PEARCY -- The owner of Studio 621 Tattoo, artist Matt Pumphrey, ensures his shop in Pearcy stands out in more ways than one.
"Being a Christian, I'm not saying it's few, far and in between in the tattoo world itself, but it's the way I live and do things. I wanted to kind of change the outlook on tattoos," he said.
"They kind of just get a bad name, and so me, living the way I do, it opens people's eyes a little bit."
Tattooing also gives him an opportunity to share his beliefs in settings where they may not often get shared, he said.
"A lot of Christians, they're not going to walk into a tattoo convention or possibly not talk to somebody that's tattooed," he said. "So, me coming in tattooed, doing tattoos, I'm able to speak Jesus in places that nobody might speak Jesus."
Pumphrey said he receives the most backlash about his profession from Christians.
"It's because of what they were taught from growing up, either from church or grandparents, from parents. And a lot of it has to do with some Scripture that's just kind of taken out of context a little bit," he said.
"My belief is what I tattoo has nothing to do with the Scriptures that they quote," he said.
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The Scripture he mentioned, Leviticus 19:28, says, "Ye shall not make any cuttings in your flesh for the dead, nor print any marks upon you: I am the Lord."
That Scripture was "given to God's chosen people back in the day to not act like the people whose land they were entering in. It was pagan worship, tattooing themselves for the dead and cutting and marking themselves for the dead," Pumphrey said.
"What I'm doing, it's literally just artwork on skin," he said.
Pumphrey grew up in El Dorado, where he said he was "influenced" by his family's beliefs rather than raised Christian.
"I know Christian households where the kids are raised with their parents' influences and they go the other way. So, it's not necessarily I was raised Christian, but I was influenced in that way and I chose to stay in that walk," he said.
"When I was younger and growing up, there was that stigma, especially coming from south Arkansas. There was that stigma of only certain people got tattoos."
He got his first tattoo at 16 with his mother's support, but his father was hesitant.
"He's my biggest supporter now. He doesn't get tattoos because he's scared of needles, but it's definitely changed," Pumphrey said.
"I wanted to get tattooed, but doing them wasn't ever in my future as far as I thought," he said. "Getting the tattoo, I saw him do it and it wasn't like, 'Oh man, I want to be like him.' I wanted to just do it, to put my heart from paper and put it on skin."
Pumphrey said there's a fine line he has to walk as a tattoo artist and Christian.
"I'm not tattooing certain things; I'm not tattooing certain placements," he said. "I could slip. I could do one tattoo and totally ruin everything for what I stand for, so it's a very fine line. I tell a lot of people no."
The artist said he gets the most attention for his business from social media, to which he regularly posts live videos, which have had as many as 300,000 viewers, he said.
"It gets hard posting on social media," he said. "If I hashtag anything Jesus related, they're like, 'You're not a Christian. You can't tattoo and be a Christian.'"
Although he receives some negative reactions online, he said his goal is to put "positive content" out there.
"It's a way for me to be a presence on social media as a Christian, showing them that, obviously, tattooing in my shop is positive and Christian based," he said.
"As a Christian, as what we believe, the world outside of Christianity is going to be against Christians," Pumphrey said. "Which is fine. We're not there to fight with them, we're there to live a certain way, love on everybody and be an example."
His social media presence has helped him reach potential clients from all over the world. Pumphrey said he has tattooed people from other countries including Australia, South Africa, Norway and several clients from Canada and Mexico.
"It's really branched out from when I first started," he said. "Just a small bubble to really just getting worldwide as far as little bits here and there. Not necessarily every single country but it's getting there."
He said he has to refuse some clients depending on what they ask for. Although he won't refuse someone because of their beliefs, he won't do any tattoos that don't adhere to his own, including certain placements or designs.
While he doesn't accept every client, Pumphrey said he is not struggling to find business, noting around 2,000-3,000 people contact him every month, but he is only able to tattoo up to around 50 in a month.
Pumphrey's shop has been at the current location of 160 Adam Brown Road for around three years. He said he struggled to find a name for the business until his father-in-law eventually thought of "Studio 621 Tattoo."
"621 is June 21 and it's my wife and I's anniversary," he said. "Everybody thinks since I'm a Christian, it's a Scripture."
Although the name of the studio is not in reference to a Bible Scripture, the sign in front of the business does host one: Colossians 3:17, which states, "And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."
"Anything I do, whether it's tattooing, cleaning the shop or raising the kids, if you're doing it like you're doing it for God, for Jesus, you're going to do it right," Pumphrey said. "You're going to do what you're supposed to and give him thanks and glory for it. That's how I run the shop."
Matt Pumphrey, owner of Studio 621 Tattoo, is a Christian and refuses certain placements or tattoos that may go against his beliefs. ā Photo by Andrew Mobley of The Sentinel-Record
Studio 621 Tattoo has been located at 160 Adam Brown Road in Pearcy for around three years now. ā Photo by Andrew Mobley of The Sentinel-Record