Transcript:
I think sacred genre sacred geometry is predominantly the ideology behind it. That kind of drew me in. It’s just sort of the the idea of the interconnectedness of things It’s less about, yeah. I get I’d say it’s less about The actual art is more of just like a mathematical approach to the way you can see the world, and I think it’s just a way that you can. It’s a process of elimination in a lot of ways. You know, you’re you’re taking everything all non-essential things out, so it’s basically a sort of a distillation of structure a form, you know, it’s the most archetypal form that you can have. It’s like, literally, the fundamental building blocks of us, the oldest structures in the world. You know, pyramids, whatever, like. Go back to the Tepe. All of the oldest architectural structures are all based on the same mathematics, And that’s where the commutations sacred. The sacred is derived from Because I think a lot of people are unaware of like the route to like the ocean. I think it’s important to clarify a little bit, honestly, painting sacred geometry stuff, which I do also do. It’s really a It’s a difficult medium for it, Whereas tattooing is great medium for it using tiny little needles, super high precision. You’re able to do the little dots. I mean, this style of work and and tattooing in general are so like so well mixed. It’s such a great tool, such a great like medium for it. I think the way in which math plays its part in sacred geometrical tattooing specifically is through the anatomy of the body, so the body is is built through predominantly the golden mean and the golden ratio, which is just the proportions of of your anatomy but like predominantly the bone structure, the golden mean because it’s what most forms in nature grow based on as do we and so it’s it’s helpful because you can actually plan how you and a pea is and star pizzas, based on it for a more flattering appearance, It’s almost a little like cheating because we, our minds actually associate these patterns with something that is aesthetically pleasing to us because it’s found throughout our own selves. You know, so it’s it’s kind of like cheating because your your bodies people will like it, they kinda have to. I started tattooing When I was maybe 18 I got an apprenticeship after a while of a long, arduous pursuit. I got interested in sacred geometry, Probably when I was around 14 15 mostly right, prior to psychedelics. That was probably I did. My first kind of psychedelic experiences probably route 16 right prior to that was when I started reading more books about sacred geometry and getting more involved in it. My parents or one, my moms an author and my Dad’s, a astrologer and a numerologist, so it’s like growing up in Berkeley. You know, all these books and that kind of ideologies everywhere. So it’s not, um. I don’t know what they didn’t, really. It wasn’t something that I sort of like sought after it. Just sort of found me. You know, it’s kind of cliche, is that is it? Just it was around. Always, you know, when you see something that where someone is able to say and pull something from these like realms or these worlds that are almost intangible and they bring bring it forth. It’s it’s not only it’s inspiring, but it’s also kind of like. Oh, you were able to, you know, you’re able to illustrate something. It’s so powerful. It’s it is inspiring, but it’s also kind of humbling, really. I gotta, I gotta get my together. I’ve never really thought of myself as that. You can tattoo collector. I mean, I have my almost. My entire body is covered, you know, but they’re mostly off to people who I know like. I really valued the human experience of getting tattooed. So like whoever I’m being tattooed by, it’s predominantly someone. I’m I have a good relationship with like friend or someone that I respect in the field, you know, like, but I mostly know them as a person prior and yeah, I have. I have a few tattoos in myself. I was pretty much heavily covered really quickly, so I wanted it to be, and I also wanted to be the most cohesive, so I have a lot of black and gray, Japanese, large-scale, black and gray, Japanese and black work, tattoos and less geometry based at Jews trying to create straight lines over a curved them. The bizarre terrain that a human body is which, but really is a kind of one of the beautiful things about tattooing opposed to any other medium. Is it’s such a strange campus. You know, like you’re like putting art on weird body parts and stuff. It’s very odd, but I think the way to achieve like line work going over. These type of terrains is to break its. Good just, you know, for life in general is to take something big and just break it down into small parts, so they could, even if you’re just doing like, even if it’s a small line, if you think about it as even smaller sections like you just do a part and then do more part and do more and get more, you know, like instead of instead of trying to pull like a whole line going across the thing, you know, you’re, you’re pretty much just breaking it down into smaller, more manageable sections, So you will say, like pull even like doing a circle. You know, you’re not gonna just be like ah. I mean, you do sometimes, but it, you know you have a higher margin of error. You’re pretty much gonna try to just break it down into little sections, and you know, in Japanese, then that’s like the practice is like creating an in so right, like that’s actually my son’s name, and so that symbol is one of my favorite symbols. It’s just a circle, and so it literally translates a circle, but it’s the it’s the idea of the the absolute realization of enlightenment in is just that it’s a certain circular spherical nature of reality do