Tattooing is a history of meanings and resignifications. Leaving aside ancient history -and that is a long way from twelve thousand years- the changes in the meaning of tattoos throughout the twentieth century have been constant and significant.
Photographer Alberto García Alix said in an interview with JotDown that “in the Parachute Brigade was where I saw the first tattoos. At night I watched with curiosity as they were made. It was the classic: a toothpick holder and three needles, shields of the Parachute Brigade or mother’s love”.
This was the 80’s and, although the path of tattooing in the United States and in many other countries had followed other paths, in Spain there was an immediate relationship between tattooing and tattooing. And this is a circumstance that has changed radically in recent years: in part, as a result of social networks and the great moment of the image and the cult of the body. Of course, this article is not intended to be a historiographic review of tattooing and tattoo artists, but an approach to those who with more talent perform their work in Madrid.
When talking about the world of tattooing -as when talking about any self-respecting art- it can be mistakenly said that there is nothing written about tastes. Erroneously, because there is much written about tastes and also a technique and a canon and a style that has been polished over the years. For that reason, for talent, trajectory and skills these are the best tattoo artists in Madrid.
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The Bara – True Love Tattoo
A few years ago, El País gave him the Honor of being “the most famous tattoo artist in Madrid”. The word fame does not do justice to the dimension, aesthetics and importance of his work. The Bara, who does traditional American tattooing, is one of the few tattooists who can generate what has come to be called tattorism (namely: a specific trip to a location just to be tattooed).
True Love Tattoo (22, Velarde St.)
Jesús Cuesta – Drama Tattoo
Few Spanish tattoo artists take the notion of their own style to excellence. Y Jesus Cuesta also an illustrator and collaborator in a garment design with Latigo is one of them. With a very careful and recognizable imagery (his satellites, his clubs, the psychedelic nuance), Jesús Cuesta is one of the best tattoo artists in Madrid.
Drama Tattoo (Doñana Street, 5 – Alcorcón)
Sayr135 – Ultrataller
The style of Sayr can it also be defined as very personal. Shades of traditional American? Yes. Inspirations from traditional Japanese? Also. The shapes, the skulls, the facial features or the colors are another series of indications that invite us to think that the peculiarity of Sayr’s work is extraordinary.
La Dolores – Ultrataller
Between Valencia and Madrid, the work of La Dolores is clearly traditional… with the eventual acceptance of details – an object, a gesture – that invite you to think that the tattoo you are looking at was not done in 1940 in Indiana, but in Madrid in the 21st century. Pure classic talent.
Black Sanchez – Chinatown Tattoo
Master of realism. (Almost) nobody in Spain tattoos hyperrealism as he does. The attention to detail is almost scary: she doesn’t do tattoos, she does photos that are more realistic than many photos. The waiting list for tattooing with Black Sanchez is one year. Few facts are more enlightening when it comes to talking about a tattoo artist with a talent that very few people can match.
Chinatown Tattoo (Plaza de Carlos III, 1 -Getafe)
Diamond Tattoos – Bowery Tattoo
There is probably a Japanese word (they have definitions for everything) that defines the specific pleasure of seeing a tattoo on another person. If it exists, that word could be applied to any of the tattoos he makes Diamond. Old school with nuances, his roses, his eagles, his butterflies or his female figures are drawings made with great care, talent and personality.
Bowery Tattoo (Divino Pastor St., 14)
Andrea Losantos – Bowery Tattoo
Andrea Losantos the lines and lines separated by millimeters create textures, illusions of movement and details. The volumes of the human bodies he creates, the realistic vocation of the gesture he tattoos or the animals he portrays justify a visit to Bowery Tattoo.
Bowery Tattoo (Divino Pastor St., 14)
The Good – Cornelius Tattoo and Kimchi Tattoo
The authorial issue and the certainty that the people of the world would say “he’s a Bueno” -as if he were a Cézanne- when they saw him two meters away. The reasons? His use of red, the sinuous shapes, the pseudo-comic skulls and many other nuances that allow us to recognize the universal and very personal Old School of The Good.
Cornelius Tattoo (Duque de Sesto street, 48)
Kimchi Tattoo (Urgel)
Raro82 – Kimchi Tattoo
An aka should serve as a spoiler, this is not always the case, but in the case of Raro82 there are few things more true: his tattoos are – spoiler here – weird. A garish, lysergic, sometimes childish, colorful and phosphorescent universe. It is impossible to find a tattoo artist with a style that even remotely resembles his.
Kimchi Tattoo (Urgel)
Samu Rico – Blessed Art Tattoo
Concluding that an Instagram profile serves as a portfolio for any profession of graphic prominence, it is enough to take a look at Samu Rico’s account to get an idea of what the focus of his work is. Realism, realism and more realism. The eyes of her tattoos have more life in them than those of many people: Florentino Pérez, Kobe Bryan or Gandalf are some of the characters he has tattooed.
Blessed Art Tattoo (calle Nueva, 74, Aranjuez)