Raven Scratch

Meatshop Tattoo is quickly becoming one of the names to watch in terms of both abstract and dotwork tattoos.  You’ve seen Peter Madsen‘s works on ModBlog quite a bit over the past couple of weeks, and now he’s joined IAM, allowing us to get to know him a little better.

The last 12 years of my life have been all about creativity: big or small, simple and sophisticated, everything from painting and sculpting to building special-effects. The same creativity has sent me in many interesting ways, I used to run a Special Effects company, and resided in the United Kingdom and Sweden.

At some point in my creative rush, I realized that I was not doing anything in particular that had deep meaning for people. I began to wonder how I could put my creativity to some more rewarding use. One day it struck me: tattooing was simply the way.

In early 2010 I did my apprenticeship with an old friend of mine, Jesper Berthelsen, who now works primarily as an armourer and silversmith, but also has been a tattoo artist for many years. He taught me the basics of the ancient art form that is tattooing, and I had a good start before I was allowed to throw myself in the actual craft. Since then I have worked very hard every day to perfect my craftsmanship and I am very pleased to say that I do not regret my choice. Tattoing is live-giving, both for me and my customers.

About my work: Tattooing for me is an art that must be combined with man’s natural beauty. Trying to do “painting” on the body does not work for me – my desire is to create art that goes hand in hand with the skin and the body. For the same reason I have a fondness for ornamental designs, dotwork tattoo and scratch-work tattoo. My style is heavily inspired by Old Norse and Scandinavian art, Middle Eastern, geometry, black work and body dynamics.

Here’s one of his scratch-work pieces, a full raven sleeve.

Be sure to check out his BME Portfolio Gallery to see more of his work.