Tattoo artist has hundreds of celebrity signatures inked on his skin in message of love
A tattoo artist has had hundreds of signatures inked on to his skin in a personal mission to spread love and unity.
And along the way, Funky Matas (USA) broke the world record for most signatures tattooed on the body (male) with a total of 273.
It all began back when the 38-year-old was a youngster whose parents told him not to get any tattoos.
“I found them so intriguing and didn’t understand why people viewed them as a bad thing,” Funky said.
Funky with 50 Cent
“So naturally, I instantly tried to prove to humanity that tattoos can be a fun and harmless thing.
“Since I am a tattoo artist, I decided to start this back piece idea with my close friends and have them tattoo their signature on my back and it eventually evolved into something much bigger.
Bad Bunny
“Friends, world-renowned tattoo artists, celebrities and people from all over making it a huge diverse project involving people from all walks of life.”
Among the famous faces who’ve added their signature to Funky’s body are music stars 50 Cent, Kelly Clarkson, and Bad Bunny, actors Samuel L. Jackson, Will Smith, and Michael J. Fox, sporting heroes Usain Bolt, Tony Hawk, and Floyd Mayweather, and even some of our own record breakers, like the world’s shortest woman Jyoti Amge and The Enigma, who holds the record for most puzzle pieces tattooed on the body.
Floyd Mayweather
Jyoti Amge
Funky explained: “I ask very specific people to join this project. People that carry love in their heart. People that are genuine. People that have inspired me in some way and that were a part of my childhood.
“Everyone that has been a part of this project has signed directly on my body. Sometimes directly with the tattoo machine or sometimes with a sharpie and I get it tattooed right after!”
Kelly Clarkson
Find more stories about people with tattoo records in our Human Body section.
Of course, with a project like this, timing is everything. After someone signs their name on to Funky’s flesh, he only has so long to get it inked over.
He has a number of his fellow tattoo artists, including Byron Coburger, Stephen Wall, Jhonny Jaramillo and Luis Carmona, on call to make the autographs permanent as soon as possible.
Michael J. Fox
Samuel L. Jackson
“Every single signature is particularly meaningful to me,” Funky told us. “I am extremely picky and if I asked you to be part of this project, it is because you have made a positive impact on my life at some point.
“This tattoo project never really started with the intent of breaking a world record. It was just a cool project to integrate nice people from all walks of life.
The Enigma
“It was later on at a tattoo convention that someone told me I might have broken a world record. And that statement really stuck with me until I actually decided to register in with Guinness World Records years later. And when I found out it was accepted, I was extremely happy since it’s a good vibe project that hundreds of awesome people have formed part of and it’s not just me.
“It makes me really happy to know such a huge group of people have put their grain of rice to make this happen.”
Tony Hawk
Funky has tattoos all over his body, but the signatures are confined to his back.
He hopes his record will spread a message of love, happiness... and “comedy”.
Usain Bolt
Will Smith
He said: “People say ‘Don’t get stupid tattoos’ or ‘Get something meaningful’. And to me, ‘Something meaningful’ is something that will make others happy.
“So ever since I started getting tattoos, they have always been aimed towards something funny to create laughter and happiness whenever people see them, which is what makes me happy.”