Tattoo Styles

Trash Polka

The Trash Polka is the combination of realism and trash, between nature and abstract, technology and humanity. It is the union of past, present and future.

Opposites seek to unite in harmony with the body itself.

A set of abstract and figurative belonging to a dynamic and asymmetrical lyricism.

Being specific Trash Polka is a tattoo style created by the tattoo artist Simone Pfaff and Volker Merschky. The two Artists create the term ‘Trash Polka’ in 1998, originally gave their work the name ‘Realistic Trash Polka’ because they combined realistic images (Realistic), with graphic elements, lettering and other artistic layers (Trash).

They chose to use it in a musical sense, combining everything together like a composition (Polka). After some time, they shortened the name to Trash Polka because they did not want to set rules for their style.

Trash polka tattoo designs are dubbed as confusingly beautiful, used to express multiple ideas and themes in a seemingly discombobulated and yet unified design. The effect of it is clear – to weaken the apparent meaning behind the imagery in the tattoo and thus weaken the relationship between the tattoo itself and the person wearing it.

This art form challenges the usual glamorous art, acting as a sort of rebellion to the established norms.

The characteristics of Trash Polka tattoos is a combination of naturalistic, surrealistic, Photorealistic motifs mangled together with brush, splatters, graphic elements and words mainly in a typewriter font mostly in black and red, but other colors (basically two-tone) can be used as well. All these elements used together on the Human Body produce an extraordinary and unique creative act.

BLACKWORK

Despite having gained visibility and fame particularly in recent years thanks to social media, blackwork is anything but a modern and innovative style.

Honestly, it is one of the oldest tattoo style and we can place it together with the traditional and irezumi.

Originally the blackwork tattoos indicated the tribals since in these tattoos there are very large areas in black. These tattoos have millenary origins linked to indigenous peoples around the world and their traditions. In recent years there has been a strong rediscovery of this style.

Thanks to this, blackwork has evolved considerably both in terms of techniques and subjects that can be tattooed.

We move considerably from patterns to ornamental to figurative with notable backgrounds of black. At the moment can be named as Blackwork many tattoo style that go from Tribal to NewTribal, from Geometric to Ornamental, from Linework to engraving.

Avant-garde

The avant-garde pushes the boundaries of what is accepted as the norm or the status quo, primarily in the cultural realm. The avant-garde is considered by some to be a hallmark of modernism.

The avant-garde also promotes radical social reforms. This meaning was evoked by the Saint Simonian Olinde Rodrigues in his essay of him, “L’artiste, le savant et industriel” (“The artist, the scientist and the industrialist”, 1825). This essay contains the first use of “avant-garde” in its now customary sense; there, Rodrigues called on artists to “serve as (the people’s) avant-garde”, insisting that “the power of the arts is indeed the most immediate and fastest way” to social, political and economic reform.

The work consists in the existential need for an identity to be found by digging deep within oneself and within the figurative culture, exposing its primary elements.

ABSTRACT

Abstract art is defined as “art that does not attempt to represent external reality, but seeks to achieve its effect using shapes, forms, colors, and textures” (source). Abstract tattoos, in turn, are extremely diverse and offer ample room for experimentation.

The figure becomes pure essential

Abstract or non-figurative art is defined as art that does not reproduce or represent recognizable images (from the Latin “ab trahere”, to take away) to arrive at pure form. The artist does not necessarily start from reality and extract its form. But it can be inspired by mental images that in themselves are already abstractions of an objective and external world.The meanings are however expressed only by the colors, lines and compositional forms.It has an expressive and theoretical value.

How music can evoke feelings and thoughts. It does not need to imitate or cmq to refer to reality ‘. Art – Klee said – does not represent the visible, but makes visible what is not always visible.

To give the idea, let’s say, of a race it is not necessary to paint a person or a car running: a few lines or a few colors or shapes in rapid succession may be enough, for example.

KAWAII

The word “Kawaii” in Japanese means “cute”, “graceful” and is very appropriate to define this type of tattoos, to achieve which are used defined outlines, bright and full colors, such as those of comics, stars, glitter and stylized characters .

REALISM TATTOO

With the term realism we indicate a technique that sees the creation of artistic works that recreate reality as if it were a photograph or a three-dimensional object. Generally speaking, the term realism in the arts refers to works that are as detailed, clear and defined as reality

BLACK AND GRAY

Black-and-gray is a style of tattooing that uses only black ink in varying shades. This tattooing style is thought to have originated from prisons in the 1970s and 1980s and was later popularized in tattoo parlors. Black-and-gray is sometimes referred to as “jailhouse” or “joint style” and is thought to have originated in prisons where inmates had limited access to different materials; they resorted to using guitar strings for needles and used cigarette ashes or pen ink to produce tattoos. Inmates would construct makeshift tattoo machines that were powered using the small motors available in tape players.

Prisons generally prohibit inmates from tattooing, so these were likely to be done in secret. [4] During the late 1970s and early 1980s, jailhouse then became popularized in tattoo parlors outside of prison and was renamed “black and gray”

Typically, black-and-gray tattoo work is produced by diluting the black ink with distilled water in varying proportions to create a “wash” that results in lighter shades.

] Gray shades can also be produced by mixing small amounts of black ink with white ink, which produces a thicker but brighter result and requires a slower application.

Shading is typically an important component for these types of tattoos as they will fade over a period of years without strong black tones, which provide contrast and allows the tattoo to stand out. Subtle kinds of shading in black-and-gray are considered to require a high level of skill and illustrates professionalism in the industry