TATTOOIST INTERVIEWsqueeze out every penny possible, and spit it out
when it's lost all flavour. We are doomed. But I
digress. I can't help myself. To sum up, these
endless masses of sheep following this unfortunate
trend are the biggest curse I can think of.
A lot of tattooists we speak to say they
were drawn to the underground, gritty
side of tattooing. If you'd known that
tattooing would be as popular as it is
now, would you still have become a
tattooist?
In Poland where I come from, there was no tattoo
industry, no nothing, prior to say 1990, when the
Iron Curtain and the socialist paradise on earth
came crashing down. Nothing, zero, apart from
prison tattoos. To say it had humble beginnings is
an understatement. At that time, the situation
we're witnessing today was absolutely
inconceivable. I, too, am from the underground
school, the rebel tribe that never conforms. Would
I still have become a tattooist if I'd seen the
future? Probably yes, because no amount of
'popularity' will take away my own journey, or my
passion for tattooing. I still like to cling to my
illusions, more than I have the courage to admit.
But now that I've mentioned the topic of prison
tattoos, I just want to elaborate on this. One thing
I really and truly don't understand is fake prison
tattoos. I went to prison for a bit when I was 19
years old. I learned to handpoke there, and
witnessed the prison tattoo culture, its meaning
and code, the social structure. In my opinion,
there is no graver disrespect, or bigger mistake
one can make, than getting a fake prison tat for
the wrong reason. Like the epaulettes or whatnot.
If you're getting something like, that you're
making a fool of yourself at best and getting
yourself obliterated at worst, if you meet the
wrong people. And if you happen to go to prison
one day, as you do, then may the gods have
mercy on you. The plague of fake prison
wannabe badboys from middle class families has
been baffling me for a long time now. There. I
said it.What do you think are some of the most
inspiring things happening within
tattooing right now?
The fact that artists are now specialising in very
narrow stylistic niches, and exploring them like
there's no tomorrow. We're going to see great
progress this way. We're going to discover new
dimensions that I cannot even begin to imagine.