Tag Archives: geometric-tattoos

Gerhard Wiesbeck’s Dense Blackwork

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A friend runs a “heavy blackwork” group on FB where I was introduced to the work of German tattooist Gerhard Wiesbeck (facebook.com/gerhard.wiesbeck) of Time Traveling Tattoo (timetravellingtattoo.com). Much of his ultra-dense blackwork borrows on traditional South Pacific “tribal” motifs, and I encourage you to explore his galleries to enjoy that aspect of his work, but I’m particularly taken by his blackwork that draws its inspiration by modern geometry, math, and graphic design. Unlike much of the geometric tattooing out there which is intricate and detailed, Gerhard’s work is often ultra-bold and very, very heavy in nature, giving it a unique appearance. Here are three pieces that particularly struck me.

The first one is my favorite by the way — isn’t that amazing?

Finally, I want to show a piece of his that’s in a completely different genre from most of the rest of Gerhard Wiesbeck’s pieces, and is one of those “obvious” ideas that somehow I’ve never seen before. This tattoo of little hands superimposed on the wearer’s hands is quite brilliant!

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Joy Division Backpiece c/o Thomas Hooper

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In random browsing I came across this stunning Joy Division tattoo, and since like most things on the Internet it was uncredited it took me some searching before I even knew if it was a real tattoo or a photoshop job, which was my first assumption because it’s just so incredibly bold. I was happy to discover that it was the work of Thomas Hooper (meditationsinatrament.com) of Saved Tattoo (savedtattoo.com) in Brooklyn.

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By the way, if you like that, check out this Joy Division cutting posted last year.

As stunning as this piece is — it’s a beautiful example of graphic design — but not really something that pushed him technically or artistically as a tattooist. His custom work is so top-notch that I thought he deserved proper coverage, so here is a small selection of some of my favorite pieces he’s created. Visit his websites for more. I know I’ve said this to death, but wow, the talent pool that’s out there in the tattoo world these days is unbelievable. I could feature a new artist every single day for the next year and only have scraped the tip of the iceberg. Glad to have discovered today’s polar bear.

Illusion Skull

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I’ve seen a few tattoos that hide a skull inside a field of flowers or architecture or shadows and figures, but this illusion skull for me is my favorite yet, and maybe even has what it takes to become one of the iconic tattoos of the dotwork/geometric genre… I have no doubt you’ll see this tattoo forwarded endlessly over the next decade, so if you see it, let the world know that it’s the work of Kike Bugni (facebook.com/tattoosbybugni. I see a lot of amazing geometric, dotwork, and blackwork tattooing these days, but after a while they start to blend into each other, so it’s nice seeing one that really stands out and will never get mixed up with anyone else — until of course the inevitable copies start!

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Providing the Framework

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I tend to avoid posting unfinished tattoos.  However once in a while an unfinished piece comes along that stands on its own, even if it isn’t yet how the artist intends it to be seen.  This dotwork piece by geRi (IAM: Pharmaecopia14) from Swastika Tattoo in Budapest is only halfway complete, yet with the stencil visible, it could easily pass for a completed piece, provided the stenciling was actually tattooed.