ERIK (aka Matthew Hayos)

When Erik is not out scouting for more mountain bike and running trails, he is making art and creating tattoo. Erik is currently a resident artist at Artistic Skin Designs (North) in Noblesville, Indiana. His love for tattoo is evident in his attention to all the finer details of a tattoo client’s experience as well as the tattoo itself.

Erik’s journey into tattooing started in 2004. Shortly after serving in the Navy, he undertook a tattoo apprenticeship in Nacogdoches, Texas. Erik then went and got a Bachelor of Arts from The Academy of Art University in San Francisco (2010). He eventually migrated back to Texas where he tenured at Casey’s Tattoo Shop for four years, until April 2018 when he decided to migrated to Austin, Texas where he operated a private studio for almost seven years. Erik (HOUSE OF INK) now works as a fully custom Tattoo & Design artist in Noblesville, Indiana.

 “I believe tattoo is a ritual, and that the experience is integral to the art—I perform a tattoo as much as I make or create it.”