Strongly influenced by the nightmarish worlds of artists such as HR Giger and John Carpenter, Paco Dietz has developed a highly personal graphic universe. Blending the biomechanical and the organic, he has honed his style over the thirty years he has spent tattooing in California. Having recently returned to Europe, Paco has decided to take a break from the profession and devote himself to his first artistic love: painting, in his town of Berlin.
Your return to painting is based on solid technical experience. Have you always drawn?
I have been seriously drawing since I was 4. My father owned an art studio in Florida called the Red Door. Everyday I would get up at 5am and walk to the studio to draw the live nude models he had there. I was a huge fan of comic books and superheroes so I became obsessed with drawing anatomy.
What other graphic influences have fuelled your world?
When I was 10 my parents took a trip to SF and while we were there we went to the museum of Natural History. They had a section from the set of Alien and they allowed people to actually touch and walk through it. I remember being taken by the feeling of interacting with Giger's art in that way. He had used real bones and I think it made it more impactful and meaningful. Needless to say this became an obsession of mine. Not just Giger's work, but the idea of full immersion into someone else's mind.
What happened next ?
Then later on my parents got divorced, I found myself back in SF on another parent trip. I went into a comic book store and saw for the first time the book Necronomicon by Giger. I was in love. I hadn't known who he was or that he had designed that corridor, but here it was. Once more this twisted surreal nightmare. Excited, I begged my mother to get me this book. She took one look at it and slammed it close saying this is disgusting it's gonna give me nightmares. It was settled whoever this guy was he had the power to bring people nightmares to life. It was over for me at that point, I wanted to do that. Another huge influence during my formative years was the movie John Carpenter's "The Thing ». As a result of those movies I wanted to get into special effects make-up. So I set my sights on that as a career.
Did it work ?
No. I had been unsuccessfully trying to get my foot in the door for a few years when a girl I knew saw some of my sketches and as asked if I would consider selling copies of them. She knew a tattooer named Miller Cotton who might be interested in buying them. I was super broke so I went to see him. He seemed excited to meet me and asked if I ever considered tattooing as a profession. I told him I didn't have any tattoos and didn't really like them, so no I hadn't. He said you should consider it. I would apprentice you. It pays really well and there are always pretty girls. I thanked him, but declined. My girlfriend who came with me really wanted a tattoo. So she ended up getting a tattoo of a small flower. I drew it and included my name (…). She talked about how cool it was and that I should get one too. Two weeks later I walked into his shop with more copies of drawings and got my first tattoo. That was it and I decided to start tattooing, in 1993.
A thirty-year adventure at the head of your own studio, Graven Image Tattoo, in California, which you recently decided to close. How did you feel about the end of this chapter?
I mean it's tough you know. I really love my clients and I've had so much growth and inspiration from the process of being on a journey with them. Because that's what it feels like. We became friends moving towards something and I think it bonds you to a person in a very unique way. The pain and sacrifice, the commitment and trust are so intense and as I am sure you have seen from my posts these relationships lasted many years. So its bitter sweet, my intention was never to be a tattoo artist, my intention was to do this till I could pursue painting, but I fell in love with the people I got the privilege of calling clients and later friends. I don't miss the necessity for considerations of time and money and I tried my hardest to find a balance where I felt they weren't just throwing money away. I made it clear that I was not a one and done tattooer. That these relationships would go on until I felt I had I reached a level of completion (within reason) that I considered done. But the always present clock eventually burned me out and I just didn't want to end up hating my job like so many other tattooers I saw.
What role does tattooing and painting play in your life today?
I maintained a relationship with my remaining active clients, but I am otherwise retired. I come back periodically to get as much done on these people as I can while I am in town, but other than that that's it. I'm finishing my new website, pacodietz.com, and have some hopes of passing on the information I have to those who are interested. There is a section in there for questions and I am happy to help if I can. I've been asked many times over the years to give tips on being a tattooer and my response to this is always the same, I'm not a great tattooer.
What do you mean by that?
