Archive Note
Mike Giant was born in upstate New York in 1971 and raised in Albuquerque. He studied architecture at the University of New Mexico, wrote graffiti as "Giant One," and moved to San Francisco in 1993 to draw for Think Skateboards. He started tattooing in 1998 after Nalla Smith gave him an apprenticeship, and built a name for clean black-and-grey work pulled from graffiti, Chicano lettering, and religious imagery, working at East Side Ink in New York and Everlasting in San Francisco. In 2004 he co-founded Stay Gold Tattoo back in Albuquerque; he had already started the streetwear brand REBEL8 in 2003. Around 2008 he mostly quit tattooing, saying he was tired of dealing with clients, blood, and gear, and that REBEL8 and fine art paid better.