Nepalinked Magazine Vol. 4 by Nepalinked

EDITORIAL

PUBLISHER Nepalinked Pvt. Ltd.

EDITOR IN CHIEF Shubham Nag

COVER Photographer: Shatabdi Chakrabarti Artist: Unknown

DESIGNER Razaan Maharjan (Austin Ra)

CONTRIBUTORS Shatabdi Chakrabarti Anisha Coelho Helena Asha Knox Pin-Jhen Lin

EXECUTIVE EDITOR Rishav Khatri

MARKETING Tattoo Cultr, Kgarira, Ink’s Inc., Mohan’s Tattoo Inn, Static Engravers, Jads Tattoo Website: www.nepalinked.com Email: magazine@nepalinked.com Facebook : fb.com/Nepalinked

Another year, and time for another issue of the rad Nepal Inked Magazine. And our first foray into the wild woods of looking beyond images. For this particular issue of Nepal Inked Magazine, we collaborated, we have engaged ourselves in an exercise in introspection, with the target of coming up with a showcase of coexistence. As a magazine, we want this 72 pager in your hands to not be just another bathroom read, where you flip through pages after pages of good-looking tattoos and tattooed people, and you’re done. You are not the average joe. You are not a fence sitter. So, we created and curated this issue of Nepal Inked Magazine to stimulate your minds beyond the visual idea of tattoos. We have looked deeper... For this issue, we have sat across the table with some modern greats of tattooing to understand why they do what they do. Our travels in the last year have made us some friends for life, and everyone we have crossed paths with, have taught us something new. Flip through the pages to meet some of them. And lastly, before I conclude this editorial, I would like to thank John Dai for this great opportunity to curate this special issue of Nepal Inked Magazine. As mentioned above, this is our exercise in coexistence, and we at Tattoo Cultr feel honoured to collaborate with the efficient team of JADS Tattoo and STATIC Engravers to bring to you another delightful issue.

MAKE SURE YOUR COFFEE IS BLACK, AND THE JOINT IS LIT. Happy inking, SHUBHAM NAG Editor-in-Chief, Founder Partner of Tattoo Cultr

01 I Dong Dong C

A master scattering through simplicity

02 I Soonil XHead

Beauty in B&W

03 I Kali Tattoo

Master of Mech

04 I Photo Essay

A Weekend with Yogi

05 I Cover Story

The Language of Skin

06 I Jeff Gogue

An Introspection

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CHIANG MAI TATTOO

FESTIVAL 2018 A

W E E K E N D

Among our travels across South Asian conventions this year, our first stop was at the mesmerising Chiang Mai Tattoo Festival 2018, hosted by the powerhouse of Thai tattooing, Tong Tattooer in the beautiful town of Chiang Mai, North Thailand in the month of February. And to say the least, Chiang Mai took our breath away. A beautiful, quaint town with picturesque temples, monasteries, flower festivals and lots and lots of good tattoos all around you. We arrived in Chiang Mai a day before the convention started, and went around to catch up with the tattoo fam before everybody rolled up their sleeves to get working. The traveling party included Dong Dong C, Arne So, Nic Tse, Alex Tramp, Serjiu Arnautu, Yogesh Waghmare, John Ma, and your humble Shubham Nag. Now, would you

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believe me if I said we went to a tattoo convention that happened in the airport complex of Chiang Mai. Hell, yeah! The spread-out Chiang Mai Tattoo Festival 2018 took place in the airport plaza of the town, and you could literally see people getting off their flights and touring the convention, before moving into the town. It is was a sight to behold. People poured into the fest in thousands, and why wouldn’t they? There was some amazing tattooing happening at the convention. From the likes of Master Shige Yellowblaze to Dong Dong C to Sabado to Uncle Allen, Chiang Mai Tattoo Fest was lit up with crusading tattoo talent. But it was the local artists of Thailand that truly stole the show. Amazing bodysuits, full backs, sleeves, you name it… Traditional, art nouveau, new school, macabre - Thai tattoo artists put on a stellar show of tattooing. One of Shige’s paintings was auctioned for charity for orphans of Chiang Mai, some custom choppers were lined up across the convention hall, and I think I had the most interesting mix of food choices at a tattoo convention ever. But the real party stretched beyond the festival grounds into the streets of Chiang Mai. Like you would expect in Thailand, the street food mania is real. So much variety, and such unique interesting flavours - mind blown. Chiang Mai Tattoo Festival should be a must in your calendar if you are a fan of rad tattoo art, like to explore new places and cultures, and simply want a vacay spot that isn’t hogged by tourists.

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DONG DONG C

A master scattering through simplicity

XiaoDong Zhou, aka Dong Dong C is one of the foremost masters of Chinese tattooing. His journey coincides with that of Chinese modern tattooing, and his mastery has laid the path for future generations of Chinese tattooers. Our resident master, John Ma got in touch with the living legend to dwelve into his thoughts around art, machines, life and everything in betweenâ&#x20AC;Ś

In your head, what is the basic idea that you attach to tattooing? Or in other words, why do you tattoo? My idea about tattooing is simple. The ink gets inserted into the skin. Nowadays, the aesthetic changed, which led to the change of ink and depth of colors. I like to keep tattoo simple and enjoy the process of inking. This is the essence of tattoo. I have the skills to make it happen and make a change. I find it good. Ridding is a hobby or passion? And love for machines? My father had a great impact on me when it comes to my passion in riding and machines. When I was little, my father was always on his motorbike. The motorbike carried all of my brothers and served as the source of income. I was always thinking: can machines be so strong? The motorbike could not only take us to school but also brought us bread. Sometimes, the motorbike got broken. My father always repaired it himself. All the years, I was at his side watching him repairing the bike and started to developinterests toward it. With time, I grew more passionate about machines. This is my hobby. The more I understand machines, the more I am interested in learning more. Different parts get assembled and create different functionalities. I find it special. I realized that things should be complementary to each other. Let it be persons, groups, mindsets, or cooperation. You do not need to consider too much about machines. The most important thing is fitting parts together to generate better functionality, which is very goal-oriented. And if you know a bit more about machines, then you will be safer when driving a car or a motorbike. Because you will be able to deal with malfunction and problematics. Itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s like in your art, You are trying to capture the spirit of the subject. And your subjects are mostly very expressive. Emotionally, what do you try to achieve with every creation? I have my own understanding about art and painting. People have different perspectives toward paintings, I also have my own ones. Based on my cultural background, I consider there is a great variety of Chinese arts. The Chinese culture contains many branches. For example, the Buddhist art or a representative art from a certain era. Although I am highly interested in the art from the past, I also get confused during the learning process. A lot of time art is vague for me because I did not have any teachers. Still, I continued on the path of learning and discovering. As far as I am concerned now, capturing the spirit is the most direct way. By constant copying, you can definitely draw the outline, for example the shape of a pine tree. However, it is still hard to depict the whole picture. I have been trying to understand the thoughts a painter bears towards the painting. I would not say my work is expressive. Simply that I have been drawing and practicing. No piece I have made is perfect. Oftentimes, I enter into another state of mind during practicing and drawing because I see everything I like in front of me. In the process of painting, I am alone because I am not painting for other people, but for myself. If I cared too much about other people, I would not be able to make a good painting. For my paintings, I use different materials, colors and tools to implement my understandings and to improve my works of tattoo. I do not want to copy works from the ancestors or any other persons. It is difficult as many artists might also think. I only want to compete with myself and discover more possibilities. That is why,I have been trying different ways to depict emotions and feelings on paintings and also on the skin.

You grew up studying gongbi painting. Do you think that is one of the reasons why there are like a million shades in your paintings, yet overall maintaining simplicity and transparency of colors? How do you like to describe when you turn your subjects into paintings? I studied Chinese traditional Gongbi. When you are doing Gongbi, you cannot hustle. There are a lot of principles in the traditional paintings. For example, a lot of old masters would wash their hands and bodies thoroughly before painting. The habit does not exist anymore, of course. You need to be very calm and quiet while making Gongbi because you are using brushes and they are soft. You need to slowly feel the bounce of the brush against paper. This is the basic practice for Gongbi. I also like to observe everything in life. Those special things, like special shapes or objects, will be integrated into my paintings according to my subjective view. The structure as well as the movement of light and shadow should also be taken into consideration. As a painter, you need to control the source of light. Without this ability, you can only create diagrams. Paintings represent spirits, which come from within and flow with your minds. You should not restrict your minds otherwise you will not be able to create a piece of art. I tried different subjects, such as dragon, fish, and flower. All the paintings are my attempts to improve.

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Water and air are your strong elements, as we can see in your art.There is so much to feel, so easy and dramatic flowsâ&#x20AC;Ś how do you implement? Water and air are intangible. The visuality of them has something to do with the culture. In our culture, water is quite dominant and often represents fortune. Air is also present in the traditional Daoism, martial art and medicine. First of all, you need to like it and understand their strength and power. There is a Chinese saying: constant dropping wears the stone. You will not sense the strength of water when it is calm. But when water flows down from a high level, like waterfall, it possesses vigorous power. Air is an element which connects all of my paintings. Air is everywhere in the traditional paintings as it connects all the elements. A line contains air. In the Chinese calligraphy, especially, you feel the strength of air. The cover of one of my books is blue. Blue like the sky and the white is the air. I integrated this concept into the design of the book. Blue gives me an impression of transcending, like entering the universe. White pulls you closer and makes you return to reality. Water and air are very present in my own culture; that is why I quite like them. You have travelled around the world tattooing and riding and adventuring, what have been your biggest life lessons that make you who you are, as an artist? Tattooing is my profession and my hobby at the same time. On top of that, I get to travel through tattooing. It is a very good opportunity for tattoo artists. Prior to my passion in art, I love life more. I could see and feel various new and challenging things. When I am in a new environment, I get to experience different people, natures, and landscapes. I love discovering local cultures. Through the discovering process, I get to see different layers in details. Seeing details helps me to create. During my trips, I create tattoos, make new friends, and exchange ideas with local artists, which is of great value for me. From a more personal viewpoint, I am not old yet and can still travel a lot. I spend half a year travelling, and the other half in the studioin the city where I live. During this time, I digest all the experiences from the travels, which takes time. If I am always on the road, it will be too much hustle for me. I need to be away and come back home to create and get a reboot.

