☼ 21 ☼ ☽ artist, surfer and lucky ☽ • Water as a guide, body as art. • Lisbon & Berlin. 📍 @1399_lisboa 📍 @avanteberlin Follow 21 on Instagram

Alua Abdramanova is an abstract tattoo artist renowned for her fluid and organic designs, inspired by the holographic patterns and art of suminagashi. She comes originally from Kazakhstan, but now based in Lisbon, Portugal. With a background in architecture, she infuses her work with a keen sense of composition and color. Alua’s abstract tattoos challenge traditional norms, leaving her clients with captivating and thought-provoking body art. Follow Alua on Instagram

For people unfamiliar with you, could you please share a bit about the technique itself and how you came to practice it? I open a 3D program, create a sketch in it, and then transfer that sketch onto the client’s skin. This gives me complete creative freedom: in composition, color, and ideas. The problem in the tattoo world is that: Tattoo artists often take images from Pinterest or Google, simply outline them (turning them into a certain tattoo style, like dotwork or new school), and present them as their own. As a result, we end up with a plethora of internet-sourced designs that are almost identical, with only minor variations. 3D, on the other hand, provides the artist with much more creativity: a slight change in perspective, adding a light source – and voila, it’s done! A couple of mouse clicks and a unique project is ready. And if you’re also can do modeling or sculpting – then there are no limits. Do you listen to music while working? If so, what kind of music gets you in the zone? Of course! I always choose music based on the task at hand: if I need to focus, concentrate, and calm my mind – I opt for mantras or kirtans. If I find myself a bit tired or need speed in my work – various mixes, DJ sets, techno. Therefore, the palette of my musical taste is quite extensive. How do you perceive art in general, and how do you approach it? For me, art is primarily a language of communication. Just like I’m writing this sentence now, I believe I could also draw it. But unlike letters or sounds, visual art works instantly, penetrating you as a whole, even into your subconscious. Additionally, art is a divine energy that flows through each of us. Some are more open to this flow, while others are closed off. But everything can be changed. What are you looking forward to or excited about in your career? I want people to experience intense positive feelings and emotions from my works. Tears should flow or the corners of their mouths should curl up in joy. You know, I want my (my?) works to evoke that feeling of tightness in the chest, like when you’re standing in front of a masterpiece in a museum, unable to understand or articulate anything, yet feeling so good. In a world with so much evil and unhappiness, even if people can escape from it for 15-20 seconds, that’s already a good thing. You combine graphic art and realism on a larger scale. Do you intend to shift your portfolio in any other direction? I’m always expanding. It’s the law of the Universe to expand, and I follow it. When the time comes, I’ll condense into a point and disappear. Then, it will all start anew. If you carefully examine my works, you’ll see elements of Japanese art, op-art, surrealism, art nouveau, pre-Raphaelites, contemporary art, graphic design, and more. I’m like a good DJ: I don’t have favorite or disliked tracks, I love everything at once. The only rule for new combinations is harmony. And that’s another law of the Universe. Do you have plans for retirement or other passions you’re looking forward to pursuing in the future? Yes, I have a retirement plan ready. Making plans is entertaining the Universe, but still: I want to complete an academy of fine arts in Florence, specializing in painting, create paintings, achieve some degree of financial independence, and then travel and make documentary films about yoga with my wife for the rest of my life. I want to popularize this subject, teach it. Everything I’ve achieved or know in this life is thanks to my wife and yoga. Yoga is truly the most important thing on this (and other) planet. Om. Follow @jamie.luna on instagram

Roman Melnikov Freehand and pre-made tattooing. Moscow based.

in Lisbon|Portugal 🇵🇹 Founder @1399_lisboa ॐ @ 1399live.art.room painting page @yaninaviland_art Booking: yanina.viland.tattooing@gmail.com Follow Yanina on Instagram

Cris Strato Booking: cris.strato.duecento@gmail.com 🇨🇭 BERN: 15/17 JULY 🇮🇹  MILANO: 19/22 JULY

Freelance designer, illustrator & animator Enquiries : iammasonlondon@gmail.com www.masonlondon.com

