“You can feel the eyes upon you … you can’t hear ‘em talk, other times you can, same old clichés.” ~ Bob Seger, “Here I am, on the Road Again ”
MONROE — Despite the awkward glances, rolls-of-the-eyes, and quick judgments when he’s first encountered in public, Tyler Rupp is comfortable in his own skin.
Emblazoned with body and face tattoos and sporting ear plugs, Rupp, 30, who got his first tattoo at age 15, considers his body a canvas inked with art that proclaims “this is my body and who I am, my values, and my personality.
“Every tattoo and etching has something to do with my life,” Tyler Rupp said. “People put all these stereotypes on me; that I’ve been in prison, a gang or cult member: That is so far from the truth.”
The images that Rupp, a Monroe native and graduate of Monroe High School, puts on his body mean more than meets the eye.
The one of a skull with roses relates to his cheating death following a harrowing escape from a motorcycle crash at age 25.
Speeding impatiently through heavy traffic on Monroe Street, he weaved around a car striking a van that was turning left, the impact causing the cycle to slide underneath the van and erupt into flames.