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People keep saying tattooing has evolved and changed. But, has it? Do you ever think that maybe itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s just the crowd around tattooing that just keeps getting bigger? And may be the perception has changed towards tattoo? The time has changed and things are different now over the years. The artists around me are also younger and younger. However, I do not see any change in tattoo. It is time and people which are changing, not tattooing. Tattooing as a kind of art at the high level is as great as before. As for my personal skills, they have been improved with no doubts. But, still not at its best. I still have a lot to learn. In China, more and more people start to like tattooing, both the culture and the art. Tattooing is a magical art. In the modern time, people start to consider having a tattoo when they enjoy a certain degree of life quality or after they have developed appreciation towards art. China is changing, and the people are better educated. With the growing number of tattoo lovers, the environment is also better for the artists. How good is the Chinese tattoo scene in general now? As you are one of the pioneers in Chinese tattooing, how it was 25yrs back, and now, how do you see this? Chinese tattoo has taken off 25 years ago. I think it has developed at a very fast pace and reached a certain level. Constantly, there will be new tattoo artists and new ideas. I find China offers a very vital and dynamic environment. However, we do not have Chinaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s own style of tattoo yet. Yet, I do believe that there will be our own style in the near future and am striving for it. I cannot predict the future but I am sure I have the capability to achieve it. In the past, the Chinese society was unfriendly towards tattoo. There were no clients, no internet, not mobiles, no information. The only thing we could do was constant practicing as there was no guidance for us. Something strong supporting me is my love and passion towards tattoo. That is why I never gave up learning, researching and putting all the efforts into this hobby I have. Now, I am quite confident about myself. The market and environment for tattooing is changing and getting wider, which gives me more faith in this path.

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People always advice, “think out of the box”. As an artist, do you ever have those moments in your head where you reject one idea thinking it is not something new? But then again, what can be new, as everything is adapted with each other even the nature itself, right? While I am creating a piece, I do not try to be creative on purpose. Simply, it depends on my feelings, thoughts and emotions at the time being. Of course, I am well trained for painting as I graduated from university. I know what I am doing. Yet, I do not deliberately try to do something new. I do not advise people to pretend. That is all fake. You should follow your own heart. The precondition is that the creation should be based on solid painting skills. The aesthetics are changing. I prefer something old. Many people do not understand and only try to copy the old and see it from the modern perspective. Then they think the old is not the same anymore. I can only advise that you should see its spirit and essence. You need to see what is behind a painting. Only then, there will be new creation and new discoveries. About Mummy Tattoo Studio… How you come to decide this name? Mummy Tattoo Studio was founded in 1999 in Beijing. The name represents the idea how I interpret tattoo. Mummy is immortal and tattoo stays in the skin forever. These are two concepts which go hand in hand. What is the future vision for Mummy Tattoo Studio? In the future, the Mummy Tattoo Studio should be a platform for all sorts of arts. It provides not only a space for tattooing but also for creating designs, movies, gadgets, architectureand all the possibilities. Arts should be shaped in all the possible forms. That is my vision for Mummy Tattoo Studio.

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Qing Mo (Mummy Tattoo) STYLE: JAPANESE NEW SCHOOL Colors and lines are his tools for tattooing. By entering into his world, you will encounter all the strange and bizarre Japanese monsters and deities. qingmo_mummytattoo

Mao Jiantao (Mummy Tattoo) STYLE: NEW TRADITION Devoted tattoo artist with solid painting skills. Tao combines strokes of brushes as well as colors to depict Chinese mythology. He is constant on learning and creating new ideas for Chinese traditional style. maojiantao_mummytattoo

treativa.com

KOBIT

Rai

SPEARHEADING NEPAL’S NEXT GEN

Kovit’s journey in tattooing is still taking formulating steps, but he has already taken some massive steps towards understanding why he does what he does. Kovit is greatly inspired by art cultures from around the world, but in his own expression, he merges these impressions to create original artwork every single time. Was the inner desire always to be an artist ? Actually, No. Earlier, I had no any idea what tattoo is. There was a time when I was confused regarding what to do in life. You could say I was good in nothing. No job, was no good in academics, no degree certificates. But, I used to draw sometimes. Not that I paid any attention to it. How did you meet Binay Gurung? Binay dai is my friend’s brother. My friend introduced us, I met him and I started apprenticing under him. I was really lucky to meet him. You are creating this interesting mix of tribalism and ornamental in your tattooing these days. Tell us more about the thought process behind it... It always feels so good to see Maori & Polynesian tattoos. I love the flow, the boldness, the details; everything. I think I can’t give the true feel of polynesian tattoos, so I interpret it in my own ways.Normally, I freehand whatever comes in my mind, and just follow the flow. But to achieve that seamless flow, I practice a lot on paper.

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You also carry some amazing tattoos on your body by the likes of Eek Glass Pani, Raph Cemo... what is it like getting tattooed by such great artists? I have so far got tattooed by Eek glass pani, Raph Cemo and Binay dai. I feel like they don’t just tattoo… they pass you their energy through the tattoos. They give a their piece of soul in every tattoo they do.So, every time I get tattooed, I learn and feel something new. I feel this sense of honour & forever gratefulness for their art on me. What is the expression that you find only in tattooing, and nothing else? Tattooing is so powerful, it can heal you. I can’t explain it with words. It’s an experience for your soul. Your favourite tattoo machine Sunskin & moonlight (Lithuanian Irons) Three tattoo artists who are your biggest inspiration Yogi, Binay Dai& EekMa If you were not a tattoo artist, then what you be doing? May be, farming back in my village.

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Photo Credit : Nabin Shrestha (Levelnext Pvt. Ltd.) & Bishwas Ghotane Gurung.

Bhuwan Thapa The first person who has been performing and instructing Body Suspension Act in Nepal, since 2010.

SOONIL

XHead

BEAUTY IN BLACK AND WHITE Soonil is arguably the finest blackwork geometry tattooer in South Asia, and practices the simplest fundamentals of tattooing in his lakeside studio in Pokhara. His growing reputation has been adorned with awards across the spectrum. Our editor, Shubham Nag tried to understand his ideas behind his art… What is the biggest thrill of being a tattoo artist for you? The biggest thrill for me is to be able to connect with people with my work. I feel really blessed to be a tattoo artist, very fortunate. The whole process of tattooing is what I enjoy,not just the inks and needles, but meeting the client, listening their ideas,creating a design where we both reach a point to agree upon; the best part in tattooing for me is the client. It’s he/she that starts the process. I just lead them to what they want. It’s really magical how a stranger turnsinto a good friend and connects with you during this process. I am grateful that Iam able to create these lifelong bonds with my clients, maybe not always, but almost always. Sometimes, we don’t even utter a single word in an eight hour session, and there’s an ethereal beauty to that. I am not saying that it’s always that beautiful with every tattoo, yet the satisfaction is there to give a good tattoo to client who initially tends to be difficult and insecure about me. Yeah, the best part in tattooing for me is the human canvas,rest are just the tools with beautiful sounds. And, what do you think is the biggest responsibility of being a tattoo artist? Saying that I always feel the responsibility towards them; foremost is to give them tattoos in a healthy and hygienic environment, and also keep myself protected from all the possibilities of cross contamination during the process. Sometimes, I feel I am the artist and the doctor at the same time in the studio. haha :D The other great responsibility, and sometimes a big pressure as well, is the”desgin”.To create something that matches their idea and suits their body body. This part of tattooing demands responsibility because it is truly challenging. Sometimes, their ideas and the amount of space they want to cover don’t go parallel. That’s where I come in, and show them the boarder picture about how much space and where on the body that certain idea and design would look good. Actually, I feel even an bigger sense of responsibility when my client asks me to do whatever I want to, and just give me their body. Can you trace back the first memory of art for you in your life? First memories of art I remember is from my father. I remember him teaching me how to draw houses,cats,trees, things like that… still have clear memory of that cat. I must have been 5-6 years old. I am not sure which one is first memory because I also remember the principal of my school showing me how to draw a helicopter out of simple geometric shapes :D I got that helicopter drawing tattooed from one of my friend 2 years ago. And oh yeah, I remember making these tiny skulls sculpture on white chalks with compass and blades when I was a child… Right from childhood, I loved assuming and picturing in my head different

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shapes and patterns in clouds, walls, shadows, trees, almost everything. I just liked to see the things and see different things in them. What do you make of the Nepali tattooing scene in general? I am definitely very lucky because I got into tattooing when tattoo scene in Nepal was starting to grow. Now, the scene is really amazing. Trust me, I feel really proud to say that I am a tattoo artist from Nepal. I think itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the brotherhood of the tattoo artists here; thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s making the whole scene so beautiful and energetic. I wish it remains the same in all the years to come. Who has been the biggest inspiration for you in this journey of tattooing so far? My biggest inspiration in getting into tattooing has always been Mohan Gurung and Biz Gurung dai. They are the role models for me, and Dilu Rai dai, who had introduced me to tattooing. These people have played a really big role in my life for me to get into tattooing. Do you see your style of geometry as a blend between the future and the past? Mostly, my style of tattooing geometry is more ornamental mandalas, mostly inspired from Hindu cultures, definitely the ancient patterns seen all over the temples and ancient architecture around Nepal and India. But, I also like to do geometric shapes which have nothing to do with past or future, just the shapes and forms that I find beautiful when placed on a certain part of the body. And, I love the beauty of repeating patterns and shapes. If you were to describe the aesthetic of blackwork tattooing, how would you describe it? I love the simplicity of black work, yet the powerful contrast and depth of it. I love the boldness and strong statements of blackwork, textures that dotwork gives; each single dot in itself but a beautiful big art when combined... and the self-expression of one with just black and white is really beautiful.