try to say the the totality of the existence, absolute, the absolute, most simple form, which is the sphere, which is a circle. You know, this is the totality of existence, so it’s the ultimate realization of enlightenment intended is usually. I design a bunch of pieces that I when I when I feel inspired, I actually like to do it. This way is that when when I’m more inspired, I just designed things that I think would be cool, and and then I kind of show show the prospective client like a bunch of a bunch of options like it’s almost more like a traditional tattoo approach like, like flash. I almost create like whole body of work more like a like, a fine artist or like an art show where it’s like. Here’s a body of work that have made recently. Would you like one of them? It sounds kind of cliche, but I like to get sort of the intention behind it. I like to ask them sort of like what they’re trying to say, and that way we can sort of make sure to build that in it’ll. Be something that’s like. Essentially, what do you why? I think that is sort of more important to me. Is the is there? Why, like what what they’re trying to say? What’s their like not like? Why do you want this piece? But like what? What do you want it to say? And what’s the and as a like using this language of sacred geometry itself, like as a universal language, It’s nice to kind of figure out what they want it to say, and sometimes it can be a very long email about what they want to say and. I think my main thing is trying to really accomplish the most using the least it’s like it’s. How nature works. It’s a high efficiency, yeah? I think sacred geometry or just geometric tattoos. Black work, tattoos work great for all skin types, especially its its high levels, of contrast, will work very well for darker skin. You know, like the bigger. It is the bolder you make it the more legible it will be, and then the more legible. The tattoo is the more easily. It is readable on all skin types. All of them can be every shape and you can really associate meaning, and there are already pre associated meanings to a lot of symbols. I mean, in terms of like, straightforward ones like the Platonic solids, They each one has a specific, you know, one represents Earth, it’s like kind of like. I don’t know what’s that with our powers Combined Captain Planet. It’s like it’s like that, and you know, each one represents where Earth Fire water air ether. You know, they’re so like there’s definitely shape and form that have a specific connotation. You know, most all of them. I mean, most all of them. If they’re derived from some in some way in from some level of antiquity, they’re gonna have built up preconceived Associated meanings from hundreds of and not hundreds of thousands of years, but hundreds and thousands for years. You know, so, like, really depends, you know, and means sometimes change, so it’s like you not only have built up symbolism. You also have built up symbolism that sometimes throughout history can have different connotations, so it’s it’s good to be aware of, like what what they can maybe currently mean what they’ve meant before and where, and also like in any way you want to associate meaning to something, but I try to. I try to make most of the shapes myself and make them mostly new, so we’re allowed to like build from something and take from the past. I think at this point. My process is as straightforward and kind of a simple but as direct and and very traditional, you know, at this point, it’s like if the piece is predominantly line work, I will outline it. And if it’s predominantly dot work, I will do like a dotted outline as the outline prior to then filling the shapes in, and that’s mostly What I do, and, yeah, if it’s gonna have solid black areas, then I will fill those areas in black after, but it’s pretty much I use only black now like I don’t even just remember these gray. It’s mostly like black and just water as much as I do pieces that don’t feel very minimal. That is the I guess the ideology behind it is that it’s trying to achieve the most using the least the bigger, the bolder, the blacker the better and it’s gonna last longer. You know, people do often ask that with dot work where it’s like they kind of have this feeling that dot work tattoos aren’t going to look good in the future where I don’t really get, cuz. It’s like there’s space even around them for the it’s bleed. So then the worst-case scenario is like a dotted field would turn into like a shaded field, So it’s like it’s not really gonna even if it does spread, it will spread. It has almost room for it, so I think it holds up great, especially negative space. I mean negative. Space areas are usually larger than most line with weights are so plenty of space in between things, you know? If you look at like the oldest tattoos ever, there’s like some some some mummies and some and you can still one thing can still tell what symbol it is. You know, like tattoos, 5,000 years old. I don’t say the oldest tattoos are the are, and that’s necessarily that geometrical, but they’re symbolic and they are black work. This is the oldest style of tattooing as much as it’s very contemporary now as much as there’s been a new approach and a more sometimes futuristic or like it looks kind of technological or like there’s a there there is some some pulling from science fiction. There’s some pulling from all kinds of different genres, but nonetheless, it still revolves around the oldest form of art in the world. You know, like sinsemilla. The oldest art in the world is symbolic and the oldest tattoos in the world or black work, tattoos like so this is the Holda style. It’s the most traditional, you know, so so, yeah, we’ve seen it holds up just fine. .