Canvas: Dark Side of Paradise

By Travis Hill

You want to call the Pegasus Gallery about the artwork on its walls? You can’t. No phone.
You want to walk in and get the tattoo your drunk friends just convinced you would be awesome? You can’t. No walk-ins.
And that is exactly how owners Stevie Floyd and Kimberly Wells like it.
“We didn’t want a normal tattoo shop,” said 25-year-old Floyd, cleaning up after finding a stopping point on a customer’s arm. “We wanted a nice atmosphere, something quiet and intimate, so we could really give our clients good attention. We wanted something low-key.”
Mission accomplished.
Wavy, electronic music drifts in the wide open studio. Haunting artwork from locals, mostly fellow tattoo artists, covers the walls. Comfy couches rest easily in the front. Floyd has one side of the studio, Wells the other. They come and go as they please.
“We wanted to provide an experience where people can come in, hang out, get tattooed with privacy,” said Wells, who specializes in large-scale Japanese and traditional American works.
They don’t advertise and have no plans to. The word “tattoo” doesn’t even appear on the austere, West King Street storefront.

“When we’re not tattooing, some people don’t even know we’re a tattoo shop,” said Wells.
Their MySpace page says it all: “The Pegasus Gallery is an art gallery focused on art from tattooers.”
Floyd and Wells display their work on canvas as well as on the skin of their clients.
“Your outlining needle’s like a pencil. The shader needle’s more like a paint brush,” said Wells. “When you tattoo all the time, you get used to using a needle rather than a paintbrush.”
Word-of-mouth powers their clientele and, for the most part, that clientele wants bigger, art-oriented pieces.
Jeff Kissinger of Jacksonville has been traveling to see Stevie for a current tally of 20 hours, working on an Asian-style back piece.
“I like her style,” he said. “I think it’s flowing, painting-like.”
Those tattoos require patience, and the relaxed atmosphere along with the art in the gallery give customers a welcome diversion from the pain of the needle’s buzz for extended periods
of time.
Again, don’t barge in expecting to get that butterfly on your lower back.
“We’ve both been at our share of street (tattoo) shops,” said Floyd, who used to work at Deborah’s Fountain of Youth. Wells is formerly of Cherry Bomb. “They all have a lot people coming in and out, asking a bunch of questions. We didn’t want that.”
Despite being open for only six months, the only static identity Floyd and Wells want to create is simply the lack thereof. They participate in the Art Walk every month, adding new artists or new artwork they have done to the walls.

“I’d love to have a movie night here and maybe serve some alcohol,” said Floyd, who also plays in the metal band Dark Castle. “Or have a craft night — something fun where everyone can just bring in all their stuff.”
Crafts and metal. Art and pain. That is the wonderful irony of the Pegasus Gallery. And Floyd is in paradise.
“I’m really happy,” Floyd said. “We just wanted to do the simplest thing with this place: No hours, no employees, no bosses. And it’s working out really well.”