Embracing female tattoo culture
Italian born and London based artist Alessandro Gallo creates sculptures that explore the the ways that animals and humans are both the same and interchangeable. His work takes a humorous look at animals and humans within city environments and the links between the species…
Turkey Vulture, 2013
Our Italian contributor Ilaria Pauletti chatted to 24-year-old Arianna Fusini who works out of Soul Shop Tattoo in Rimini about how her parent’s holiday home in the mountains inspired her tattoo career. Arianna fell in love with those old illustrated gardening manuals, and her passion for subjects like insects, hands and birds can now be seen in her work…
When did you begin tattooing? What drew you to this form of art?
I’m actually at the very beginning of my tattoo journey, I’ve only been tattooing for a year and a half, so I still have a lot to learn. When I was at high school, I used to buy alternative music magazines, and I would doodle on my friends arms with the designs I saw in those magazines. I was in arts high school so that kind of background helped a lot.
Later, during my university years, I began drawing more frequently, so that I could find a style that I loved. I put them all in a big book, it was full of sketches, and that portfolio was the reason why I got an apprenticeship in a tattoo studio.
How would you define your style?
Giving my style a definition is hard, some characteristics come from the traditional, but I also love those thin lines and details, the dotty shadings rather than the classical ones.
Who/What inspires you daily?
A lot of artists and tattoo artists I follow, those I know personally and those I hope to meet soon! I can compare myself to some of them and it helps. I often look at books illustrations, old advertising from the 1800s. I love scientific, botanical and Victorian illustrations and classic tattoo flash.
Do you prefer to work in black and white? Does this come from a personal choice or from the customer’s request?
I have always sketched in black and white and consequently I’ve always focused on using black in my work. Clients have asked to see my pre-drawn flash and it is all in black line work, I prefer the effect of the lone black ink on the skin, it creates a contrast that remains in the course of time.
When working with clients do you prefer having free reign or as many details as possible?
The optimal solution resides in the middle, too much freedom disables me sometimes! Having a subject or a reference and knowing I can interpret it as I want makes me really happy. It’s beautiful when the customer trusts me. I always try to direct people to what I like the most, not because I want to decide for them, but because I know I can guarantee a better result if I work on something I find inspirational.
Who are your reference artists and on which newbies would you bet?
In England there are certainly many of my favourite artists to which I refer to, the list is long two of them are Kelly Violet and Scott Move.
I have to say that every person I meet in this environment has something to teach me because of my lack of experience, so I try to keep my eyes open and learn from everyone.
In my first year of tattooing I met a lot of talented tattoo artists of my age or a little older, around conventions and studios from which I got tattooed and I’m sure many of them will come a long way in the next few years!
What are the subjects you prefer to tattoo?
I love birds, insects, flowers! When I was little I always stared at those illustrated gardening manuals that my parents used to preserve in our holiday house among the mountains. I think it all started there.I also love hands and blades, they are the best! Sometimes it’s funny to find out how some subjects you never really thought about before shown them by a client, become your favourite ones!
What do you think about the reaction of today’s society to tattoos and tattooed people?
Tattoos are increasingly fashionable so that’s pretty obvious that society is adapting. They have become a mass phenomenon. Maybe they’re killing the tattoo spirit as well, though I’m too young to make a real comparison with the past, in which tattoos were part of a really niche culture. Surely social media helped a lot everything.
And how did your family react to your decision to become a tattoo artist?
My mom was hoping that I would never want to pursue this career seriously, she hoped it was a passing phase, but now, seeing how I work hard and how it makes me so happy, she has calmed down.
My dad has always told me to try to pursue my dreams! I tattooed him twice (a wolf’s head and a classic super eagle).
They are both very supportive and I thank them very much. On the other hand, I’m not very sure that my grandparents understand what my job is all about.
Would you define yourself a tattoo collector? Who has tattooed you and who is on your wish list?
I definitely try to collect pieces by artists that I admire a lot, getting a tattoo is one of the best ways to learn. For now I have got tattoos by Michele l’Abbate, Guy le tatooer, Giacomo Seidita, Marlen Mckey, and many others. I got various tattoos by Elia Landi and Michele Ianni, who are very young but with a very strong style! In my wishlist there are, no doubts, Alessando Lemme, Cassandra Frances, Wolfspit and Slowerblack.
What are your future guest spots and conventions? Anything in England?
This month I will be spending two days in Milan and in April I will join, along with my tattoo studio, the Tattoo Expo in Bologna.
For now I do not have any guest spots scheduled abroad, but I would love to! One of the most beautiful sides of this job is being able to travel and I look forward to start doing it.
I lived for a while in London so, for me, England is a very important country where I would love to work in the future.
London based Fashion and fine art photographer Steph Wilson new series “Emoji” explores the use of emojis as a censor for female nipples, genitals and bums in art.
