PEOPLE Inkedin 18ART Churches of Tavira.

With a certain image to uphold, Tattoo artist Gualberto Sousa certainly has the look. We met him at his shop in Olhão to find out what he's really like

Alittle early for our appointment, we are in front of the impressive custom-made facade of the Caverinha Tattoo Shop in Olhão, this is definitely not your average local tattoo parlour. We soon notice a black Chrysler PT Cruiser pulling up, without a shadow of a doubt, we know our interviewee has arrived. Olhão born Gualberto shows us into his studio, which is nothing quite like we have ever seen before. Floor to ceiling airbrushed art adorns the walls featuring old movie classics and favourites of Frankenstein and Marilyn Monroe, a glass top coffee table displays tens of photos of his art on his clients. In the front corner murals of a hotrod, cars and bikes create an area for merchandise and a display unit of awards won for a custom made and designed chopper. We learn that this is his pride and joy, built together with his father. When we ask about the airbrush art on the wall, Gualberto surprises us by saying it is his. We quickly realise we are speaking with an artist that is multi-talented across different platforms and various mediums. Gualberto started off as an airbrush artist and often worked together with his friend graffiti artist SEN (for interview with SEN, see November 2020 issue). Due to his experience as an airbrush artist, he was able to start tattooing immediately on people without needing to go through an apprenticeship. In 2008 he made the switch and began tattooing from a friend's house. During this time he built up a small client base which meant expanding. He created a home studio from which he worked for four years. In 2013 he would open the doors of his own studio, this is where the most incredible work we have ever seen is created at the skilled hands of an amazing tattoo artist. We find out that Gualberto’s favourite style is realism, however, he can pretty much do any

INKEDIN

style. In fact, he has a lot of experience in medical tattoos, if you haven’t heard of it, it is worth looking up. He has transformed surgical scars and recreated nipples and areolas due to mastectomy, allowing many people to regain confidence. I think we have all heard of horror story tattoos, ones that have been ill drawn, faded beyond recognition and names of lovers now long forgotten about, but immortalised in ink. Gualberto nods his head and says 'coverups', he gets a lot of these and is able to fix them, it allows old memories to be in the past, where they sometimes belong. As we leave his establishment Gualberto gives us a big smile and says it is never too late to have your first tattoo and it doesn’t hurt half as much as you may think it does. Everyone says it hurts less than they thought it would. On a side note, having personally been in the studio and even watched a friend having some artwork done, I can say the attention to detail and hygiene in particular is flawless. If ever I would consider having something done, it would be at the hands of Gualberto only.

Contacts:

Facebook: Caverinha Designer Tattoo caverinhatattoo@live.com Address: Estr Nacional 125, 199 D Loja Esq, Olhão, Portugal, 8700-221

Churches of Tavira

A unique exhibition of artwork by Ove Slyngstad depicting the churches of Tavira in Pen & Ink

Artist Ove Martin Slyngstad, was born in Aalesund in Norway and has lived in Tavira for 19 years. An Exhibition designer by trade, Ove has been drawing in Pen & Ink for his whole life, in fact, his art helped finance studies in graphics school. The art of drawing using Pen & ink is thousands of years old and used to write documents that transformed world history, also to illustrate later editions of the Bible. Sadly, this art form is dying out, with traditional painting being more forgiving, and therefore more popular. With Pen & Ink, one mistake and your whole drawing is ruined, there is no second chance, rip it up and start again! Ove is the first known artist to draw all of the 30 churches of Tavira. His drawings start with copying a photograph, but he will return perhaps three or four times to the subject to absorb the finer details. His first exhibition 'Churches in Tavira' runs from 16th-29th April at Casa André Pilarte, Rua Dom Marcelino Franco, 8800-394 Tavira (Next to Santander bank).