Javier “Ché” Rivera, a 1979-born Puerto Rican native, owns the private studio Isan in Santurce, San Juan. Operating under the Instagram handle @tattoosbyche, he has broadened his tattoo career over the years and currently divides his life between the island and the mainland of the United States. When Ché was fifteen, he started working as […]
Category: Art
Honoring Swasthik Iyengar’s Hindu Heritage through Tattoos
Swasthik Iyengar (aka Gunga Ma) was born in 1987 in Tamil Nadu, India’s southernmost state. Her grandmother did Stick-and-Poke tattoos, among other jobs in her native country. Iyengar’s father wanted her to become a doctor or an engineer, but she had an interest in the arts and a less conventional outlook on life. When she […]
Exploring Nonlee’s Dazzling and Multicolored Tattoos
Kim Jungyeon was born in 1993 in Guri, a small city near Seoul. She developed an interest in the arts at a tender age and ultimately earned a degree in sculpture from Ewha Womans University (in 2016), one of the largest universities in South Korea and one of the world’s most prominent female educational institutes. […]
The Dark Art of Tattooer Yujhi
Yujhi started his tattooing career in the summer of 2018 at age 25. He is known for using a lot of black ink with minimal contrast and his affinity for whip-shading to achieve a dot-like effect. When asked to name his tattoo style, Yujhi responds, “My own theme.” His work is demonstrably influenced by the […]
Lonely Weirdo Club’s Tattoo World
Lonely Weirdo Club (some refer to him as Woo) is a 40-year-old tattoo artist. His professional tattooing career commenced in 2008. For about five years, he simultaneously operated a piercing shop and tattooed until he resolved to close the business and focus solely on his tattooing only. Lonely Weirdo Club draws inspiration from tattoos of […]
2024 Golden State Tattoo Expo
It has been a few years since our last visit to the Golden State Tattoo Expo in Pasadena, California. The event is larger than ever, with more tattooers, and it was already regarded as one of the biggest on the West Coast. The returning artists include Freddy Negrete, Big Sleeps, Pony Lawson, Poch, and presenters […]
“Felix, Dare to Dream”—A Film on the Tattoo Legend
Felix Leu (1945–2002), a tattoo luminary, is commemorated in books, honored by the tattoo community, and has been the subject of an independently self-funded film directed by Morgan Bertacca and Valerio Bariletti. “Felix, Dare to Dream” (2024) is a 105-minute movie that premiered at the Transilvania International Film Festival last June. All positive sentiments and […]
Uncogrim, an Outstanding Tattooist Who Embraces Snakes
Uncogrim, a 32-year-old native of Seoul, has been professionally tattooing since the summer of 2017. In just seven years, he has established himself on an international platform with his large-scale tattoos of snakes (sometimes interwoven with flowers), dragons, and crows. Even though snakes are associated with various symbolic meanings, they are often acquired for positive […]
The Tattoo Art of Chou Chou Incorporates Enigmatic Eyeballs
Chou Chou’s mother stated that during her childhood, she had no other interest besides drawing relentlessly. She completed her secondary education in art and subsequently earned a degree in Western painting from a Korean university. Her initial job was teaching high school pupils art as they prepared for collegiate entrance exams. Afterward, she instructed middle […]
Steven Johnson’s Tattoo Collection: Body and Museum
The year 1969 marked the birth of Steven Johnson in Chula Vista, California. In the early 1970s, his father, a senior chief in the navy, got tattoos by legendary Bob Shaw at 22 S Chestnut Place in Long Beach (currently known as Outer Limits, the longest continuously running parlor in the United States). His father’s […]