Gail Dunklau
My name is Gail, I am a tattoo artist, muralist, and painter. I own a Tattoo shop called Youngfolks Studio located in Urbana Illinois.
Amongst being a tattooist, I am a very passionate painter, mom and wife. I grew up in Central Oregon and moved to the Midwest for my last year of high school with my very hard-working single mom. The culture shock was eye opening , and until I found Urbana did I realize you just have to look to find the places you belong. The vibrant accepting city made my art come alive in full throttle. Art is who I am, my entire being. And how lucky I am to be in a city so alive with artists and support.
My preferred medium beside tattooing is acrylic paint, and graphite pencil. I have found comfort in the movement these provide to create my surrealist/ realism paintings and drawings.
Within my life I have been inspired heavily by the passionate workings of Salvador Dali. This derived from seeing his home in Barcelona when I was 18. I always thought to express myself through vibrant color however, and so under my own interpretation of surrealism I express my message and story through Auric and ambient color , when I try to portray a image I take colors that would make your brain FEEL the message, through color theory , and the colors associating to our chakras. If I wanted to express a message of love you might find my painting including lots of green. And if I was feeling inspired through myself you might see lots of yellow!
I find art with a meaning to be telling but lots of my paintings are visions I imagine and piece together throughout my day. I have always had a vibrant imagination, and my paintings are the best way to make sense of it.
To the consumer one may interpret my art in their own individual way based off of how it makes THEM feel.