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At the last Heartwork Tattoo Festival 2017, we caught up for a quick chat with one of the leading realism tattoo artists of the world, Steve Butcher, from New Zealand. In a short tattooing career so far, Steve has become probably the most popular tattoo artist in the whole world. His realistic tattoos often seem to have more details than the images he renders on skin. You must have seen at least a few of his tattoos floating on your search area of Instagram. Steve is a huge NBA and Kobe Bryant fan, and his tattoos of Kobe Bryant are breathtaking, to say the very least. At the convention too, you could see him sporting an NBA Finals hat, as he was constantly swarmed by a crowd of fans and enthusiasts who just wanted one selfie with him. Our star reporter, S Chak managed to sneak in and pull Steve out for a very brief rapid fire round of question and answers, so that you, the fans, get to know him a little better…

You are a self taught artist. How has the journey been so far? Absolutely crazy. Everything’s happening so fast, it’s hard to kinda keep up with it. How did you get into tattooing? You were an art student… When I graduated, my Nana passed away from Lung cancer and I got a tattoo of her and that’s how I kinda got interested in tattooing. And I had a friend who was tattooing at the time, who saw my paintings and suggested that I start. What’s the difference between being a self taught artist and someone who has learnt it in a studio? I think you just… You kinda do things a lot faster because you are not asking someone what to do or you know what I mean? So there’s a bit more freedom… And what are the disadvantages of being self taught? Not knowing if you’re doing the right thing or not. Just kinda stabbing in the dark and hoping you’re doing the right thing… How did you develop your style? Mixing realism with black and grey… In New Zealand, a lot of people have darker skin because they spend a lot of time at the beach. So I kinda had to get good at both because I can’t do colour on darker skin and whiter people wanted colour. So I just kinda had to be as versatile as possible.

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STEVE

BUTCHER

The KING of REALISTIC Tattoos

Has your art influenced your tattooing? Yeah I used to paint realism. I still paint realism, I just never have time anymore. Any effect of the skill of tattooing on your art and vice versa? I mean it kinda puts you in a hole, because you’re used to following a stencil and someone telling you what to do, you know? Whereas if you’re painting, its all on yourself. So it’s almost too much freedom. I start freaking out a little! I don’t know what to do. Your major art influences? Many of the old painters… Caravaggio, Rembrandt… In the tattoo world, Dmitriy Samohin, Carlos Torres, Yomico Moreno, Jack Connolly, Benjamin Laukis…Just all my friends. Did you start your tattooing with realism? No, I started in a street shop. So I was doing script and little symbols but that’s how you get good at the basics, you know! You gotta nail the basics before you can get good at the technical side of things.S: How has the technical advancement been over the past few years? Well, just because I am self-taught, it’s kinda tricky you know. Trying new things, not being able to ask anyone- How does this work, what do I do, you know? So that’s why I travel a lot. Because I get to work with a bunch of different artists and kinda feed off them. Where do you see India in the global scene? Man its crazy! I didn’t know the tattoo industry was so big here. It’s only gonna get more and more popular I think. And where do you see the global tattoo industry heading towards? It’s huge at the moment, and I mean I just got hit up by Warner Brothers to do a TV show. The fact that they are asking to do these sort of things is crazy. Got some advice for upcoming artists? Work your ass off. Do nothing but work as that’s the only way you’re gonna get good enough. Do realism tattoos heal/age differently? I think as long as you take your time and make sure everything is put in properly, like I use round shaders quite a lot, which I think makes it a little bit more tight, holds it together. So, as long as you kinda nail the technical aspect of it, I think they will last.

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KALI

TATTOO Creating ART That plays across TIME & SPACE

How did tattooing happen to you at the first place? You can say that I was always good in drawing stuff, so I started by designing tattoos for my friends. Friends, who were into the metal scene and getting tattoos, would come to me with their ideas and thoughts, and ask me to design it out for them. Then, they would take that design and go to a tattoo artist, asking them to execute it. But, when I saw the final tattoos, I felt they weren’t done properly, and maybe I can do a better job of that. I felt I would be a better translator of my designs into tattoos. That was the first step. But even from thereon, it took me some time to actually buy all equipment and start tattooing. Back then in the 90s in Poland, there weren’t many tattoo shops around, and it was very difficult to professionally start tattooing. Which year are we talking about here?

Hailed across the tattoo universe as one of leading visionaries in organic and mech art, Kali Tattoo’s journey in tattooing is beyond fame and recognition. He is one of the defining pillars of modern tattooing, blending fantasy of the future and the past. Our editor, Shubham Nag caught up with him to explore into this madman’s psyche.

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Umm, I did my first tattoo in 1995, but it was really shoddy. I did it with a hand-made machine, using a pen and the motor of a Walkman. Things were drastically different and challenging, back then. In the early 90s, when I used to draw tattoo designs for my friends, we were quite clueless about tattooing. Since Poland was part of the Soviet Bloc, so tattoos at that time were prevalent more in prisons and military, and had very little space in the general society. We would see these beautiful tattoos in pages of magazines from Germany and the West, but had no idea how to make such good tattoos. Therefore, it was very tricky to get into tattooing at that time in Poland.

How did your art progress into the forms of bio organica and bio mechanical imagery? Even when I started trying out tattooing, I was always fascinated by this type of imagery, but I didn’t have the skill to do it. It’s not an easy art form, you know. It takes years of understanding and observation to get this. So, during my initial years, I once came across this book by H R Giger, and I was like, ‘Fucking hell! This is from some other planet. This is it! This is what I’m gonna do.’ Since then, it has been a long journey, because it has taken me years to develop the technical skills to do what I am doing now. Biomechanical style of tattooing has largely remained the same throughout the modern evolution of tattooing.It has always remained futuristic. Conceptually, how do you perceive this form of tattooing? Well, if you see historically, this form of art is called biomechanical because of Giger, but you can call it anything. But through the course of time, me and a lot of other artists have evolved and branched out of Giger’s school of biomechanical art, and created our own styles and interpretations. If you look at Aaron Cain; his work is super colourful and bold, and nowhere near to what Giger was doing. So for me, it is something abstract, and relatable to the nature of bio art. And bio art is again interpretation of the nature around you. Shells, skeletal structures, textures, stones… all from the nature around you. The eye of the one looking at bio art determines what it means to them…

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If you were to compare the times when you were starting out to now, what do you think has been the biggest change or development in tattooing, in general? Technically, we have come a long way. When I was starting out, you didn’t have so many options and variety in machines, needles and all tattooing equipment. We used to make our own needles, and now life is very easy because of the technological evolution. But, this evolution has also led to the rise of the “Google tattooer” generation. Earlier, you didn’t have the internet, and one had to be able to draw to be able to do tattooing. Otherwise, you bought flash books of other famous artists from Sweden and USA, and prepared designs out of those flash. Now, you have 10,000 options of one image on the internet. So, you just click on the option you need, print it out on a piece of paper and start tattooing. While technology has made life much easier and more accessible, it has also made people very lazy. So, is technology to blame here…? No, I don’t think so. Technology has made the proper artists more efficient. It is only the lazy ones who sort of slide on the surface. If you just open your Instagram, you are flooded everyday with such quality tattoos from all over the world. These artists are using the benefits of technology, and also working hard at the same time. They are drawing every day, and creating original artworks, and technology is helping them in the process of achieving that excellence they strive for.

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Who are the artists who have really influenced you and impacted your brand of tattooing? During my initial years, the artists who really impacted me were Aaron Cain and Guy Aitchison. When I saw their tattoos and paintings, I used to wonder as to what they were doing, and how they were doing it. I couldn’t understand how do you do this on skin. It seemed impossible at that time. And, I was also heavily influenced by the massive scale dark arts of Paul Booth. These guys were my massive inspirations because that’s what I wanted to do – large scale dark stuff. With biomechanical imagery, do you think it transforms with the ageing of the body and shifting of contours? I don’t think the form of bio organic or biomechanical tattoos change with the ageing of the body, because anatomically it is still the same body. And, biomechanical imagery matures to only complement the ageing body correspondingly. What determine the longevity of the tattoo are bold, strong lines. That’s what holds the tattoo strongthrough the years. What is the colour that you associate with the idea of counter culture or the alternative? BLACK. Black is what I wear all the time, black ink is what I use most in my tattooing. I use some colours sometimes, but black is the foundation. It is the simplest colour. From a personal point of view, what is the core of tattooing for you? During the initial years, it was like a form of rebellion, and voicing the counter culture. It was about expressing my own self and setting me out of the mainstream. Now, I actually think about it a lot, you know… And, I feel in modern times, tattooers are like Shamans. We are practicing a very primitive form of connecting with other souls and energies, and I am assuming we are like modern day Shamans. We put marks of confidence and individual expressions on people, which is like how people used to go to Shamans for protective and healing spells etc. And, let’s be honest: when you are getting tattooed, it fucking hurts. And this pain and adrenaline rush puts you in a different state of mind. As tattoo artists, we are guiding people through a transcendental experience that’s takes them to a different state of being. It is no more a form of rebellion, because everyone’s got a tattoo now… You think tattoos are more a form of individual expression now…? Is it? I don’t think a lot of people get tattooed to express their individuality. People come to a tattoo shop because they want to look like the neighbour with tattoos, or a friend and so on. They don’t want to break out, and show the middle finger, they want to be like the “cool guys”. They want to belong. They want to follow. It’s the opposite of individuality, right? There are a lot of people walking in to my shop wanting the stuff I do, but I don’t think they understand it. I don’t think tattoos are for everybody.

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AN ESSAY IN IMAGES

A WEEKEND WITH Our tattooed friend and ace photographer from Benngaluru, Anisha Coelho has been documenting the Indian tattoo scene for a couple of years now. Her works are pertinent for our times, to say the least, and portray the changing environment for self-expression in this part of the world. In January 2018, Anisha caught up with one of the most important tattoo artist to come out of India (arguably), Yogesh C. Waghmare at his Goa studio and during the Goa Tattoo Festival 2018. Here, in this photo essay Anisha tries to bring together a caricature of Yogi, as she saw it, in his eyes, in his hands, the tattoos he did and everything around and between. Now, Anisha writesâ&#x20AC;Ś

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YOGI

It was the month of January, when me and Shubham caught up to discuss interesting projects we can work on for this year. It was then that he told me about the Goa Tattoo Festival happening in a couple of weeks from then, and we booked our tickets straight after. This was going to be my third convention coverage assignment for Tattoo Cultr over the last two years, and we knew the drill, but little did I know when boarding the bus that this trip would be so much more than just another convention.