Tattooing is a craft and I've always tried to be an artist. As such, I am not good at doing commercial art. Being a great tattooer means making a brand and sticking to that. It means giving people a product with a defined timeline. I've tried to do those things and I just can't do it. At some point I had to ask myself if I was tattooing for the picture or for the client. In other words, was I really pushing myself to make the best tattoo I could or was I trying to increase my likes on Instagram. I decided to only do tattoos that I would want on me, ones that would stand the test of time.
Let's talk about your necessarily dark world. Apart from Giger and Carpenter, which other artists have had a significant influence on your artistic practice?
I have been influenced by so many it would be hard to list them. It's not just been painters, but bands and movies, special effect artist, poets and authors and on and on. We live in a world of information overload where it's difficult to keep up with all things that influence us. I am a product of that culture. There are so many things all simultaneously converging on my psyche and I love it because I feel like there are really no limits and my imagination is constantly in high gear. Giger, Beksinski, Bouguereau, Velasquez, Bacon, Mucha, Turner and most especially Rothco to name just a few of just the painters. But I find inspiration from directors and authors and especially music and bands. Art is a language and I wish to be able to understand and speak as many of those languages as possible.
You mentioned John Carpenter's film ‘The Thing’. How do you explain its impact on you?
John Carpenter's "The Thing" changed my life, it's a definitive movie for me in a lot of different ways. The tone and philosophy of Rob Bottin the special effects guy on that are on a whole different level. The idea of not showing you everything being more impactful than showing too much. I wish I had that discipline. It is also what I get from Rothco and Robert Fripp of King Crimson. Less is more, which is super funny coming from me. Other influences include the film Alien, but also books like Dune and the Dark Tower series or Naked Lunch and the Nova Express by William S. Burroughs. I'm also a huge fan of Takayuki Takeya who is an amazing sculptor from Japan. And of course the man who influenced Giger, H.P. Lovecraft and Turner who influenced Beksinski.
Your blend the biomechanical and the organic. Where do you find the textures you like to work with?
I'm super squeamish about blood and guts so I'm fascinated by the power they hold plus the sexual energy of wet visceria. I find giving into that I'd rather not look at makes me vulnerable in a strange way. It's like showing someone my worst fear. I draw a lot of my material from things that brother me.
Do you set yourself limits in terms of realism and how important is colour?
It's funny I really don't like realism, I prefer surreal images. I tend to stay away from photo realistic things things, they look synthetic to my eye. Color is huge for me I do a lot of layering in my paintings and I use to do a lot of layering in my tattoos. I like the idea of using chromatic excitement to move the painting and cause the eye to play tricks on you. It's also so full of it's own visual language.
Have any other tattoo artists had a particular influence on you?
My tattoos very much influenced by Marcus Pacheco and the time I've spent with him. Many many discussions about coverups and layering really made me approach tattooing differently. It also played into my paintings quite a bit and my understanding of the science behind all those little pixels of color. Aaron Cain and his bio mech were a huge influence and his approach to flow and the construction of shapes. Obviously, I started in sort of a Golden Age of tattooing so there were many many people who I looked at and tried to get some inspiration or education from.
How important is music in your life? You were talking about the importance of music in your life? You mentioned the musician Robert Fripp and the group King Crimson, a psychedelic rock band from the 1970s whose album covers are very illustrative.
Music is a really important part of my art and my life. King Crimson has been huge as far as the way in which I approach art and my artistic process. And I got the chance to become really good friends with them and go on tour and tattoo some of them. Great guys and truly a life changing thing for me. The music they make isn't for entertainment, it's just them doing their art in front of people. The experience of getting to be so personally involved with them and what they were doing has had a big impact on the way I feel art should be done. It should be done for the love of doing it and if people want to participate then it's even better but not required. Robert Fripp is an amazingly complex and spiritual man, I really appreciate getting time with him and his views on art and artistic expression. They aren't the only band that I listen to of course, Neurosis, ISIS, Nick Cave, Nine Inch Nails, Tool and on and on. Each has a place in what I do. I think of my paintings as sort of music in which there is a harmony and a tempo that needs to take center stage. + IG : @pacodietz www.pacodietz.com
