Gaslight Gallery

The 1940’s renovated house at 1416 Westheimer turned vintage clothing store, turned almost bakery is now a tattoo shop but you wouldn’t know that upon first entering. There’s not one piece of flash on the walls. Instead, the Jack the Ripper themed front parlor is devoid of tattoo kitsch and the walls are used for displaying the work of rotating local artists. The actual tattooing takes place intimately in the back. “We wanted something different than just a flash shop. We strive to give each client their own original piece. We have bookcases full of art books, so our clients aren’t coming looking at tattoo designs, they are coming in looking at pictures of art and getting inspired,” says Alex Cetina. Cetina, alongside Christina Sparrow and Christopher Malice are the three talented artists that make up the Gaslight Gallery –also home to veteran tattooers Mark Anthony, Kat Adlerz and piercer Paul Tohill.

The trio speaks passionately about giving back to the community through works such as green space preservation, adult literacy programs and an upcoming tattoo marathon they are hosting for breast cancer. Listening to them, you get that they are caring revolutionaries who use their craft as a means to support their community. It almost makes you want to join in and get them to sing “We Are the World” until you ask about how the shop has been received by other local tattoo shops.

All three owners are Houstonians and have worked the Westheimer strip. But when they opened their own doors for business last fall, some older tattoo shops weren’t too keen on them opening without consulting them first. Sparrow reflects, “For some people, they say you have to earn it or get respect or ask permission.” I ask whose permission they were supposed to seek before opening and all three respond with a ‘who knows.’ I suggest that maybe they were supposed to pay a visit to the oldest tattoo shop owner on the day of his daughter’s wedding and pay tribute. They laugh at the mafia reference but dispel it as petty politics among artists.

Sparrow says, “We aren’t jealous. We don’t have this attitude like you are stealing our money (because of the proximity to other shops). We even recommend our clients to other artists.” I ask if they could change one thing about the tattoo industry what would it be and Malice states that he would like to change the materialism among tattoo artists and get them interested in investing their money in community beautification projects. Cetina concludes, “In Houston, I would change the camaraderie. In other cities, they have shops on one road and they all hang out. Why can’t that happen here?”

Gaslight Galley
1416 Westheimer Rd

Houston, TX 77006

(713) 524-3535