Ramon Maiden’s tattooed hands have been all around the world. But the artist, who isn’t tattooist, became famous especially for his retro posters that he draws with a ballpoint pen.
His motto ; the pencil unites with his love for tattoos that he considers an artistic form allowing him to express himself on advertising posters, pin-up posters or even paintings of well-known artists. No surface can resist him since his childhood.
« Inking the Borders of Heaven and Hell », his collection of inked work, reveals aspiring blue lines, totally revisiting the “Beaux-Arts” iconography. Often religious, his icons also adopt the traits of a vintage Audrey Hepburn, reborn with tattoos from neck right to the tip of his fingers. Self-taught, his diversions are as captivating as they are satirical. The title of his book says it all, a tad crook and especially unusual, his pencil allows him to transcend the Manichaean images of light and shadow, of good and bad, of heaven and hell.
Life decided that he would first work as a social assistant. But art will help him free a lot of his demons through his ex-votos that he makes from scratch.
Completely tattooed, Ramon Maiden is far from being a conventional artist. Very free, he articulates in his creations a fascination for History in general and the Spanish civil war. In « Inking the Borders of Heaven and Hell », the delinquent dandy and modern traveller, distorts and transforms the image known for knocking the codes and conscience. Through the lines, he depicts with one of a kind boldness certain pages of political history and even more doesn’t care of being blasphemous !"
INKING THE BORDERS OF HEAVEN AND HELL – THE ART OF RAMON MAIDEN
Hardcover: 176 pages Publisher: Graffito Books (November 1, 2015) Language: English ISBN-10: 1909051179 ISBN-13: 978-1909051171 29,99 £