I had heard a lot about Yogi and his unique form of Indian traditional tattoos that have been taking the internet by storm, of late. This time, I finally got the chance to spend some time around him and interacting with him, his co-artists and some his clients. At the end of the day, what I could capture through my lens is an environment that he creates with his art all around him. It is only when you see him work on a project from scratch to finish, do you understand the method to his madness. I will let my photographs take it over from hereâ&#x20AC;Ś

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ART & SPACE How all the colours together make black Kaalo It all begins with a thought, an idea. Maybe a dream of melting clocks, or a memory of a life lived in another planet. Maybe it is the story you thought up for the boy you keep seeing on the street selling peanuts with his mom, or maybe it is the day you found out that the city you lived in could be cruel, or beautiful. Soon enough, a thought becomes an itch, an impulse, a current running through your limbs and neurons; whispering sweet-everythings into your ears to try and make sense of its own existential inevitability. Then it happens, just like that, over the course of a few minutes, or an hour, or sometimes years, a piece of art is born. Now what? Some of us guard it with the same reverence of privacy we bestow to our old love letters, or a forbidden packet of cigarettes. Some of us carry it around us like a tattoo with the weight of a full-sized anchor (some of us also carry actual tattoo anchors, some of us look mighty cool while doing so). It sticks out like a bone protruding from an odd angle, calling attention to itself, but most people and places with a good sense of finely cultivated social veneer tend to avoid acknowledging the tattoo of our scripts, demos, canvases or film reels for the sheer eccentricity they exude, or the audacity of their ambition. Some of us actually manage to find homes for this art, yes, it comes with a huge cut of whatever name it will bring to its new house (and all the green currency attached to its syllables), but it is a house nonetheless, and the shinier and whiter the walls around it, the better, right? Well, some of us, even luckier still, find a home, not just for the work, but for the mothers, fathers and guardians who brought it to life. It does not shout or dress up in garish angles and colours, nor does it stand out as a culmination of modern Western design and ingenuity. It isn’t hiding or anything, it is just there like a bird call, or a windowsill of an apartment you keep looking up at, or both. For the purpose of this train of thought, let us consider it to be a very old grandfather of a house. Some might stumble on it by accident and stop to wonder at their discovery, a look of bemused glee stuck on the corners of their smile; while some might walk past it more than once, not expecting the old bricks blending in with the smell of everything ancient to house the smell of new paint inside. It is not a trick or a misdirection—there is a helpful sign posted near, it just so happens that you must wander into it: serendipitously or otherwise. In a befitting enactment of a symbolic metaphor: out of the dark tunnel you enter, a momentary flash of bright surrounds you with a courtyard, and then into black. You leave your shoes, all the dust you tread to get here, your apprehensions about the kind of places that usually shelter art, and like coming inside an actual home, you come home. The contents of its insides change every full moon; rearranging a spot where a humanoid-sculpture almost alive reached out to tug at the knees of passer-bys, to a series of photographs about bodies that are soft and hard-edged at the same time. It is by no strange magic of witches, or a case of mischievous anarchist lycanthropes, but by the efforts an ever-changing group of humans (and a mythical puppy-dog). There are no white plaques with names and descriptions to gently remind you what you are about to see and perhaps how you might feel about it. It is up to you to decide which corner or wall you stop a little longer to look at, resisting a brimming urge to touch. Who dared to do this? You will find your answer somewhere close by in a handmade artefact crafted just for you. What about the artists? You will

find them too, and sometimes will be surprised to know that they are usually quite happy to talk to you despite any romantic notions of scraggly otherworldly destitute eccentrics you might have conjured around them (only some of the attributes are true, depending on way the shadows hit their faces—note: there are mini eclipses of light scattered at different corners here; otherworldly shadows ensue). There are no fees or tickets to explore the space and time happening in this place. There are no government councils or individuals with ocean-length pockets that pay the light bills or stick their agendas in the shadows. How does then a house still continue to breathe in and breathe out all the wonder secretly contained within? With the most basic of human traits, of course: trust. It trusts the art that it keeps safe inside its walls. It trusts the artists who bestow their love to decorate the walls. It trusts the visitors who become family for the time that they are there. The whole thing runs on the belief that such a crazy, necessary thing like art can exist freely on its own merit in a space that recognizes it for exactly what it is The works do not come with a long list of labels stuck on them like a rap sheet and even if they do, that is not the point here, maybe the point here is the same basic kindness of trust. Just like that, a thought, a dream, an obsession is made concrete, canvas and clay—like an organ in a house that beats for the art and those beautifully doomed to create and fall in love with them. P.S. I cannot think of a more fitting name for the place. Here, all the colours come together to make something truly simple, bold and beautiful. Kaalo.101.

TEXT BY SANKET SHRESTHA

#definitelynotawhitecube We are a transcultural artists’ collective called Kaalo.101. Our mission is to create an open, noncommercial, free and creative space to work, experiment, exhibit and discuss. We are a mixture between a gallery, work space and creative hangout, which is all based in a traditional Newari building in Nagbahal, Patan. We feel a safe, diverse and connective community between both global/local and traditional/contemporary ideas is what Kathmandu needs, and we believe in establishing these connections through art.

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INKSOUL PUNE TATTOO

FESTIVAL 2017 H U G E I N S I Z E , V I B R A N T I N E N E R GY Our friends at Kings Tattoo Supply from India have been striving really hard with their first tattoo convention project, Inksoul Tattoo Festival. Last year, we had a great time at the fest, tattooing lots and lots of people, and treating ourselves to the fantastic Pune breezy weather… Ronak Patel and co. have been organizing one of India’s premier tattoo shows, Inksoul Pune Tattoo Festival for two years now. Next month will witness their third edition. Last year, we were a part of the fest, and had a truly gala time tattooing, and hanging out with our friends and family from India. Our travelling team from Nepal included John Ma, Binay Gurung, Rajan Maharjan and Kamal Dulal. Our friends from Tattoo Cultr also joined us in Pune. It was probably one of the biggest public turnout for a tattoo gathering of any sorts

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in India till date. Even in a spacey, atmospheric venue like Raga Lawns, it felt packed. Every artist, more or less, had so many walk-ins to take care off that they ended up turning down more people than tattooing. Our brother, Rajan Mah’rjan of Razone Tattoo had to say NO to around 11 people who wanted to get tattooed by him. That is unforeseen in India, I guess. And it was not just tattoos that the wonderful Puneris had to treat their eyes to, over the course of three days. Some Pune’s most popular bands put up scintillating performances every evening, and enjoyed some serious head-banging response. From The Disciples of Old Monk to Adamantium to Balalaikaa, they were tight, energetic and crowd pullers.Tattoos and music came packed with versatile food court, a skate arena, a huge flea market, and some mean Harley Davidson motorcycles to oggle at. It was a 360 degree lifestyle convention, actually. While entertainment was the name of the game at PTF 2017, it was still primarily an artistic affair. From John Ma & Binay Gurung’s impromptu tattooing to Mangesh Rane’s crazy colour work to Amey Acharya’s abstract originality, the tattooing floor was lit with mesmerising art works. Pune Tattoo Festival 2017 was huge in size, and hopefully that there is a trend setter. Hopefully, all the conventions host such tremendous crowds, and treat them to such an amazing time as Ronak and co. did. If yes, then Indian tattooing is going for the stars. If not, we are still going for the stars.

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We all carry the memories of our ancestors. In our upbringing, in our values, in our societies, in our thoughts and even in our DNA.With the evolution of man, culture has also evolved to become an intimately woven part of modern man. As we became humans, we learned to express ourselves, no matter what point of time in history we were. Prehistoric cave paintings are a testament to this fact. Archeological finds, long gone civilisations, books, paintings, food, clothing, languageeverything we know about our ancestors are living examples of the evolution of culture and traditions and how they have shaped us into being who we are today. Tattooing is one of the most ancient practices found all over the globe. All the work done by anthropologists and researchers around tattoos has shown that this art form was used for various purposes, one of the most common being identity. Being a visual mark on the body, individuals have used tattoos extensively to announce and claim their identity. Tribes and communities have used tattoos not only as jewellery, but also for magical, religious and socio-cultural aspects. Tattoos are also found in almost all indigenous tribes and India is known to have the largest number of tattooed tribes. But this is a fast disappearing art form and a dying traditional practice that we are losing. In most of the places, with the death of eldest members of the tribe, this practice will also be lost forever. When I got my first visible tattoo almost 13 years back, I didn’t do it to get attention or to represent myself as a rebel. But the reactions I got from everyone around me, put me in boxes defined by those two reasons. I had never thought of tattoos as a western or an alien concept. Growing up in the northern states of the country, small motifs of Om or a misspelt name tattooed on the arm were common sights for me. The only difference in my tattoos and the ones I saw in my childhood

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was the design aspect. Until I got my first tattoo from a professional tattoo artist, even the process of getting a tattoo for me was exactly the same as the one which were traditionally done- needle, ink and hand poke. As I started collecting more ink, I came face to face with an intriguing dichotomy. Traditionally, tattooing has been an integral part of almost all tribes and communities in India. But in the cities, it has been linked directly to a western influence and a ‘non-Indian’ practice. I have been told in a number of occasions that ‘this is not a part of our culture.’ Agreed that the method and the art form that we see in the cities is a borrowed process from the West, but the concept and the idea is rooted in our traditional spaces as well. To understand this dichotomy, I started researching on the subject, just to understand this divide in an art form when it shifts from a traditional space to an urban set up. The first thing I found out is the lack of documentation on this subject matter. There is no collated data or information on these tribes and this particular practice. As I started digging around, talking to researchers, people in government offices, tattoo artists, people with traditional tattoos, one thing became very clearthe practice of tattooing in the tribes and communities was seen as a given and no work had been done to preserve this art form in its purest and most organic nature. I started traveling to the interiors in various corners of the country to try and find out the folklores and stories linked with this rich heritage.

THE LANGUAGE OF

OUR SKIN F

or our cover story of this edition of Nepal Inked Magazine, we decided to go back to our roots of this art form and culture that has enabled us to live a life, expressive and emotive of our personalities and social backgrounds, on our skins. Our comrade, Shatabdi Chakrabarti shares anecdotes and the reasons for her years of research and documentation of our ancient tattoo traditions, which might soon be lost in the sands of time.

