Chris Garver

Chris Garver (born September 11, 1970) is a tattoo artist featured on the channel)"">TLC television"">reality television show Miami Ink.

Garver was born and raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania where he attended The Pittsburgh High School for the Creative and Performing Arts^[1].
He is the youngest of three brothers. Garver's mother was an artist and
encouraged his interest in painting
and drawing.
He first experimented with tattooing at age 17, after selling his bass
guitar in order to purchase tattoo equipment. Garver took one year of
art school and apprenticed for six months, repairing old tattoos that
needed touch-ups, before he started tattooing clients on his own^[2].
In his early twenties, Garver moved to New
York City where he became a full-time professional tattoo artist.

A world traveler, Garver has tattooed clients in Asia, both Americas, and throughout Europe. For a time he lived in Japan where he was tattooed by the famous Japanese Irezumi
artists Horiyoshi III, Horitomo, and Horitoshi. He has
also been tattooed by a Buddhist Monk in Thailand; the image is said to be
a Buddhist scriptural passage that can only be read by monks, and that
translates as "to protect."

In addition to his art interests, Garver plays bass guitar, travels the world, and enjoys listening to live bands. He is also said to be building tattoo machines, and is known for starring
in Miami Ink, and being one of the best tattoo artists in Miami.