Tag: blackwork

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Interview with Paul Davies

We chatted to geometric tattoo artists 28-year-old Paul Davies who works out of Artium Ink in Kingsbridge, Devon about what inspired him to become a tattooist and how he recently found out that he is autistic… 

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Photo taken by Matthew Partington

I’ve been tattooing for roughly six years. I moved from Cardiff seven years ago to study fine art at Plymouth university. It was a really last minute decision so there was no available student housing. I moved in with some guys that worked in a tattoo studio, so hanging out with them everyday I started to think this was the path for me, rather than being a painter/illustrator which had been my original goal when moving. I’ve never been interested in doing anything other than being an artist. From the age of around five I really wanted to be an architect, but by the time I was old enough to do some work experience at an architectural practice, I realised it wasn’t as creative as I hoped it would be.

Once I started tattooing I was immediately drawn to patterns and geometry. But the style wasn’t really as popular then, so I just did anything to keep busy. Dabbled in all styles of tattooing and slowly convinced people instead of idea had, maybe it would look good to add some patterning to their tattoo. As time progressed the patterning took over. But I still really enjoyed all the other styles I used to do so I merged them to create something of my own.

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I enjoy all the drawing I do but given the chance to design unrequested designs I tend to draw things that I have an almost obsessive interest in, like people with super human abilities, whether that’s a comic book character, Jedi knight or action hero that inexplicably can’t be killed.

I have a few guest spots and conventions around the UK lined up for this year but the one I’m most looking forward to is a guest spot I was invited to in Toronto. One of my favourite artists from Japan has been invited at the same time as me so looking forward to meeting him.

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I hate most of my own tattoos as I did the majority that I can see myself to practice when I first started. I’m ambidextrous so I’ve done both of my forearms which as they are always on show, get most attention. I get embarrassed when I’m asked the artist that did them as its not a reflection of the work I do.
Recently I found out I’m autistic. On the spectrum it’s Aspergers but I’ve been told that’s not used anymore and it’s ASD (autism spectrum disorder). For my job it’s a massive benefit, I’m completely focused, never want to stop working and able to think about things a little differently to other people. Behind the scenes it really impacts my personal life. I’m currently writing this from a bar in Cheltenham as I’m heading back from Tattoo Tea Party in Manchester and I’ve freaked out that too many people got on the train in Birmingham and I can’t get back on until I’m drunk.

My wife would liken me to the character Spock from Star Trek, I’m not without emotion, I just don’t understand to show it properly. I think only logically about things and have little time struggle to include other people’s feelings in my actions. A few people over the years have mentioned I maybe autistic but I naively dismissed it as I thought only of the extreme form of the disorder.
Recently I posted a status about this and I’ve had a couple of artists message me saying they often feel a similar way, I wasn’t surprised to see they also specialise in patterns and geometry.

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Being a social job I do struggle with it, it would be great if I could just be given an arm to take away and work on alone. Since finding this out I’ve realised I have a script that I say to each customer and that helps me feel in control. I have almost the same conversation every day and I really like it that way. Routine helps me function well, and sometimes I think I couldn’t have got to where I am without autism. However I am stuck in Cheltenham until I get over my anxiety attack and I’m drunk enough to get back on public transport so, swings and roundabouts.

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Interview with Tattoo Artist: Caroline Vitelli

Tattoo artist Caroline Vitelli works out of Brut, a private studio in Geneva and creates beautifully dark and illustrative tattoos. We chatted to her about the ancient art of skin sewing and what inspires her…

How long have you been tattooing? I don’t really know, maybe two years, maybe longer. Years ago, I was introduced, by an Inuit, to a ancestral technique of sewing tattoos or skin-stitched tattooing (Watch Colin Dale on Needles and Sins). Skin-sewing tattoos are a type of ‘healing tattoo’ – the tattooer introduces into the skin, by means of a needle, with a thread, which has been greased beforehand and soaked with soot. The thread, pulled by the needle according to the outlines of the drawing, abandons the colouring agent between the flesh and the skin.

After this I began to stitch my own drawings onto skin. I did my left hand this way. But it took a long time of reflection and self questioning. After a few years I started doing tattoos with a machine.

What attracted you to the world of tattoos? The thing is that I am a non-stop doodler, I needed to find a way to use all those drawings.

What inspires you? I am inspired by feral nature, literature, poetry, animals, poisonous plants, people, the light that we can find in the dark. My imagination – like my head – is filled with a thousand little tiny creatures working, running, screaming, all the time, it’s exhausting. But I think that everything that has been done, and my head is full of images or quotes or reference,  of course sometimes one can be deeply influenced and doesn’t realise it.

Do you admire any artists, do they influence your work? I admire some creative creatures such as my friend Old Hag (Darby Lagher),  her photography is so mesmerising and heartening for me, she captures auras of dreamlike occult and naturalistic worlds. Also, I am always speechless when I listen to Chelsea Wolfe, I’ve been listening to her new album Abyss non stop since last week, and it gives me shivers, every time. Like Rowland S. Howard, SHIVERS.

And, of course, they may influence me, like everything, I am a super sensitive, but I already have a lot to deal with in my head, things that I have to put together on the paper.

Can you tell us about the tattoos on your own body? My first tattoo was an Icelandic magical stave on my right arm, I got it when I was a young teenager. And I still love it.

I have my shoulders and neck done by Happypets in Lausanne, it’s two black swans and an ornamental thistle. I have a drawing by Max Ernst on my back, if you look closely you can see that the skirt of the woman is hiding an older tattoo, I got it done when I was 16.

My hands are constructed like an altar. Both with sewing-technique and machines.
I also adore my big black rose from Alexander Grim, he and his wife Lamia Vox are so interesting and talented. I have a piece on my stomach drawn by Tracey Emin, a snake in my hand tattooed by Paolo Bosson, cats on my legs by Gem Love, trash poked tattoos done by Ingimar. And my latest one is a piece done by  Johnny Gloom, I truly adore it.

I have lots more, and I can’t possibly name them all.

What kinds of things do you like to tattoo? I like to tattoo dark things, black stuff, thorns and rusty nails, monsters, animals, flowers, amulets, medieval faces, plants. I like to tattoo my universe. The things that I collect around me.