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There is no written documentation of these stories and the reasons why tattooing is so important in these spaces. Most of it is hearsay. But the way these stories are connected to the people and the way they connect people across geographical and cultural lines, has made me realize that there must be some amount of truth in them. The one question I ask is why do they tattoo. And the most common answer I have got, whether its in a village in Uttar Pradesh or a tribe in Central India, is that the ink is the only earthly possession that you carry with you in your afterlife. In effect, the tattoo becomes a mark, a physical proof that one has lived the life of a human on earth.

when they are as young as 8-10 years old. As they grow older and reach puberty, the tattoos also increase. Marriage and motherhood become other milestones in a woman’s life to get specific motifs and specific body parts tattooed. For example, the Biaga women tattoo their neck and breasts only after they have given birth. They tattoo their thighs post marriage, on request from the husband. If a woman is not tattooed before marriage, she has to bear the taunts of the in-laws which amount to a reference to the girl’s family’s inability to provide a little bit of ink to their daughter. In many places, the woman will have one motif on the left hand before marriage and another motif will be tattooed on the right arm post marriage. So the tattoo on the left arm represents what she got from her maternal house and the one of the right represents her new family.

Another interesting aspect I learnt is that in most of the tribes, it’s the women who are heavily tattooed. They consider the tattoos to be their visual identity of belonging to that particular tribe or community. The tattoos also represent permanent jewellery and in tribes like the Mers, Rabaris and the Baigas, women consider tattoos to enhance their physical beauty. The practice is so engrained in these spaces that when I asked some of the men what they think of a woman’s body without ink, their response was that they don’t look as beautiful as they would with tattoos. The girls are first tattooed

Tattoos have also been used for religious purposes in certain spaces. The Ramnami community in Chattisgarh is one such example. They tattoo their entire bodies with a continuous RamRamRam in Devanagiri script. Its not mandatory for all members of this community to get the whole body tattooed, and most of the younger generation only has a single line of RamRamRam on their arm. However, I was lucky enough to meet the last remaining members whose bodies look like an extension of the shawl they wear, which also has RamRamRam printed on it. They don’t call it tattooing, rather believe that they write the name of God. The lettering almost forms rows and rows of inked necklaces covering the body with one name. The common folklore

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surrounding the Ramnamis is that they started tattooing Lord Ram’s name on their bodies to rebel against the upper caste Brahmins who wouldn’t allow them to enter the temple. But the other story told by the community head is that one of their ancestors had a vision where Lord Ram asked him to spread His name far and wide. The ancestor thought that his body can become the canvas to write the Lord’s name and people will be able to read it wherever he travels. And hence the practice began. The oral history around the facial tattoos and the nose plugs of the Apatani women of Arunachal Pradesh has a rather bizarre explanation. The story goes on to say that the women of the tribe used to be the prettiest in the region and that would lead to their kidnappings by men from the rival tribes. So in order to make the women look unappealing and ugly, the elders decided to tattoo their faces and also insert wooden plugs into their noses. But the women I met, also stressed upon the fact that the nose plugs and the tattoos are what makes them an Apatani woman. Whatever the real story is, these women wear these markings with pride. The practice was banned by the government in the 1970s and now only the last two generations remain

who still bear the visual identity of being an Apatani woman. I have met women in small towns, cities and even in big metros like Delhi and Mumbai who all have the same idea of identity with their tattoos. A woman selling candles outside a church in Mumbai had 5 stick figures tattooed on her arm. When I asked the meaning, she said that she and her 4 sisters all have the same tattoo, each figure representing a each one of them. The tattoo bears testimony to their life on earth and will help them reunite in the afterlife as they will be able to recognize the tattoo. Another woman, an aging teacher in a small village near Pune with a crude symbol of a tree said that it represents the Ashok Vatika where Sita was kept by Ravan. Having the tattoo makes her aspire to be a dutiful and loyal wife like Sita was. In parts of Deccan India, women have motifs that represent piousness and protection, which they link directly with their role as the mother and caretaker of the household. There are numerous stories and their numerous interpretations of this art form strewn across the country. To find such strong bonds between womanhood and tattoos in majority of the tribes, my own tattoos became a tool for me to connect with these women. In many spaces, language was a huge barrier, but pointing at each other’s tattoos, tracing the ink on our skin, for a moment, I became a part of a larger community with a shared language and a shared memory. The language and memory of skin. N EPA L IN K ED

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HEARTWORK TATTOO

FESTIVAL 2017 I N D I A’ S F L A G S H I P C O N V E N T I O N It’s always a pleasure to be a part of Sameer and Lokesh’s HTF, and the last edition was no different. After all, some art therapy on skin is probably the best way to not complain about Delhi’s air pollution levels during winters. Graced by legends like Jeff Gogue, and serious talents like Steve Butcher, the 2017 edition of HTF was a treat for tattoo lovers…

was first buy a clinical mask from a medical store, score some of the finest cream Delhi has to offer, and reach our first pit stop: Devil’zTattooz in GK I. The moment we stepped foot in Devil’z, we could see part of our tattoo family already stationed there, and having a gala time. While some shared stories and uploaded few more on Instagram, others were mostly engrossed by what was happening in the primary tattooing chamber of the studio. The inimitable Jeff Gogue was in action, tattooing one of India’s top artists and a very good friend, Alex Shimray. Aaaand, it was a sight to behold. While the rest of the studio already started the party, this man was unfazed by everything that was happening around him.

Heartwork Tattoo Festival, hosted by India’s pioneer tattooers, LokeshVerma and Sameer Patange is India’s flagship tattoo convention. We have been a regular at this convention since its first edition, and in their 2017 edition, art took precedence over everything else. Much like how it should be with tattoo conventions.

LOUD MUSIC – No Problem CAMERA FLASHES ON HIS FACE – No Problem People entering tattooing area – No Problem

Heartwork Tattoo Festival 3.0 promised to be the biggest gathering of worldclass tattooing talent in India, till date, and it delivered. For a week, we were in the midst of a fine bunch of tattooing craftsmen. Art of all forms, shapes and dimensions was flowing all around. Delhi’s air pollution levels were very poor, as the electronic boards outside the airport announced, but all we had to do to ensure a mind-widening weekend

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The tattooing community assembled in Delhi by 30th November, and we were all bustling with energy by the morning of 1st December; Day 1 of Heartwork Tattoo Festival 2017. The venue was the same as the last two years, but seemed even bigger this time round. By the end of Day 3, my legs were telling a very sore story. I wonder how the organisers battled the feet blues… Heartwork is known to attract intelligent artists and crowds alike. Some of India’s most serious tattoo collectors always make it a point to get inked at HTF, and this year was no different. We saw quite a few full back tattoos, full sleeves, half leg sleeves and much more. The likes of StepanNegur and Derek Dereksan were in extra demand, as their black and grey bio-organica has found some serious takers in India. Similar was the scenario with the realism genius of Randy Engelhard and Steve Butcher as well. Randy is seriously fast. He finished a realistic black and grey half sleeve tattoo in about 4.5-5 hours flat. And, Steve is unbelievably precise. When it comes to rendering an image on skin, there might be very very few better than Steve Butcher. For realism collectors, they also had the glorious opportunity of witnessing David Vega at work.

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That guy is some another level of smoothness. Known for his portraits, I saw him doing one, and you have to see it to believe it. And it wasnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t just the visiting American or European artists who were amazing us with their work. The Indian artists were the real show stealers. Kolkataâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s PalzorLepcha was probably a personal favourite with his collaboration (with Kabir Ray) back piece. It was simple, contrasting, vivid and legible from 30 feet away. All in all, what a solid tattoo. It was actually a relief to see that tattooing was the primary attraction at a tattoo convention. Of late, with the idea of tattoo festivals taking over, we are at times left searching for technically good tattoo conventions. This was the perfect example. A breezy crowd. Lots of good tattoos. And a chilled out atmosphere. Add the Delhi winter to that, and we were close to being PERFECT.

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JEFF GOGUE An INTROSPECTON to figure out the why of ART & LIFE

In December 2017, our editor, Shubham Nag sat across the table with Jeff Gogue at the 3rd Intl. Heartwork Tattoo Festival, to know a little more about the man behind the brand that is Gogue Art. In this tell-all conversation, Jeff looks at the core of his understanding of tattoos and tattooing, and breaks the narrative down in what is probably the most important tattoo conversation on record of our times.

Shubham (S): I must start off this interview with asking you what is your perception of tattoos when you started out and now? Do you see any change in how you perceive tattoos as an art form or a way of life for you? Jeff (J): Yeah, when I started out I just saw tattoos as little things that people put on little parts of their body. So, I would find magazines at the store and I wouldn’t read the articles, I wouldn’t look at anything besides at the back, you know, at the readers’ gallery or the artists’ gallery and I would see… I would look for the little tattoos. And they were the only ones that I could understand, you know, someone gets a little thing somewhere on them, like on their arm and because I could understand that, that’s what I wanted to do. As I understood that and could do that, then I would look further down the road and I would see a little bit bigger tattoos. And I remember thinking at one point something like this big, like the whole inside of your arm was so big and such an epic… and such a huge commitment. And now I don’t see any part or any thing, I just see the person, and there is a big jump from there, you know. There is a big jump from the little thing on the little part to just working with the whole person. And so it could be even just their body and the type of body they have, or the type of personality they have; it could be filling in what’s left because they have other tattoos, or it could be just putting the perfect thing somewhere on them that represents kind of who they are; but it’s always the whole person now. That’s difficult to explain because everyone, I would say, everyone see parts, you know, like you and I; I don’t see myself as a whole, I look down at my parts. I have a hand and an arm, a neck and a leg, so I think of the parts I am gonna put a tattoo on, this part, or this part, or this part; but even a big part, like my whole back or my whole front, is still a part. S: Absolutely. And do you think in many dimensions the idea of the part and the whole can stretch out over, like you have been tattooing so many people, so many different types of characters, different types of personalities, different types of shapes and sizes, of course. Do you think that different parts as different humans form a bigger narrative of the journey that you are transcending right now? J: Yeah, for sure. I mean it doesn’t… it doesn’t feel like really many people understand that, but I know that there is that understanding kinda throughout. You just never know who understands it and who doesn’t, and I guess it doesn’t matter. Yeah, the tattoos that I am making are because of the tattoos that have already been made; it’s because of those I am able to make these. And then because of the tattoos that I make that will go away like when people die… because of those the tattoos that I am making, other tattoos will be made. So I would see me just as one little part along that narrative, as you say, and that makes me feel good. S: And when it comes down to you working, there is a school of thought that stresses on the technical side of tattooing, and there is a school of thought that stresses more on the conceptual side of the art form; there are different branches to it. When it comes to the technical side of your tattooing, do you like keeping it ambiguous in nature, or are you very definite about how you go about tattooing? J: I love your questions, they are good.

