Kirk Edward Nilsen II Joins the Bradley PR and Marketing Roster

Bradley PR and Marketing is proud to announce representation of tattoo artist, musician, and lifelong visual creator Kirk Edward Nilsen II. With nearly 20 years of tattooing experience, Nilsen brings a rare combination of old-school craftsmanship, international credibility, and deeply personal artistry to the Bradley PR roster. Kirk is based out of both New Jersey and South Carolina, and has built a career rooted in precision, originality, and respect for tattoo history.

Kirk Edward Nilsen II

Nilsen’s story is also tied to an incredible tattoo lineage. He apprenticed under Harold Scott Winters in New Jersey, who apprenticed under legendary San Francisco tattooer Henry Goldfield, placing Nilsen within a respected artistic bloodline shaped by tradition, discipline, and hand-earned knowledge. His own family background stretches across Portugal and Norway, adding another layer of history to an already compelling creative story.

That sense of history and hand-crafted expression also carries into Nilsen’s solo music project, Spanish Castles. Based in Charleston, South Carolina, the project blends medieval, traditional Spanish and Portuguese, and broader Mediterranean folk influences with classical guitar, flamenco, rumba, gypsy, Arabic, baroque, gothic, folk punk, Latin, Brazilian, and subtle black metal elements. Rooted in his Portuguese ancestry from the Azores and Norwegian family history from Larvik, Spanish Castles reflects Nilsen’s pull toward an ancient world shaped by sounds, places, and traditions that feel both distant and deeply personal.

Beyond tattooing, Nilsen is first and foremost an artist. His work is hand drawn, created without computer shortcuts, projectors, reference copying, or anything that removes the human element from the process. He has been drawing since childhood, even creating and selling his own baseball trading cards in kindergarten, and that same instinct for original visual storytelling continues to define his work today.

Over the course of his career, Nilsen has worked, guested, and tattooed across the United States and Europe, including Bang Bang NYC, Love Hate Tattoo in New York City, No Idols Tattoo NYC, Ganga Tattoo in Los Angeles, Vaders Dye Tattoo in Hamburg, Conspiracy Inc. in Berlin, Amsterdam, Copenhagen, Milan, San Francisco, Austin, Miami, Baltimore, and more. He has tattooed UFC fighters, jazz musicians, respected tattooers, and a wide range of creative clients while keeping the same grounded, no-hype approach that defines his work.

Nilsen has also appeared on Paramount Network’s The Art of Ink, a television interview/docu-style project, and has been featured on tattoo podcasts, in tattoo magazines, and in local press. Outside of the studio, his creative life stretches well beyond tattooing, from travel and sailing to MMA training, flamenco guitar, visual art, and even time spent in a touring hardcore band with musicians connected to Choking Victim and Leftover Crack.

Bradley PR and Marketing is excited to help bring Kirk Edward Nilsen II’s world to a wider audience, from the private studio to the international tattoo circuit, and from hand-drawn originals to the stories behind the ink. His career is built on lineage, travel, instinct, and a refusal to let the machine replace the hand.