Marc (Little Swastika) proves how much more wrecked you look when your black eyeball is combined with a black eye of the more common sort. I can not imagine the horror that would have been experienced by the ER room had he visited the hospital after his mishap!!!
Marc (Little Swastika, little-swastika.com) recently posted this old tattoo he did in Blackie’s Heavy Blackwork group, and emphasized that it was one of his older pieces, during a period where he used much heavier swaths of solid black than he does nowadays. Even though his style has evolved a great deal since then, I wanted to publicly acknowledge it because it’s a beautiful piece of graphic design. The interplay between the heavy “maze” on the left have versus the dance of spirals on the right with a background that’s been tattooed to mimic the splotchy image of block printing, and the two halves separated with a strong scribbled red boundary line, is incredible. For a big bold piece that it is in some ways “simple”, it’s also got some great little nuances — for example, look at the very bottom right how the fine stamp pattern goes over the heavy black bar as negative space.
And in relation to some of the volatile discussion lately about the way tattoos heal, I also love that Marc almost exclusively posts healed tattoos (not that he has much choice on account of the sheer scale). These tattoos will look good forever in my opinion, not just because Marc is technically proficient, but by the very nature of their design being resilient to the natural effects of aging.
A beautiful portrait of Marc (Little Swastika) and his new “Life” tattoo, done in the bold and fluid slashing style of script that his studio is well known for, by his partner Freak Mike with whom he pushes their niche of the artform forward. You can also see his black eye tattoo nicely in this photo. Zoom in and take a close look and you’ll also catch hold of many scars and other signposts on the map of Marc’s life.
Before I head down to the swimming pool with my daughter, let me quickly post a couple of new sleeves by Freak Mike, who you know from the now-closed Swastika-Freakshop and is now working in a small private gallery with his mentor Marc. Together they are pushing the artform forward with bold and aesthetically challenging and striking creations, and you can bet you’ll see more of them here in the future (as you have in the past since I first met them in the early days of ModBlog).
If you didn’t already notice by the way, much of I post can be clicked and zoomed into.
Taking a quick look at Bridge’s IAM page you can see just how much he has transformed himself over the years. His latest addition is some heavy blackwork done on his skull and neck by Marc from Swastika Freakshop in Germany.
Here’s some great blackwork/dotwork from Marc of Swastika-Freakshop. And before anyone even thinks to say it, no this isn’t a nazi symbol.
I thought the perfect way to chase away the winter blues and remind myself (and you) that Spring is around the corner would be with a series of flower tattoos. Who knows, maybe this year will be the year I finally get that flower tattoo I’ve wanted for roughly 15 years.
Tattoo by Chris Sosa, Tymeless Tattoo, Baldwinsville, New York
Submitted by Tymeless Tattoo.
More after the jump.
Tattoo by Anthony Orsatti, Lucky Devils, Barrie.
Submitted by Stinkfist.
Sleeve by Phil Freitag at Sabbath Tattoo/f-holes Majenta at Top Tattoo (Bellingham, WA)
Flowers by Marc, lettering by Tarlito, Swastika-Freakshop and One Love Tattoo
Submitted by Auxo.
Tattoo by Char Hall, Side Show Studios, Sacramento, Ca
Tattoo by Danny War, Classic Tattoos, Grass Valley, Ca
Submitted by ShittyThings.
See more in “Floral Tattoos“
Hey, aw, this is sweet, right? Neither of these folks, Nadine (more) or Alex (more), are strangers to this corner of the Internet’s Wild West, but Nadine sent in these shots of the happy pair sporting a damn ocean’s worth of ink by our old friend Marc (with photos by Marc as well), and you know what? They were too damn cute to pass up. Everyone understands, right? Right. After the jump, some sound advice, in the form of a tattoo, etc.
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.
See more in “Religious and Mythological Tattoos“ (Tattoos)
This backpiece comes to us—surprise, surprise—from Marc at Swastika Freakshop in Radolfzell, Germany. It’s not just Marc’s technical skills as a tattooist that impress me (although they’re off the charts), but his aesthetic: The designs he comes up with seem so bizarre sometimes, but what they really indicate is a thorough understanding of the human form, and it’s a style that, ultimately, is equal parts complementary and jarring. All of which is to say, Marc pisses excellence, plain and simple. He wakes up in the morning and pisses excellence.
See more in “Tribal and Blackwork Tattoos“ (Tattoos)