Maïka Zayagata is a Tattoo Artist since 2005, based in Montreal. Specialize in industrial and organic geometry, ornamental, dotwork, and blackwork. “I wish to beautify bodies in a unique and innovative way. And look to constantly challenge myself.” For people unfamiliar with you, could you please share a bit about the technique itself and how you came to practice it? I am a tattoo artist who uses geometry, dot work, black work and ornamental technique and ideas to create unique pieces for each of my clients. I love to use the basic shapes of the hexagon for example, but I enjoy any geometry really. It can be done in a way that gives a 3-dimensional effect using different shading in tones, or thickness of line. Or it can also be done in a more simple and minimalist way. And both can be mixed. To create different nuances of black and grey I enjoy using dot work, meaning: poking the skin one dot at a time. I also love using the contrast of the detailed geometric pattern with big black areas. I became interested in geometry, 15 years ago or so, I was looking to expand my creativity and I felt that geometry had an infinite capacity to inspire new and different ways to bring a design to life. I also like the abstraction in geometry, even if we recognize a shape like a hexagon we don’t attach it to a specific meaning or part of reality that we know. It has many different ways it can exist in the world… therefore a bigger potential for the creative mind and interpretation, in my humble opinion. How do you perceive art in general, and how do you approach it? I perceive art as a way of life. Not as something that you are born with, but something that can be learned. Everyone has the potential to create, it is not restricted to a select few. You just have to choose art, find what you are good at, and do it over and over again. That’s how talent is created. I approach my art by staying open as much as I can. By listening, not just with my ears, but also with my eyes, especially with my eyes, since I’m a visual artist. Also with determination, remembering that you’re constantly growing and need to keep at it! And last, staying grateful to be able to make a living with something I love, still, after 18 years of tattooing. What are you looking forward to or excited about in your career? I have traveled a lot and did conventions all over the world, getting some recognition for which I’m so grateful, and I am still excited about that! This May 2024, like every year for the past 10 years, I’m going to tattoo in Copenhagen, Denmark, and Berlin, Germany. Later this year, I’ll be at the Toronto and Montreal Conventions in the Geometrica app booth. In November, I will attend the International Tattoo Expo “Ankonventional” in Ancona Italy, with the @Geometrip Instagram page crew. Do you listen to music while working? If so, what kind of music gets you in the zone? I do listen to music in the studio. I enjoy the “typical” music one’s find in a tattoo studio, 😉 metal! But I have eclectic taste, so I enjoy also electronic, old 80s rock, sometimes stoner rock, nordic ambient music, atmosphere ambient metal, and ambient electronic. I also listen to Boards of Canada, Tricky, Portishead, and Massive Attack who are always a safe bet. It really depends on the mood. I also pay attention to who my client is, to make their experience as enjoyable as possible. But my favorite bands of all time are: Amenra, God Speed You Black Emperor!, Milanku, My Sleeping Karma, to name a few. Do you intend to shift your portfolio in any other direction? I’m hoping yes, maybe not in a radical way, but I am looking to enhance what I’m already doing. Last September I started a Master’s degree in digital art at NAD (École des arts numériques, de l’animation et du design de Montréal), where I will be exploring technologies in combination with tattooing. My hope is that I will explore new ways to create and get inspired. I’m not sure where this new adventure will take me, but I am really excited about it… To be continued. 😉 Do you have plans for retirement or other passions you’re looking forward to pursuing in the future? I cannot imagine a future where I will not be tattooing, although I am very much aware it can stop at any time, for any reasons, health or whatever. I will try to tattoo for as long as I can. I use to want to do other things more, but I realized that life is short and there’s so many things you can do well in a lifetime. So I will try to focus on the more important things to me: my work, my fiancé, family, friends, travels and my dog! Could you recommend a new up-and-coming artist that people should follow? Check out the Instagram page @geometricatattooapp It’s a tattoo app for iPad founded by our very own Canadian dot master, Cory Ferguson . There, you will find talented artists, new and experienced. I’d like to give a shout-out to Emily Roby in Montréal. Even if she’s been there for a while, 😉 she is a true artist! (@linesandsines or eroby.net)

When was the last time you give some flowers to your girlfriend? Well, Henry Chram has made a tradition out of hiding girls behind flowers. His murals are impressive.

Hurricane’s Hand Pøked Tattøøs Montreal, Canada belladonnahurricane@gmail.com Instagram

Jacqueline – tattooist Tattoo artist and crazy cat lady from New Zealand currently residing in Toronto, Canada Working at Seven Eight Tattoo (192 Spadina Ave, Suite 510 – 5th Floor) Instagram / Website

Gabba Salinas ?? Hamburg July 1-2 ?? Malmö July 4-5 ?? Copenhagen July 12-13 ?? Warsaw July 16-20 ?? Berlín July 22-25 ?? Prague July 26-27 ?? Paris August 9-10 travel.wearecoal.com/gabbasalinas Instagram