Little Swastika Book

Marc, better known as Little Swastika, is an avant garde tattoo artist that’s a leader in the new worlds of dotwork, geometry, “trash” tattooing, neotribal spiritualism and fine art tattooing. He has just released a limited edition book of paintings and sketches done between 2005 and 2009. It is 108 pages long, printed in a limited hand-numbered and signed edition of 108 copies, and costs 108 euro (about $140 USD). This is a must-have for any tattoo studio — it’s not flash, but it’s a wonderful design resource — or tattoo artist interested in this style as well as art collectors. You can click below to take a closer look, or visit little-swastika.com to find out how to get your own copy of this incredibly special book.

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Marc’s work has been featured on ModBlog ever since I first saw his work, at the time at his earlier studio Swastika Freakshop, but while I have your attention, let me show you two recent creations. On the left, and amazingly dense and manic chestpiece that somehow mix the scrawlings of a madman with ripples and spirals and sacred geometry, and on the left, an evocative backpiece in dripping in saturated full color, with multiple layers of both scribbled block printing and Marc’s highly stylized and very recognizable red script. If you enjoy art tattooing, Marc is one of the best, creative and technically gifted.

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Finally, since they have not yet been covered on ModBlog, I want to give coverage to Marc’s work with double backpieces. Marc’s art is sometimes so big and powerful that it takes more than one person to contain it, as he splashes his striking visions across friends and families. Here are three examples of multi-person tattoos that he’s performed, as well as a shot of him working on laying down a stencil on two of his latest subjects. I love all of these (even though the one in the top row does cover up a BME logo!).

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Again, you can find Marc online at little-swastika.com, or click here to see a collection of ModBlog entries of his work. I just spent a few minutes going through it myself and found lots of wonderful pieces that had slipped my memory — his portfolio is beyond incredible. Have I mentioned what a fan I am? Finally you can also track him down on Facebook at facebook.com/tattoingisdeath. There are very few artists who I whole-heartedly endorse. Marc is one of them.

More amazing work from the freaky swastika…

John Durante, like Ron Garza, (who I mentioned not too long ago) is another great example of a body modification renaissance man.  He owns and runs the extremely popular Evolve Body Jewelry Company, offers piercing and scarification out of Laughing Buddha as well as on the road, and he travels extensively to integrate himself into all aspects of this community of ours.

Amongst his travels he had the chance to get this amazing tattoo by a favorite amongst Modblog readers, Marc from the now defunct, Swastika Freakshop.

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Freakshop Threesome

I’ve posted a fair few ritual photos that have come out of Swastika Freakshop recently, so here’s some tattoos that have come out of the same studio.

Clickthrough on each thumbnail for the full monty..

Mike‘s scalp tattoo is fairly obvious (if you squint a little and set your eyes to “magic-eye” mode that is), and Ralf (on the right) had all this work done in five sessions!

The group of tattoos in the middle though, which I’m assuming is going to be covered up by blackwork, is a different story altogether, and one I’m sure we’d all like to hear about.

All of the above by Marc.

Open your mind

yfirgefavona’s chest tattoo reads “Love yourself, open your mind”.  It’s a great example of how a lettering tattoo can be transformed into an abstract art piece.

I’m not sure if the cherry blossoms are a part of the piece or if they’re intended to be covered up.  In any case, Freak Mike from Swastika Freakshop in Germany did a great job and the owner says that the tattoo “has made me love myself more than I ever have”.  It’s that sentiment alone that makes this piece exceptional.  Too often are we caught up with how a piece of art can affect us, we can easily forget how important it is to the person who has it for life.

Smooth Criminal

Growing up in the 80s it was impossible to ignore the influence that Michael Jackson had on music.  Now I’m not saying that the guys at Swastika Freakshop are huge MJ fans, but I can’t look at this pull without thinking of the music video for Smooth Criminal.

For those who may not get the reference, fast forward to 7:30.

Michael Jackson reference aside, it looks like these guys were having a lot of fun with the pull.  Thanks to ohmycaptain for sending this in to the pulling and trucking gallery.

“Boom Shiva”


It’s been a while since we’ve featured a piece from Swastika Freakshop here on the ol’ ModBlog (no, really, it has!), so here we have yet another epic backpiece by Marc, this one coming in under the title “Boom Shiva.” As always, holy hell is there a lot to like about Marc’s work, and this is no exception.

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