S: Thank you. J: I do like them to be ambiguous because there are subtleties that are going on in the way that I am attempting to tattoo, that are difficult to put into words, so they can only be understood by people who understand them. So by definition, that’s esoteric. Some people that care about only the end result and it looking like this, so there is… they are rendering what already is somewhere else. You know, there is a picture, and they are rendering that picture. So they are looking at that picture, and they are transposing it onto this person as accurate as possible, so that it looks as close as possible to the original. The way I tattoo, I have set that technique aside, and I am trying to make an original, not a rendering of another original. So when I pull a line, I want it to come from within me; I want it to be the original shape or the original thing. So, I don’t understand very much, but the little that I understand is taking little pieces of other things, like I have taken a little bit of tai chi, and I understand tai chi to be an energy that’s in me but I am also in it. And so, when I go like this on a person and I am making a line that is gonna outline a leaf or part of a wave, I try to, I want it to come from within me, and then it comes out through that movement, and so it comes from movement and it comes from intention. So, I push the skin down. The technical part of that type of tattooing is I push the skin down which prepares it to receive that energy and then it wells up in me, and then it comes to my mind and my intention, and then I try to make it natural. So I push in and I move through it. So it’s like martial arts and… How do you explain that to your client like if they want it to look like a picture. (laughs) S: How would you even begin that conversation... J: You know, so you just go, “Well, if you wanna be tattooed by me, I am gonna be the best that I can”.

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S: Absolutely. And you have been tattooing for a long time, almost close to two decades. During this time, you have travelled to a whole lot of places, you have seen and experienced a lot of cultures, tattooing cultures around the world. How do you think the general psyche towards tattoos has evolved during this time? J: I think tattooing as a whole is up there, so it’s a realm that we, all the people that are working at tattooing, we are all down here, and we can’t even really see that it just covers us. So if you are doing it as your job and if you are doing it to make money and to be popular, then you are operating just down here. I think that the general psyche is from this low place where you are tapping into it, but you are tapping in to taking something from it, like I am gonna get money, I am gonna get recognition, or popularity, or whatever, we could use a lot of different words. But it’s just because I recognize that there is something bigger, but the bigger thing is ancient. So the bigger part of tattooing transcends all cultures and all languages and all time, so it spans every generation it’s ever been; they’ve all done it. And so we are just this tiny little part. We are just in this one little like burst of energy which is popular and we have technology and so we can see it everywhere; we have all these tools and we have all these things, but that’s only just so people can take something from it. There are people who are tattooing now and have always tattooed that they grow past that and start giving back to it. And the more you give to tattooing as its own and as a culture and throughout that history, then you don’t need to worry about what you get from it because you get more than you need. You get more, you don’t need to worry about money, or people who know who you are, or anything. You have more than you need, and so it does become that thing where you give more to it, the more you get.

S: I don’t know exactly how to put this question, but like, tattooing is looked upon historically as probably the first form of language, from the time of scribbling on the cave walls, right from our ancient ancestors, you know. It has been there before we had verbal language or a written language. I mean, how do you look at tattoos? Do you look at tattoos as an art form, or do you look at tattoos as a way of life, or an amalgamation of all of it? J: Man you are amazing! S: (laughs) J: I think that it’s all of those things for sure. A brand; we think of a brand as like a logo on your shoes or something, but I know a brand is to identify… um… belonging to someone or something, so branding is ancient, it’s been around for thousands of years. You are saying that this belongs to this, or this belongs to them, or however you wanna say it. So I do think that tattooing does brand us into a subculture of people, and then within that subculture, of course, there are all these different facets and all these different what we call styles. And they are all valid; there is no right or wrong in it, you know. I think tattooing a word across your face is crazy, but I am not in that group, I am not in that one facet of tattooing that tattoos words across their face. I am in the facet that, I am heavily tattooed but you can’t tell right now. And I like that, it’s not on my head, it’s not on my face. But yeah, it is all the things that you said, it is a language, it is an art form, and it is a way of life. The moment that you get tattooed, it puts you in a different category than the people who are not tattooed. And because you are not tattooed is not bad or wrong, and because you are tattooed you not better or worse. It’s just a decision that puts you in a different category, and now you’ve been through something that the people who aren’t tattooed haven’t been through. So now you have chosen to experience something that some people haven’t experienced, because you’ve already experienced not being tattooed and now you are tattooed. The people who are not tattooed have also experienced not being tattooed, they just don’t understand being tattooed. And then within that there are levels of it, you know. How deep do you wanna go to have a small tattoo, or more than one, or a lot of tattoos, or a big tattoo, or fully tattooed? And those are all different levels of that commitment to experiencing something that other people haven’t experienced. Just as like going skydiving; everyone knows what it’s like to not jump out of an airplane, some people know what it’s like to jump out of an airplane. And then some people know what it’s like to die doing that, and no one that we know knows that because they are all dead. So it’s just all these levels. That might have been a weird analogy but…

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S: Yeah. That was crazy. Moving on, I have had these conversations with a lot of tattoo artists where being freehanded, being impromptu about the tattooing process without being prepared for it, a lot of tattoo artists, a lot of clients, a lot of people find a lot of joy in that unpreparedness of going about something that is going to be there for the rest of their lives. I mean, how do you look at that whole… It’s like a drama… J: It’s exhilarating, it’s fun, it’s improve, you know. So it’s no different than the comedian that gets on the stage and does his act, and does it flawlessly because he or she knows what makes people laugh. And they know their timing, they practised it, and they are, you would say, perfect at it. It’s that sensation of giving up and it’s letting go of everything, and falling off a cliff backwards and not knowing what’s going to happen. There is something more exhilarating about that. I mean, I think that honing your skills, honing your craft to where you are precise. It has a certain sense of satisfaction and you can work on it and you can keep refining it, until you are just, what would be looked at as flawless. And then there is improvising. But improvising is… you are not just guessing, you are still accumulating, or you are still expressing the accumulation of everything you have ever experienced. So all the lessons that you have learned from all the mistakes that you have made doing that one thing that you have done, say in tattooing. You have tattooed for however many years, you are accumulating all those experiences and all the things that you have learned into that moment, and then you are finding out what that accumulation produces. S: It is a great point that you mentioned because like our accumulation of different experiences that we have as a human in our life, the places we travel to, the people we interact with, they form such core fundamentals within us which sort of subconsciously or consciously guide us in whatever we are doing. I mean, today you are doing a tattoo, a poet is writing down a verse, I mean, a lot of people are doing a lot of things which are guided by the experiences that they have. In that sense, or in that form what do you think is the home of your tattooing? I mean, where does the home of your tattooing lie… because it’s such varied cultures mixing with each other. You come from Quincy, California, to experiencing so much of Japan, other parts of the world, the impact it has left on your work, and what have you been able to bring from your own background and surroundings and traditions? J: I think that’s just exactly what it is, you know. I think that artistry is conveying what you understand about the world around you. So I can’t talk to you about the things that I don’t understand. I could tell you what I have heard about things that I don’t understand, and maybe it might be interesting but if I convey to you the things that I have experienced and I understand that’s going to probably have a lot more impact on you and it’s gonna come across with just more integrity and more effect on you. So that’s something I decided to do, I would say, within the last seven years, which is when I started going to Japan. So I kinda peaked in my intention to acquire things from tattooing, like recognition and whatever you wanna call it, certain sort of status and respect and those types of words. And then when I started going to Japan, there were certain things that would take probably too long to talk about, but certain things that happened that broke those intentions and they fell away. What was left was something different than I expected. What was left was just a desire to also break more of that away and just shed all of that. And so, it’s just this daily intention of letting go of stuff that is weighing me down, and so it comes down to not trying to make a picture, or not trying to make a style, it comes down to trying to make a movement through any part of the tattoo. So yeah, it gets, it gets difficult to explain… S: Like tattooing itself. J: Yeah. Yeah.

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S: This is probably my favourite question from the entire set. How would you describe, I mean, we always talk about balance, we always talk about the good and the bad. How would you describe the yin and yang of composing a tattoo design? J: I guess, I’ll describe as… it all comes down to exactly what that means. You know, what that is. There are so many different words that are used for that, but there is creation and destruction, there is masculine and feminine, there is giving and receiving. So it is a balance and balance is if you picture balance, it is a constant adjustment. You don’t find balance and stay there because the moment you find balance and stay there, you start to fall. So it’s always adjusting. So, as soon as you feel the weight starting to shift maybe a little darker then you shift a little bit more toward light, and when you do that once you start getting that flow, balance is easy because you understand the sensation of going off balance and then you pull it back. So just like riding a bike or surfing or anything else. So it’s just that, you know, when you are looking at a tattoo and if it’s going too dark, then I add something light to it. If it’s going too rugged and organic, then I add some smooth movement; if it’s going too smooth, I add texture. And those are things that I haven’t, up until now I haven’t been asked questions like that. You know, my clients don’t understand that at all. At the end of the tattoo, they just understand whether they like it or not. Some people like it, some people don’t, based on whatever their expectations were. So, the best client in the world is the client that has no expectations and that they just know they wanna be tattooed, they wanna surrender to the process, instead of saying like I wanna control how this looks, their biggest sensation of control is handing that over to the artist and saying, “I’ll be happy with whatever you give me”, which is not easy. I have tattoos that I am not happy with.

