Simple, Ingenious, and Amusing: Blackwork Tattoos by Ilya Brezinski

tattoo of a cat walking the tightrope

Tattoo artist Ilya Brezinski creates polished blackwork drawings that just happen to be on the skin. The tightly-rendered pictures—often single subject—interact with the body in a playful way: a collar bone becomes a guide for a tightrope while half of a bicycle wheel is made wholly complete because it’s placed on a rounded pectoral muscle. Though Brezinski’s tattoos are simple in execution, their visual ingenuity is conceptually compelling and at times, very amusing.

Hook tattoo across skin by ilya brezinski

bicycle tattoo over chest

leaf tattoo by ilya brezinski

tattoos on legs by ilya brezinski

bird with its beak tied shut on arm

dog wearing a clear mask by ilya brezinski

tattoos on arms by ilya brezinski

double blimp on chest by ilya brezinski

Images © Ilya Brezinski