LÓNGS

Hello everyone, my name is André O’Neil Malcolm and here is a brief history of myself (so far) and this book. I was born  June 6, 1979 in Spanish Town, Jamaica. When I was still a child, my mother moved us back to the countryside where she grew up to live with my grandparents. We lived there for about four and a half years, and it was during this time when I was introduced to art, first through my uncle Dave and then later my aunt Bev. Seeing my uncle draw a stick figure in motion ignited a fire in my mind. I remember that distinct burning feeling, and the rest, as they say, was history. I moved to the states with my mom in 1985, specifically to the northeast part of the Bronx where I was introduced to the world of graffiti and hip-hop. My mom is a Jehovah’s Witness, and I was raised in that lifestyle until the age of fifteen. I finished high school in 1998 and started hanging out at a local tattoo shop called Tuff City Tattoo, located in the Fordham Road section of the Bronx. That’s where my interest in tattoos began, and I officially started tattooing in 2001 at Tuff City. 

As my drawing and tattooing improved, I started moving towards doing large-scale works. My interest in Japanese tattoos comes from my love of animé and yakuza films. Once my interest was piqued, there was no looking back. I bought a lot of these movies and made friends with the Japanese merchants who sold them. They would tell me the connection between manga art and Hokusai or Kuniyoshi. It made me really love and appreciate what I’ve done in tattooing over the last 25 years. My love for dragons (Lóng) originates from seeing lizards all over Jamaica when I was growing up. Every dragon I draw or tattoo is a lizard I’ve seen. I truly love them. I’m now a parent myself. I have three kids and my oldest has Crohn's disease—this book is dedicated to her. LÓNG is the first in a 12-book project that I’ve been planning for a while.