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S: True. And you know, like you brought up a very crucial point in the last answer as well of, you know, how we look at balance and masculine and feminine. Tattoo imagery has always had a very heterosexual way of explaining things, or a very heterosexual way of looking at different elements in different tattooing traditions also. Of course that is being broken down barrier by barrier; there are a lot of queer artists working across the States, across Europe, in this part of the world now as well. But whenever I have sort of looked at tattoos that you have done, the imagery that you create, it doesn’t lean towards a particular gender of design. Is that a conscious effort based on the personality of the person who is getting the tattoo? J: No, I don’t think so. I don’t know. I think I do shy away from overly aggressive masculine energy that makes things with sharp teeth and blood squirting on everywhere. I actually feel like I lean a little more towards the feminine than, I would say, in the middle. I kinda feel like I am more feminine than masculine. I do like things that are strong and I like things that are feminine. And as soon as I feel like I am going a little too far towards one or the other, I do pull it back in and still in an attempt to find balance. S: It’s very rare to find the combination of strong and feminine put together in tattoo imagery. Although it’s not something that’s not possible, I mean, the general associations are strong in masculine. J: Yeah, they are. And it’s funny that you mentioned it because I interviewed Shige for a short film that we worked on called ‘Surrender’, which is coming out soon. In the interview this part isn’t in the film because it was just cut, but he talked about the reason why he was even attracted to me in the first place; he invited me to Japan and I didn’t pursue him or anything like that. I actually was intimidated by him and I was actually competitive. And I felt threatened by Shige because we were both similar age and we were working the same shows and I was trying to beat him, basically. He was attracted to my work and I didn’t know this until, honestly, last year. He explained that what he liked about my work was that it wasn’t, in his words, in his English he said it wasn’t crazy. And I said, “What do you mean?” and he said crazy like ‘grrwaaa’, you know like sharp fangs and crazy eyes and just that aggression, monsters and demons and even though I have done plenty of that, I have also done lots of feminine things. I like shapes and I do think that a curved shape is feminine and a straight shape is masculine, and I think that thick broad lines are masculine and thin delicate lines are feminine. But I think that they both have their place anywhere. And it was interesting to hear him say that that’s why he liked me. It was because what I did was pretty or beautiful, not just crazy, because he thinks that so many men do crazy, aggressive work, and so I got lucky.

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CHITIZ

Shrestha

NEPALI TATTOOING’S NEXT BIG THING

Mohan’s Tattoo Inn’s Chitiz Shrestha has made tremendous strides in his young tattooing career so far. He has a vast portfolio to back his skills, and learning is the name of the game for him. We had a brief chat with him… Why tattooing? Why not anything else? When you can tattoo, why anything else. What was your idea of tattoos before you became an artist, and how has that idea changed over time? When I was a child, like any other kid I used to think that Tattoo was an expression of being cool, which mostly junkies did. I thought that tattoowas a simple form of art, but as I am more involved in it now, I’ve realized that there are so many styles and a lot of room for creativity. Which style of tattoos interest you the most? Realistic tattoos and black work are the ones that I am most interested in. Who is your dream artist that you wanna get tattooed by? There are a lot of artist that I idolize, but think it has to be Shree Kisi dai that I want to get tattooed from. Three artists who you think are changing South Asian tattoo standards? In my view, John dai, Binay dai from Nepal and Yogi dai from India.

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Apart from tattooing, do you invest time in other art forms? Actually, I am usually busy on tattooing, but whenever I get some free time, I do sketch and play with oil colors. What are your future plans as a tattoo artist? So far, I havenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t thought about it but I would love to travel and attend Tattoo conventions around the world.

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Co-existence IS THE ONLY WAY

FORWARD GLIMPSES OF A SCENE

POWERED BY HAUL APPAREL Haul Apparel is a lifestyle clothing brand that supports and encourages the many different subcultures found in India & Nepal. These subcultures consist of many individuals that have their own styles & designs. It is these kinds of people that have a significant influence on major aspects of fashion around the world. Over the last few years of our operation in the Indian subcontinent, we have accumulated some first-hand experience of the cross pollination of these subcultures.

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As a brand, we are here to showcase the style and aesthetic that arises from these creative communities. We believe each of them have the potential to have a significant influence in our growing Indian society, if supported and showcased the right way. Some examples of the subcultures we support are Street Art/ Graffiti, Music, Skateboarding, Tattoo Art, Surfing & Downhill Mountain Biking. These are just some of the few subcultures that we believe promote the lifestyle and attitude that we love. And our experiences with these scenes has always reiterated this feeling inside us â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Create Possibilities where none exist.

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ZEN

Joshi

FINDING NUANCE IN EVERYTHING AROUND Zen Joshi is another one of Nepal’s ones to watch out for. He hasn’t been tattooing for long, and is quick to grasp new techniques and learn new forms every day. He believes in the disciplined habit of drawing, and that opens up his mind to everything around him. Rishav Khatri chatted up with him to know more… What aspect of tattooing draws you into it? I guess it’s the culture and the process. How important it is for a tattoo artist to balance between drawing and tattooing? For me, both are important because they reflect the visions and personality of the artist. You draw more, you become better, and when you become better you can produce better designs for tattooing. What inspires you the most to create your art? It’s everything. All the surroundings reflect the inspiration for me. What type of work do you prefer to do? Why? I like all kinds of styles in tattooing because all of them represent their own nature & beauty. But I prefer more to do ornaments, specially bringing them up with the natural elements that can be anything that surrounds me with a strong beauty and a positive vibe.

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What is your view on the tattooing scene of Nepal? I find it quite positive. It has been growing in a strong form and process. Especially with the place and artists, we can find a lot of inspiration &influence, which can help us to make the scene better and strong. How has your journey been till now? It has been an amazing journey till now, because I have come to find out so many things that I didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know about. I had these great opportunities to work with so many artists from all over the world and get to know the process of tattooing in a better perspective. Where do you see yourself in the coming years? Well, I donâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t know much about this thing because I havenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t thought much about it. I have been spending most of my time in drawing and tattooing so I will just stay positive and focused on my work, and hopefully I will be in some better place in the coming years. Any projects you are into apart from tattooing? I am just into tattooing at the moment, and trying to work on some larger paintings.

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Hailing from the land of trash polka, Guido Schmitz isn’t another run-of-the-mill tattoo artist looking to earn just a big name. A fidgety character who likes experimenting for the essence of experimentation, and not just for the sake of it, Guido has quickly established himself as one of the leading abstract tattooers of the current generation. Shubham Nag caught up with him to know more…

GUIDO

SCHMITZ The Process of ABSTRACTION

What led to tattooing for you? From a very young age, I found a growing fascination for tattoos and tattoo art and finally got started to get myself tattooed quite early. Unfortunately, this was no career choice during my then current situation, since hardly anybody trained as comprehensively as today, and if they did, quite a lot of money was required - besides the fact that even in the first about three years, you do not earn any money. So I reoriented and in search of a creative craft, I ended up training as a sculptor and stonemason, which I completed and then worked for a few more years as a sculptor. After a while, it started to be time for something new and so I bought myself a tattoo machine and just started to tattoo friends, and of course myself. Finally, put all one’s eggs in one basket and quit my job as a stonemason and sculptor and moved for personal reasons from Eifel in southern Germany to Kassel in northern Germany. I scoured all studios to find a place in a shop - but not to “train” or apprentice, just to have a place to work and learn. After a few years in shops and a lot of traveling for guestspots and conventions in Germany and worldwide, I finally opened my own private studio here in Kassel in September 2017.

You grew up in the birth place of trash polka. Can you tell us more about the subculture that has bred trash polka? While I cannot encompass a general definition or a bigger picture, but I can share what my ideas of trash polka are, and what is expresses for me. My personal background is dominated by punk and hardcore, a preference for collage style and in this context also the creation of concert flyers (yes, I had a band, once). I have become aware of tattoos in this style through Buena Vista Tattoo - Volko Merschky and Simone Pfaff, who also gave this style it is name. Of course, they are two of my big idols in the tattoo scene and their work has inspired me to want to get into this direction of tattooing. While trash polka defies all boundaries of tattoo fundamentals in many ways, it also signifies a fact about tattoos that dates back to Egyptian civilisations, i.e. red and black ink are the only pigments that truly stay on skin. And you have personalised this brand of red and black trash polka... what are your thoughts? Oh wow! I have to admit, I did not know that. I guess I need a bit of catching up .. ups. For me, these two colors simply have the highest contrast (on skin) that you can achieve, and the effect of the interaction is great. Red for example is used in many countries as “the” color of warningand prohibition signs and for me this association depends… In my opinion, the combination of black, red and (released) skin to work with (I usually use white only as a highlight) makes tattoos very lasting.

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Tattooing, in today’s date, is many things. From a life culture perspective, where/how do you see tattoos? First of all... I think it can still be everything :) Of course today, not only prison inmates, gangs and different cultures are wearing tattoos, but over the years I have accumulated the experience (especially through my clients) that tattoos truly can tend to be and mean anything and everything for the respective wearer. A Lifestyle object and something what’s in a scene, a memory, a coping, a reward, a body cult, a trend, a passion for collecting, an expression of an experience, an opinion or simply art on skin… However, if you mean my personal point of view from the other side of the needle, for me it is the greatest possible artistic development. I work on and with skin, with an individual who provides me with their trust and a part of their body, and hopefully proudly takes this shared art into the grave. I am simply overwhelmed by the trust that has been placed in me, the size of some of my works I am able to do, the great ideas of my customers and their openness for the designs I create for them. Apart from tattooing, how are keeping yourself occupied these days? In addition to “normal” commissioned work, I have learned to model, pour down and sculpt sculptures in stone. Unfortunately, I am currently lacking the space and materials for this passion, so I stick to canvases - or wood prints, when I have the time besides tattooing, designing and traveling. We know that different styles of tattooing embody different personalities of tastes and ideas. What kind of a headspace do you associate with trash polka? Phew, I have a really well mixed crowd of customers. That’s great and very varied. People collect art, people process things or reward themselves or want to perpetuate an opinion or passion on their body. What they all have in common, they are very very open minded in the implementation of their motives. That’s so great and important for me, because that way I can truly work and contribute my part, my creativity, my thoughts, and my way of art.

