Bisexual tattoo artist, musician, and model Sarah Gaugler
Sarah Gaugler is a visual artist, model, musician, and tattoo artist. She currently runs her own tattoo studio, Snow Tattoo, located in New York City’s Tribeca. Gaugler also fronts the electronic rock duo Turbogoth.
GSN spoke with Gaugler about her art, her upbringing in the Philippines, and what it’s like being a woman in traditionally male-dominated industries.
Tattooing
‘I have always been intrigued by tattoos since I was a kid,’ Gaugler says of her interest in tattooing.
‘I remember, I was in the grocery with my mom and I saw this very striking slender woman covered with tattoos, she wore glasses and appeared to be elegant and smart, and I was just totally mesmerized. I was so stunned that my mom caught my eyes glued to her and I remember my mom telling me “Sarah, it’s impolite to stare.” I think that had a huge impact on me and kind of saw a glimpse of my future through that lady.’
‘I have always been illustrating as a little kid all the way through college. One of my friends saw my thesis which was a children’s book with my signature crosshatching and line art style and said “these illustrations would be cool tattoos,”’ Gaugler recalls.
A Pioneer in the Phillipines
‘Nobody was doing anything like my tattoo style at the time. We immediately acted upon this exciting hunch, acquired a machine and then started to tattoo friends and never stopped since then. My first tattoo ever got featured in a fashion magazine in the Philippines and the rest is history. The fulfillment of creating something from nothing and the happiness that the people I tattoo express after each session is totally indescribable.’
‘Being the pioneer of modern tattooing in the Philippines was pretty cool for there are no footsteps to follow and I’m pretty free in the direction that I may wish to take creatively,’ Gaugler states. ‘It also feels fulfilling to see other females gaining confidence to be tattoo artists because of my lead. I love it when I receive messages saying that I was the one who inspired them to start tattooing.’
Bisexuality
Gaugler identifies as bisexual and says she’s attracted to ‘beautiful souls both male and female.’
‘Bisexuality defies the norm and celebrates freedom and is the same way I look at art,’ Gaugler says of her sexuality.
‘It is my expression of how I feel, how I see the universe and this human experience and my legacy. It is so liberating to have art in one’s life for in art, I get to experience and participate in the magic and all the possibilities of life. Art and life should always be challenging the status quo and should always reinvent itself for the better.’
Music
Gaugler’s sexuality crosses over into her other artistic endeavors, such as music.
She describes her band Turbogoth as ‘highly influenced by the contrast and dance of the male and female energy.’
‘The solid structured drumbeats and bass lines are contrasted with unpredictable guitar riffs and my gentle and soft singing and the same goes with my paintings and illustrations,’ Gaugler says.
‘I see bisexuality as respecting both ends of the spectrum of positive and negative, the yin and the yang. My artwork always emphasizes balance and contrast which is necessary for anything to be considered beautiful.’
‘We all have a male and female energy within us,’ she says. ‘Both are essential to attain harmony and beauty. Night and day, inhale and exhale, man and woman. May every individual be as open as the universe for life dances in billions of ways we can never even imagine and understand.’
Follow Gaugler on Instagram.
