Realism has influenced my tattoo style the most. If You flick through this website and check my Instagram, You will find out that almost every category of my work fits into realistic tattooing. Realism tattooing has a huge tradition. It started with simple drawings of faces on the skin. The difference between those “ugly faces” of the past and modern skin art is the quality of tools and knowledge of artists, but the idea stays the same. To create image reassembling photography on the human skin. Today there are no boundaries for modern realism tattooing. What can be drawn, can be also tattooed (Sure there are some skin-related limitations to consider).
Most artists don’t like to mention that, but the Polish tattoo technique in general was influenced from two directions. One is a criminal way of tattooing – pretty similar to the Russian style. And second, is an Eastern German tattoo world. Things started to change in 90ties of the last century when communism was topped down. This is when the first true artists entered into tattoo scene. Guys who started back then (Gonzo, Leńu) are the founding fathers of Polish tattooing. Their great work inspired people like me, who arrived in the tattoo scene with a strong art approach. We are the first and the second wave of Polish tattooers, who became well-known worldwide for their unique realism skills.
Polish realism became so strong, that eventually in many big cities in the world, if you are looking for a solid realism tattoo, your good call is to look for a Polish fella. At its artistic core polish realistic tattooing style was always a bit twisted. Both with a subject matter and execution. Most of us have in the highest regard Polish fine art painters like Siudmak, Beksiński, and Szukalski.