Steph tells Dazed magazine that her series is inspired by:
The series was an idea that had been bubbling for a while. I remember seeing a stunning shot on Instagram taken by my good friend Eleanor Hadwick of her boyfriend, nude, on a cliff edge. His arse crack was censored with, what Elle coined, a “sparklefart” (the sparkle emoji). It made me laugh but also made me incredibly frustrated that such a striking, artistic image had been made into a farce. I wanted to play with that as a theme, and, for once, use emojis as censorship to my artistic advantage.
30-year-old Kirsten Holliday tattoos out of Wonderland Tattoo in Portland, Oregon and creates beautiful botanical tattoos with a muted colour pallet. We chat to Kirsten about the things and people that inspire her…
Photo taken by Adrian Whipp of Lumiere Tintype in Austin
How long have you been tattooing? Five years, not including my apprenticeship!
How did you get started? I’ve wanted to tattoo since I was 16! I finished college and was studying for the GREs to try to get into a PhD track program in rhetoric and writing and realized I was chasing my second choice profession in which there were no jobs. I packed up my car and moved to Portland without really looking at the insane licensing process here, but I lucked into an apprenticeship at a shop rather than one of Oregon’s infamous schools. I learned from Melanie Nead, who used to own Icon Tattoo here in Portland. I just showed up with an armload of framed work and threw myself upon her mercy! I’m super grateful to have learned there.
What drew you to the tattoo world? I started getting tattooed by Scott Ellis, who now owns Triple Crown Tattoo Parlour in Austin, Texas. I think that cemented my feelings that tattoo shops were places I wanted to be; I loved being in the middle of a shop where people were talking and joking and having conversations about art. It had (and still has) such a feeling of community. I get to work there when I go home now, which is such an honor and still kind of intimidating in the best possible way.
What did you do before? The usual mishmash of college jobs. I worked at Starbucks, I worked at a law office as a legal assistant and a runner, I worked at a gelato shop.
Do you have a background in art? My grandmother Betty Jo was a watercolour artist and started me drawing from still life when I was two, and I took high school art. I was fortunate to have an incredible art teacher in high school. Other than that, not really!
What do you like to draw and tattoo? I think my portfolio speaks to that – botanical and naturalistic work, animals, lady heads. I love doing American traditional tattoos, too, though I haven’t been doing as much of that in the last few years.
How would you describe your style? Illustrative, with roots in American traditional
What inspires you? Vintage science and botanical illustrations, vintage postcards, traditional tattoos, the world around me. The Pacific Northwest is such a beautiful, ecologically diverse place and that certainly influences all the work that comes out of Wonderland.
Are there any artists you admire, do they influence your work? I’m super lucky to work with really talented artists at Wonderland – Alice Kendall (who has been making incredible botanical tattoos for years in this town), Sean Wright, and Alice Carrier. I think we all influence each other a lot. Joey Ortega at Triple Crown has been a friend and mentor for years and his work is a huge influence on me. Josh Stephens in Richmond does such unique, strong floral work. I’d love to do more large work, so right now I’ve been specifically looking at a lot of large work compositions, too.
Can you tell us about your own tattoos? I have mostly piecework. I have one large piece from knee to armpit on my right side by Joey Ortega and the rest is mostly pieced together. The most recent tattoo I got was from my friend Alena Chun at Icon, who is amazing. It’s a cat and a skull on my kneecap inspired by a Kuniyoshi print – we saw an exhibit together in Paris in October and it was so inspirational. We traded Kuniyoshi tattoos afterward; I did the samurai frog I included in my photos on her. I have a lot of tattoos from Silje Hagland at Scapegoat (we used to be room mates!), a couple from Atlas here in Portland, four or so from Sean Lanusse at Blacklist. I have a ton of small to medium sized tattoos from a ton of people. I did get tattooed by Eckel last year, which was such a dream!
Asenet Ramirez founder of Corazón Loco, creates sugar skull figurines in Barcelona, she paints each unique pieced by hand. We chatted to her to find out where she gets her inspiration from as well as her love of tattoos…
When did you first start making the skulls? I started to make skulls after my first trip to Mexico. A year after my holiday I moved to Oaxaca in Mexico.
What inspires you? I love the people of Mexico, the colours, and the culture. This environment is the source of my inspiration. I’d say I’m an artisan, all of my work is related to Mexican folk culture. I’m naturally curious about different ways of life and I love tattoos. I’m also inspired by the work of people I admire. While I’m working on a skull I’m think about the next one,no two are alike!
Where can we buy them? People can purchase a skull by contacting me on Instagram, Facebook, or by email (corazon.loco.la@gmail.com). I also have stands at tattoo conventions or come and find me at LTW Tattoo Studio in Barcelona. I make different size skulls, headbands, dolls, altars, tote bags and t-shirts .
When did you get your first tattoo and what was it? I get my first tattoo in Bugs Tattoo London 26 years ago, It was and ace of spades with two skulls. I look at my tattoo and remember being in the moment and the joy I felt. I love everyone of my tattoos, and the memory of all of them.
Do you have any future plans to get tattooed? There’s always a tattoo in progress…
Pictures were taken by Pol Vila and make up by Andrea Alvarez