Where were you born and where are you from?
I was born in Grado, a small island northeast of Italy
How did you get introduced
to the tattoo culture?
My first memory about tattoos goes back to when I was 14
years old, when I met “Bruno”, a jailbird with the arms covered with tattoos. I
showed him my drawings and he shared with me his knowledge about tattoos.
Something rude and simple, done with a needle dipped in paint, as they did in
prison, but this is how I started.
When did you get
started?
I started with the first “tattoos” just after meeting Bruno,
so I did my first drawings on the skin of friends in my bedroom when I was 14
years old. It wasn’t the right way but I’m pretty happy to have started doing
this, because today it’s more a passion than a work.
Do you remember the
first tattoo that you did?
First tattoo I did was something traditional, it was a heart
with a dagger passing through it and a snake wrapped around it. It was done on
the arm of a friend of mine.
How would you
describe your style of tattooing?
I prefer to work on realistic subjects and on portraits. I
usually prefer to give the highest reality that I can give to my works, with
realistic skin tones and a higher fidelity to the reference picture. Renouncing
to the strong impact that you can have using gaudy colors and drastic
highlights. I also try to not leave out any detail, giving importance to all of
them, but without exasperating them.
What were you doing
before you got into the tattoo business, and what made you change?
I started doing my first tattoos when I was 14 years old,
and since then I always wanted to tattoo for a living. I quit school early
and I did a lot of different jobs since I was 20 years old. Tattooing at home
at night and in the weekends, then when I saved enough money, in 1997 I opened
my first tattoo shop. So I can say that I always tattooed, because the other jobs were only needed to find the money needed for the shop.
What influences your
artwork?
Working mainly on realistic stuff, I’m influenced from
everything around me; sometimes nature could offer wonderful things! Then when
it was the time for example, to study headlights and shadows I looked at the
classic art from the past and to some famous photographers.
What advice would you
give to someone looking to get their first tattoo?
My first advice would be to chose carefully the subject and
the style, then to choose a tattoo artist specialized in that kind of tattoos
that could make it right…
Sometimes people come to my shop asking for a traditional
Japanese tattoo or something else, and when it’s possible I always recommend
some good artists, specialized in the requested style.
A tattoo is not a t-shirt; you cannot easily throw it away
when you don’t like it anymore. A laser treatment would be painful and
expensive, so yes, get tattooed, but always take your time to think about it.
Do you see your self
doing anything other than tattooing?
Yes, right now when I’m not tattooing I’m a dad, and this
would be the only other “work” that I can think to do.
Where do you see the
tattoo culture 10 years from now?
I think that tattoos have changed a lot in the last 10 years, and it will change more and more in the next ten. Right now, especially in theUSA
I think that tattoos have changed a lot in the last 10 years, and it will change more and more in the next ten. Right now, especially in the
Anything else you
would like to add?
Thank you very much Mr. Tattoos and theinkonme.com for this
interview!
You can check my works and the convention I’ll attend on my
website
Or contact me at this email address
info@alexdepasetattoo.com