Austrian-based artist and illustrator Alice Wellinger finds inspiration in the “troubles of daily life and childhood memories.” To depict these confusing, conflicting, or just plain annoying thoughts and situations, she illustrates them as surreal paintings. The double-exposure effect is common in her work—a portrait of a person, for instance, is fused with faraway landscapes or fractured […]
Author: Sara Barnes
Spontaneity on the Skin: Sketchbook-Like Tattoos of Bk Tattooer
South Korean Bk Tattooer conveys graceful motion within their body art. Using short layered lines mimic the pages of a carefree sketchbook drawing and seem to float and flutter across the skin. This is thanks to Bk’s collaborative attitude. “Tattoo designs are affected by the clients,” they tell me in an email. “They give me the topic and […]
Illustrative Tattoos Design with Subtlety by Sollefe
Some tattoos are meant as statement pieces for the body, while others take a subtler approach. Tattoo artist and illustrator Sollefe takes her passion for drawing and translates it into small body art that the wearer can enjoy solo. (Or, reveal it to whomever they chose.) Done in black ink, the images mimic the quality […]
Delicate Nature Tattoos that Empower by Emily Kaul
Inspired by “the gorgeous and glorious natural world,” Portland-based Emily Kaul became interested in tattooing once she got some ink for her herself. It was during this initial session that “she fully experienced the immense power that this art form could embody.” Kaul later got licensed and created a tattoo studio where her clients could […]
Etching-Style Tattoos by Marco Matarese
Etching has a long place in our history. In terms of printmaking, it dates back to the 15th century. Back then, a pointed etching needle would scratch away at metal plates, and its style characterized with fine, precise lines. Marco C. Matarese translates this style into modern times but trades metal plates for skin. His […]
Severed and Split: The Grotesque Graphite Art of Miles Johnston
Artist Miles Johnston has two reoccurring motifs throughout his graphite drawings—division and compartmentalization. The images split his female subjects in two and often leave them faceless as their bodies viscerally spew liquid or are overcome with the likes of insects. They’re haunting with a grotesqueness that makes it impossible to look away—the details are just […]
Pushing the Limit in Tattoos by Aleksy Marcinów
Like many artists working today, Aleksy Marcinów’s creative practice involves more than one artistic approach. Always striving to make his best work, he writes, “I am trying to spread my work [in] different fields, instead of limiting myself to one. As [for] medium I am using everything I can from canvas and paper to human […]
Hand-Stitched Embroideries Floating on “Disappearing” Fabric
Embroidery is very tactile medium. There’s little, if any, visual tricky that can come from the fuzziness of thread on fabric. Artist Katerina Marchenko pushes this idea to its limit, however, with her stitching on tulle. Stretched tightly across the embroidery hoop, the fabric seems to disappear as the layered thread and beading is all […]
Discovering the Dystopia in Our Selves by Andrew Fairclough
In spring of 2017, Andrew Fairclough, aka Kindred Studio, had his first solo exhibition titled “Total Control” in Sydney, Australia. It featured portraits of men and women whose faces are multiplied, their bodies hollowed out, and heads fused with architecture. “The works,” he writes, “explore themes of introspection, confusion, duality and impulse control viewed through […]
Breaking the Boundaries: An Interview with Tattooer Rit Kit
If you aren’t familiar with the name Rit Kit, you might be acquainted with her tattoos. Last year, her live leaf approach went viral and propelled her into body art stardom. Working directly from nature, there’s simultaneously a beautiful order as well as spontaneity to Rit Kit’s tattoos. Dipping flowers and leaves in stencil ink, […]