Tattoo artist Tyrone Swanepoel on his love for dark art and how it inspires his creativity
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Tattoo artist and owner of Hoodoo Tattoos Tyrone Swanepoel talks creativity, skulls and the art of inking
For Swanepoel, his entry into the world of tattoo artistry was in no way a natural progression. Originally a drummer in a heavy metal band and bank floor manager, he needed a swift career change. So he bought a tattoo machine, started practicing on himself and opened a studio in his Joburg home. What followed could only be described as a whirlwind of opportunity, interesting encounters, bizarre drama and unforgettable moments that all brought him to Cape Town. One of those moments? Sneaking out of a dodgy living situation – which actually sounds suspiciously more like a hostage situation – in the dead of the night to fly back home.
GQ: But we digress. Once considered an “outsider” art practice, tattooing is now seen as being at the forefront of creativity. Just how creative does one have to be as a tattoo artist?
Tyrone Swanepoel: I’d say tattooing requires probably the highest levels of creativity. You have to create art on living skin that will last a lifetime and bring in more business once it leaves your studio. But I think the reason tattooing has become more mainstream is because it’s forced artists and creatives to be a lot more involved with the customer and the public.
Tattooing isn’t what it used to be back in the day, where people believed they were for gangsters and thugs. Studios have become clean, sterile and friendly environments where the artist wants to achieve the best possible understanding of their art form and learn more and more. The client wants the best rendering of the picture or request they want inked on their skin and through that, they see a creative person trying to grow and someone they can trust in the future.
GQ: Do you think creativity requires you to put heart and soul into what you’re making, or is it more about letting your mind flow freely and execute a surprising piece of work?
TS: I think creativity is a well collaborated dance of both. To be able to make something useful, you need to firstly, let your mind flow free, then put your heart and soul into trusting your vision and the process. You have to take accountability for the actions that get you to the end result.
GQ: Is creativity innate to human beings or do you think it’s something that can be learnt and nurtured over time?
TS: I definitely believe creativity is part of human nature. Since the beginning of humanity, we’ve thought of creative ways of making life easier, more beautiful and more interesting. For example, we invented the wheel and learnt how to decorate our living areas and ourselves over time. There’s been an inner voice inside of us since the beginning of time that’s guided us to create, improve and invent. Technology today has made learning easier in a modern world, sure. but I believe we were born with creativity.
GQ: How’d you describe the progression of your artistic development – when you first started to now?
TS: One hell of a rollercoaster ride. Tattooing has taught me so much and my learning has been a unique creative process of its own. It’s taught me to draw, how to listen and learn and apply to my process to achieve a satisfying outcome for both the client and I. It’s taught me how to run one of the best tattoo studios in Cape Town.
GQ: When designing a tattoo, do you have to balance the complexity of the design with your skill set?
TS: Yes, definitely. One can see when an artist took on a technique they weren’t ready for or experienced in. You can see it in the finishing details of the overall design. Sometimes, you’ll even have to adjust the style of the tattoo to suit your customer’s skin type. For example, doing a light lion portrait on very dark skin is a bad idea. You should rather do a dark panther portrait on darker skin and use light shades on paler skin but there’s no better way to learn these things and reap the rewards other than taking on something difficult and figuring out how to make it work along the way.
GQ: Can you single out a tattoo that best represents you?
TS: That’s a difficult question. I’d say every tattoo I’ve done that’s been significant to the client. Or a tattoo that required a new technique or style I wanted to try out. I don’t think I can sum myself or my work up in one single tattoo or in any other way.
GQ: What are the challenging aspects of your career?
TS: It’s been difficult for me to get to tattoo the things that I really love. I would’ve loved to specialise in dark art and portraits. But my journey as a tattooist hasn’t been able to go there entirely. I do a bit of everything. And then every time when I’m like, “Fuck it, I’m going to stop doing the things I don’t want to”, you tattoo a customer and you realise that you’re doing what you actually enjoy. Being a tattoo artist is about meeting the customer and having an awesome chat. It doesn’t have to be, “Well, I did a skull today”. It should be, “Well, I did a wolf today and I had a fucking awesome session with my customer”. Being a lover of dark art has played a negative part in my career, because people often perceive me as this dark and morbid person until they meet me. But people don’t believe why I want to do dark art.
GQ: Why dark art in particular?
TS: I like anything that divides people. I don’t like anything in-between. And why I specifically like dark art is because it creates discomfort and it’s thought-provoking. You ask yourself, “Is that scaring me? Why is it scaring me? Why isn’t it scaring me?” Whereas with light-hearted work, rainbows and unicorns, well that’s what it is – it’s happy. Dark art tends to be more serious and multi-layered.
A lot of people think that having dark art tattooed on them makes you evil or a bad person, when actually...take skulls for example. They can symbolise making peace with death. And that was my fascination with skulls – the fact that I was so scared of death. I was scared until I realised that death is the only truth in this world for all of us: rich, poor, famous or not, and so I found peace in a skull. That was my art. Not because I’m some sort of tortured soul or anything. It’s difficult to explain to people. And a lot of people group it with images of pentagrams and horns, instead beautiful, clinical, clean skulls that I think border realism and dark art.
GQ: I was reading an interview with a tattoo artist. He was asked what makes a tattoo good and he said, “When it loses the embellishment of the trend and aesthetics and returns to the very basic idea of what a tattoo should be.” Do you agree with this sentiment?
TS: Absolutely, yes! That’s very well articulated. A lot people want to get what they saw on TV or what their friends have. Every tattoo has a story. If you ask for a tattoo with your own meaningful story, your tattoo will be trendless, timeless and unique to you for as long as you live. In my opinion, a tattoo should be a reminder of an experience or a memory of something or someone special in your life. A tattoo is unique and it can be whatever you want it to be. People’s opinions are just their art in words.
GQ: Tattoos are one of the last art forms that you can’t mass produce. Do you ever duplicate the same tattoos if clients ask?
TS: Tattooing is still one of the few crafts that is handmade, which means even if you did make a duplicate, it wouldn’t be 100% the same. The reason I say that is because of the process and irregularities of different skin types. There are a lot semantics involved in the process of making a tattoo, but each person’s skin is unique to their lifestyle and determines how the tattoo will look. One person’s skin might hold up detail better than their friend’s because of its density, medication they take and skin diseases like Eczema. So you’d have to adjust the design and tailor it specifically for their skin and their lifestyle. We don’t duplicate original tattoos for clients unless its friends or siblings or something that want to get the same tattoo. Then we make an exception.
GQ: Your shop’s slogan is “Logical and perspective tattooing”. What’d be an illogical tattoo request?
TS: In my opinion, it’d be a meaningless tattoo. Something like asking to have a dragon tattooed on your dick. I’m sure someone out there has a touching story behind making a request like that, but I haven’t heard one yet.
GQ: What’s your most illogical tattoo?
TS: When I first got my tattoo machines, I had a scar on my leg and decided to tattoo stitches on myself. If I think about it now it’s actually stupid, but it’s funny.
