our lives me and him didn’t have much of a relationship at all, so I found my way back to art. And a few year’s later on my sixteenth Birthday my world flipped upside down when my mother finally decided to tell me that the man that I know and love as my father is not my father at all!! And my world burst into flames I fell into a deep depression. I was back to square one trying to find out who I am. As bad as I was hurting, I needed to prove to myself that I could be a better man than the father I knew nothing about, that I was better than the man who left me and the mother who lied to me.

So me and kids mother as young as we were decided to have a child and by the time I was 18 I was father to a beautiful little girl we named Amya T. Tate and a three years later we had our son Marcus A. Tate Jr. and now I was a father of two. And of course we fell apart a year or so after our son was born and so did my life. 2008 comes and the recession is in full swing and I’m without my family, job, etc. It’s like blinked my eyes and here I was back in the drug game trying to survive. I found myself staring at myself in the mirror knowing I had to make a decision I was either going to keep doing what I was doing and end up in jail or I had to find a way to escape. I had a few tattoos myself by this time and taking notice of the few tattoos I had at the time I found myself thinking (could I escape) could I use my skill as an artist to make away for me and my kids!

And truthfully, I had no idea if it would work or not. But I didn’t have anything to lose. So I took the last few dollars I had to my name and brought the cheapest tattoo equipment I could find. And the journey began and to be honest at first it was just about the money I need a way to take care of my kid’s and I could’ve cared less about anything else. But in an unexpected turn of events, I found myself as a single father raising two kids alone. And it was at that point I knew if I was really going to make a difference in their lives I had to make a difference in my own. I couldn’t let them watch me fail.

So I made the decision to put myself in the position to where I could own and operate my own tattoo shop one day! It hasn’t been easy at all. It’s like the higher I climbed the harder the wind blows. I had to work a full-time job a 3rd shift job on top of that while going through my apprenticeship to become a tattoo artist while raising two kids on my own and completely broke and sleeping no more than three hours a day for over a year. I can’t tell you all how much I hated the fact that I had to lie to my kids. I would go days without eating at times just to make sure they were fed the bills were paid and I had enough gas to get back and forth to work and to the shop as any birth father would! I’ve sacrificed more than I had to give.

But at that point, I had come too far to turn back. And my father (the man who raised me) taught me a long time ago that sometimes blessings hurt!! And I’ve suffered and if I would have been any less of a man, I wouldn’t be where I am today! I would never have met my brother from another mother and my business partner Allex Redd. I couldn’t ask for anything better he’s had my back from day one he believed in the vision and together, we have accomplished our dreams of being entrepreneurs. WE ARE… TRUTH-N-ART.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
It may sound crazy to some but one of my biggest challenges I’ve had in my life was self-love. My dark skin was a curse to me when I was growing up, I literally tried to bleach myself and scrub my skin color away with a Brillo pad as a young boy. And Contrary to popular belief, racism isn’t dead growing up in the south has been a challenge racially but I’ve never run or backed down from anything or anyone wins lose or draw. And I also realized at a young age that my respect would be something I’ll have to demand don’t get me wrong I’ve been more than blessed along the way out of the tragedy of my sixteenth birthday I did find out that I was blessed with three more brothers and a sister.

Which I wouldn’t trade for nothing in the world, and even though one of my brothers was murdered a few years ago, losing him made me realize I needed to work harder. And I did just that and maybe I worked a little too hard because. After coming off of a shoulder surgery, I ended up having a stroke and according to my doctor’s, it should have killed me! If not left me permanently disabled. But here I stand as a father, son and brother And the proud owner and operator of my own business!! But out of all this my kids are the reason for everything I do. They have been the driving force for everything positive in my life; they have kept me from making decisions that would have gotten me sent to prison for the rest of my life!! So I owe them my life because if it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t even have one!

We’d love to hear more about your art.
Truth-N-Art Tattoo and Art Gallery is a custom tattoo shop where anyone with a creative mind can come to come and enjoy the company of like-minded people! We cater to a wide range of clientele from every race and religion you can think of, which I think is one of the most rewarding aspects of what I do. And There’s nothing as so far as tattooing goes I don’t do but I’m known for my portraits and realism.

And I’m more than proud of being able to create a space that young black artists in the south can come to and grow because on my journey to becoming a professional tattoo artist, I was turned away from every shop I walked into except one and that was Trinity Tattoo Company. Which I basically had to bug the crap out of the owner until he gave me a shot which I’m forever grateful to him and his wife! And want sets us apart from others is that we have a love for the artwork the money is secondary.

Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
As rough as my childhood was I did learn to appreciate my life and enjoy a lot of it and I can’t say I have one favorite memory! The best way I can answer this question is to simply say  Growing up with nothing will make you appreciate have anything) As kids we made up so many games (one of my favorites was a game we called SHARK) and listening to my father’s old records as we did our best to fix up our house and watching my mother try to dance knowing she has no rhythm.

Contact Info:

• Address: 482 East Blackstock Rd Spartanburg South Carolina 29301
• Phone: 864-285-1513
• Email: truthnarttattoo@gmail.com/marcusapple83@gmail.com
• Instagram: IG @remarcable_art
• Facebook: Facebook @Marcus Antwann Tate

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