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You have done few conventions in South Asia now. What are the stark differences you notice back home and here? The very first thing I noticed on my first show in Goa 2017 (thank you, Martin!) - a really huge interest, open minded people and hospitality. It was a lot of fun and an incredible time (I stayed for some holiday after the show) and that’s why the Goa Tattoo Festival got a lovely spot for me again in 2018, then Bangkok, then Nepal - all really great shows and wonderful people! * lovely mode out * ;) Okay, things all take a bit longer. The mentality is totally unlike ours - we are said to be absolutely punctual and all the other stuff what goes around about the Germans, so yes - you have to get used to it. For example, waiting until a printer is working, accepting power failures with a smile, be able and enjoy to work barefoot, watch your tattoo balm when it flows from the table... But hey, I like that and there can be worse things to deal with and I have been also a Asia Traveller before it :)

Germany is home to some of most radical tattoo artists of today’s times. How would you describe the atmosphere that is making so much room for progressive tattooing to happen? I think, to answer this question, I first have to spread out a big Thank you to all my current clients, future clients and all the tattoo enthusiasts in the whole world! Because without you, this question would be totally useless. You are in the mood, we are in the mood and the more you want to get tattooed, the more open minded you are, the more of art you want, the growing trust you place in your artist - that is it! - the more we can develop ourselves. THANK YOU!

But beyond that, I can say that hygienic standards were kept to the best of knowledge and current ability. Like on all the other shows everywhere, everything you need to tattoo was provided and somebody took care.

Further, I think it’s a growing interaction of customers and tattoo artists and definitely increased possibilities about what is possible in tattooing, what mind blowing artists create all the time and show to the world. We got high quality materials to work with, from new machines and awesome colors to great aftercare products and needles. So, the whole thing around helps us just to have time to create and try to tattoo some stunning pieces.

Due to the fact that I made some great friends on my journey, I also visited a few tattoo shops and got the same to see. Clean shops with everything provided to tattoo in a hygienic way. But nothing helps, if the electricity went down :D

Besides this, conventions, traveling and definitely staying connected, exchange and working alongside with other artists helps me personally a lot! And I really enjoy it :)

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01-4700108

Inkâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Inc. Inksinctattoo.nepal inksinc.np@gmail.com

GUY LE TATOOER

A citizen of the free WORLD

What is tattooing to you? Is it a form of art culture or something beyond that? Hahahahaha!!! Tattooing for me is the best question! It could be my best lover, my best party, a beautiful sex night with a beautiful stranger, my never ex, my always the best, the thing that saved my life, the thing that makes me happy, the thing I miss, the thing I can’t stop, the thing I’ll never understand but I’ll try forever, my best friend, my parents, my home, my day, my night. There is nothing on earth that can be comparable to the feeling I can get when I tattoo, the power of it, the energy form from it, the physical human touch in its best beautiful power, my heroin, my only addiction and the only thing that never disappoints me. I could never survive in this modern world without our ancient art. But for sure, tattooing is way more than just sticking a drawing on people to make it simple. It’s the only way to show your true you. The only way to be who you are! And to stop pretending, you see tattoos probably all the same, every day, years after years. But do you really see difference in it anymore?? No!!!!

It is difficult to encapsulate the energy of Guy Le Tatooer in mere words. His spirit is free, but speaks of a lived life. His art stems from understanding that only comes from true experiences. His ideas stem from introspection, and his strokes are just miniscule expressions of the questioning and finding the self. In a conversation that spreads across the table, from tattooing to finding meaning in life, and denouncing the same, our editor, Shubham Nag felt truly elevated on reading Guy’s answers to his questions. Take your time with this one…

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Not a lot of people get that unfortunately these days, but I believe our real tribe stays strong, far from the commercial art of tattooing. And go back to the roots of the ritual. The ritual is a strong word for some readers probably. So, let’s talk about the experience instead. The experience to find yourself or represent who you are in this world. That’s it! As soon as you get it, you get all. After that, nothing matters...

Your tattooing has a lot of culture reference points, and you call it ‘intemporal’. Can you explain what you mean by that term? Intemporality is the total opposite of what the world wants at the moment. That’s why I like to use this word. I use this word because intemporality is the total opposite of fashion, what they call “style” now. What is a style when you talk about tattoos? It’s two complete different words who can’t go together. Tattoos and fashion and even less style! What does that even mean?? A style!!! When we talk about tattoos, tattooing is a projection of yourself. It’s an art form of your self. No one can choose what you can look like. I heard some tattooers say, “Oh, I did… well the guy wanted that, and I sold him another thing I wanted to do more in my style.” Do you think this is about tattoos we talk about or someone who is selling a shirt in a supermarket?? I don’t believe in new when we talk about tattoos. Tattoos have to get this thing, this power, this placement, this thing that makes you look powerful and stronger. A thing of beauty for girls, a warrior sign for men. It has been the main idea since time immemorial. Or, even the other way round. You can be who you are or become who you want. But, because we know tattoos are permanent, you can’t go wrong. So, the idea of the intemporality is the representation of yourself for your whole life at its maximum. Of course, we change, we grow up, and that’s where the ideas of layers come from. But at least in my ideas, I try my best to give to people what they want or need until the end. To make them beautiful, stronger or whatever they want. BUT WHAT THEY WANT!!! Not what I want. And, this is the big difference of it. Anyway, to explain that properly could take a full book, so I’m gonna stop on that note. There is no style with tattooing. It’s just coming deep from your heart in connection with others. The rest is just manipulations of mediums to make people trendy or even worst to hide the fact that they have no technical aspect of tattooing.Or even worse, no feeling of it or no heart with it.

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Do you think as an artist, traveling now remains the only way to make new, and nurture existing real relationships with people? I never said I was an artist! I don’t even know what I am. Don’t even know really why I have this feeling with tattooing. But after 20 years of doing it, the only thing I know is I make people happy and it’s enough for me.The rest; who cares!!! Artist is just another label, as I said before. Style, artist is just some blahblah to me. You need to choose where your path is, and you deal with it. I like to see the smile on people’s faces after getting tattooed. I like to see them changing. I like to see them more comfortable with their own self. It’s why I’m living! This human connection, this respect, this love, this friendship! The atmospheric part of it. The magic! Traveling for me is just a way of living as I come from a gypsy family - Algerian deported after the war, hippies, bikers, tattooers; whatever is my parents’ background. All my friends are tattooing, my sister, my mother, my father, all of our tribe are completely capable to take a needle and do it! They understand the flow of it and the nature of it. For me this is what is tattooing, and of course, as a traveler, I connect with thousands of people. It’s just a way of living. I didn’t choose it, didn’t look for it. It’s just a way. To be honest, I would love to live somewhere, have a dog, a wife and a kid. And, I used to try, I guess, but that is just not the way I live. My way of living is my way, and I know it’s hard to be around me, but it’s who I am and it’s not a choice. As I’m turning 38, I start to understand my way better and yes, I love connections, be surrounded by beautiful souls, having good times and giving love. And it is tattooing that represents all of that to me in one word, and one world with no borders, no race. Just humans connecting through one common thing. Marking yourself and being part of the tribe. Our tribe!

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You have spent a lot of time tattooing in this part of the world, South and South East Asia. Any interesting anecdotes... Every day is an anecdote to me, that’s why people can’t stay around me for too long. My life is an anecdote. I am an anecdote. And, I used to be on drugs for so many years. Trust me, that shit gives you anecdotes until you become your own anecdote. I did the worst for myself as much as I did the best, and it’s my anecdote. Life is a story every day. It’s my way of living - good, bad, I don’t even know… The thing is I just live that way and I’ll continue anyway, ‘cause I’m who I am and I love stories, anecdotes… I know where I woke up, but not where I’m going to sleep at the moment, and I’m fine with that because it’s the only way for me to be happy. No plan isthe best plan, isn’t it? How important is it to dream, for you, personally? I never dream! It’s never really happening. But when it’s happening, it’s always for some really relevant situations or things which have to change. My last dream was in Nepal, actually! I had to change it all. I dreamt about a stone. I found it. And then, my life changed, not because of me, but because all had to change. Personally, yes, it’s important to go through ourselves in introspection. But not to find the one people around you try to convince you about. You need to find your real self; the one people don’t like, but who is just your true self. If people don’t like the projection of themselves onto you, that is another problem. And they should go more trough their own selves, instead of trying to change the world, because introspection is the key to our own reflection. If you know who you are, you get your dreams, I guess, because we just live every day in a dream made by ourselves...Nothing much. Are you someone who makes future plans? I don’t even know what that means! If I’m here tomorrow, it’s gonna be fine. If someone loves me tomorrow, it’s gonna be fine. If I die tomorrow, it’s still gonna be fine. I did enough to me already. Now, I’m just looking around and I just appreciate where I am, second after second. I really don’t need much right now. My life has been too chaotic trying to make plans in the past. But, I have realised I’m not that kind of Guy…

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One of the finest young tattooers in India, Raja Gopalan S has displayed a meteoric surge in his tattooing over the last two years, and is one of the best when it comes to dark illustrative tattooing.

RAJA GOPALAN S AKA METTLE INK

At your current stage of tattooing, what are you striving to express? The dark side of culture, by showing my perception of traditions, mythology and such. I’m working on bringing stories from my culture and roots into visuals that can be translated onto the skin. And when you look back at where you started, what do you think of the old you? I think I was just a curious child. When you draw, is there a destination that you are always trying to reach, or is it all just however it comes and goes? We learn something new every time we let loose, but I keep in mind the goal. It’s all about the process, for me. How do you think the general people look at tattoos in India, nowadays? Because there are such a large number of people here, there are always going to be different views of tattoos. However, it’s constantly changing, people are becoming more open-minded and looking at tattoos more now as a form of self-expression, rather than a trend.

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You deal with a lot of religious and ritualistic elements in your art. Where do these impressions stem from? India is full of it! From the experiences I had as a child growing up. Traveling has been a huge part of it as well, I learned to look at it in a different perspective! Meeting people from around the world and learning about their traditions helped me look at mine from a different perspective. Three artists on Instagram you would recommend following? Victor Chill, James Tex, Yogi Your most favourite machine till date Hard to choose just one, but my Vlad Blad has stood by me strong!! How has your Nepal Inked experience been all these years? It has been the most important part of my progress. Thanks to John Dai for organizing such an experience where learning and exchange of knowledge is the only intention. I now perceive tattoos in a different way, with more responsibility.

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