Biomechanical Tattoo design

Biomechanical tattoos are not very deep rooted like the normal tattoos which are growing about 5000 years deep into the soil of body adornment. Inspired by the work of Swiss Surrealist H.R. Giger, the biomechanical style of tattooing gained prominence in the later 1980’s and early 1990’s.

Biomechanical tattoo designs include mechanical and biological things. In a way you can say these tattoos are an amalgamation of new technology and our body parts like motors, pipes, tubes, skulls, and jagged bony shapes. Being a complicated design - it is difficult to find a tattooist who can confidently and flawlessly ink it on your skin.

Mainly Biomechanical tattoos are in black and grey but now days you’ll find few fine tattoo artists who can ink these dull tattoos in very bright and colorful designs, and one among them is Trevor Wilson of Lucky 7 Tattoo in West Palm Beach, Florida.

I came across the works of Thomas Kynst a tattooist from Dynamite-Kynst Ateliers Studio in Deventer, Netherlands. While exploring his tattoo work, I noticed that his few pieces had something common – eyes!

Yes, his some pieces are only of beautifully inked eyes or a tattoo focusing upon eyes. I am not saying that his work only attributes eye tattoos but I noticed that he masters/likes inking eyes.

The pieces shown here are of eye tattoos by Kynst, first tattoo is that of two eyes inked on the back just below the neck - the eyes are so well etched that they look like our real eyes with bridge. The other tattoo is well placed on the back side of neck - a single eye shows his artistry in inking an eye which is about to cry.

Today, while exploring Flickr Museum I came across this tattoo on the back of a man in the remote village of the west coast of South Africa. Thanks to Jan Tik for submitting the piece. The black ink tattoo is a poem which makes a huge backpiece covering whole back with it’s words. It is an elegy on the Pot-Smoker, the tattoo reads:

The Roker’s Song

A Roker Boy came here one night
and found his house without a light
He struck a match to go to bed
when a sudden thought came into his head

He went into his daughter’s room
and found her hanging from a beam
He took his knife and cut her down
and on her breast these words he found

My love was for a Roker Boy
who smoked his dagga (pot) just for joy

So dig my grave and dig it deep
and plant some dagga at my feet
And on my breast a turtle dove
to show the world I died for love

Now all young Sheilas bear in mind
a Roker’s love is hard to find
If you find one good and true
never change it for a new.

In Jail You Got Coffee,
In Jail You Got Tea,
In Jail You Got Everything
Except The Darn Key

Wim Delvoye’s tattooed pigs are unquestionably famous for their skin. Wim is Belgian and has been living in China, where he has “art farm” outside Beijing. His farm is similar to other farms with a difference served by the pigs that are grazing in his farm. These pigs are fattened not to be slaughtered but to be tattooed. They will instead live a full and happy life and their skin will be displayed on someone’s wall after their death.

Wim is into tattooing pigs because “they grow and they are so much better to tattoo than fish. He tattoos them when they are young and he likes the way the artwork stretches and distorts over time.” Talking from a business point of view he explains that he invests in small tattoos and harvests large paintings.

Wim started his art work on live pigs in 1997. His tattoo work is not only restricted to pigs but he has inked many human bodies also.

Brian Thrasher from California, USA is a hard core , who has inked the art of Jim Phillips, the screaming hand, on his palm by Zombie Tattoo in Norco Ca.