Inkers MAGAZINE - ANDERSON LUNA

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ANDERSON LUNA

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ANDERSON LUNA- Stairway to heaven

@pascalbagot

No need to say that the competition is tough in New-York and artists have to really push themselves to keep on the top of the wave. But it doesn’t seem to be a problem for Anderson Luna. At only 33 years old, things seem to have come quite naturally and easily for the tattooer. He progressively found his way through the studios and made it to one of the most prestigious in town, Saved Tattoo. Some would say he’s blessed and the wouldn’t be wrong. Regarding the considerable amount of religious figures he faithfully inks with strong details everyday, it is not an option to take lightly.

You are tattooing more than 10 years now, how do you feel about it?

It’s definitely special. You hear all these older tattooers, the big legends saying : « If you haven’t been tattooing for 10 years you’re not a tattooer ». But, it’s done. People ask me to teach them all the time but I can’t take on an apprentice, I’m still a young tattooer right ? I can’t take lightly that kind of stuff. I don’t know, maybe in 5-6 years when I have my own shop. I would never take on an apprentice or try to open up my own shop or anything like that before I meet 10 years tattooing. I’d rather be more secure and knowing that I’ve been doing it. The tattoo scene in New-York is busy, are you close to it? I care more about my tattoos than everything else. If I’m getting better then I’m happier. I’m not trying to hang out, trying to be in every tattoo show, event… New-York is my home and I have my friends here,… Most of the tattooers come from other places, so when they come here, they meet tattooers and tattoo people, and that’s all. That’s their whole circle of friends. Everytime I do see tattooers it’s always eight of them altogether ! They always hang out together. But I never hang out with them, here it is my town. When did you start getting tattooed? Really young. I was doing graffiti and used to hang out in the Bronx. I went up to this tattoo studio, Tuff City, where Ces and Yes worked. They were also doing graffiti together and I wanted to meet them. While there I was looking at the wall and I saw these drawings of beautiful women, faces… and I asked who was the artist. That was Andre Malcolm (working at Invisible Ink at that time, now at Analog Tattoo in San Francisco, ndlr). I met him and he completely took me under. He started working on my left harm when I was 15 or 16… really young, not supposed to be tattooing me (laughs), and I kept in touch with him. Were you drawing at that time ? As far as I can remember I’ve always been drawing, painting and all that. Very early I wanted to tattoo, I thought it was a way of living, doing art. In any other kind of art field, you’re spending a lot of time alone, alone in your room making your artwork, but in tattooing you get to meet a lot of people. I was in this art program in the Bronx. I was about to go to an art school but right before that these guys of Tuff City were opening a shop and offered me to work there. I had done maybe 10 tattoos on my friends, like small ones, and they gave me a chance. I staid 3 years, starting with small motifs. Andre ended up working there as well. He helped me a lot, he taught me everything I know. Then I met Scott (Campbell) and offered me to come at Saved in 2010. How difficult was it to switch from paper to skin ? A lot of things I had to like unlearn and I got to learn the design for tattooing which is completely different. It has to be all planned out from the beginning, and follow certain rules. Like you have to be able to read an arm from across the room not only from very close. For me, most important visually is that it has to be readable. Enough contrast, enough skin, enough black. As readable as possible. Still, you put a lot of details in it… I still do, I want it to look like amazing from afar and I want you to get close and there’s still something to look at. I try to make it so that it doesn’t get lost when you’re far away from it, with a strong impact. Your doing mainly religious figures, did you always do ? I’ve always been obsessed with religion. Since I was a child. My grandmother was catholic and she would take us to the church. I’ve always felt the shock of the space inside of it, being intrigued by the many images there, feeling so much power and a lot of energy. I didn’t believe in a lot of these stuff, I always had to question and searching, I read a lot about different religions, but the imagery is always something that I really enjoyed. To draw and paint, it is something powerful. I’m not so much into western religion and now I’m very much into eastern’s. I love the western esthetic and the images as well, but I relate much more to Hinduism and Buddhism. They are more in line with my world view which is about here and now, self-transformation, making yourself better… Something more internal. Is there one imagery better than the other for tattooing ? I have a lot of respect for these imageries but I think the style and the way it’s drawn is much better in the eastern religion; and it’s definitely better for tattooing. It’s been around longer, it’s older, and I feel like the more ancient it is, the more it’s been used and revered, the more powerful it is; it carries more validation. The indian stuff it’s really fun for me to do, you don’t see a lot and there could be more tattooed. There’s more freedom to play with it, there’s always different styles, while there’s so many ways to do the tibetan stuff wrong. I would like to do more egyptian, because I don’t see that much out there. It’s really untapped, it can definitely be developed. How do you go through your references ? I have a lot of books. Too many. A thousand in my house, they’re everywhere. I like to collect them. I like to have them with me, I do read a lot. Anytime you look at a reference it’s hard, I can spend 2 hours and I haven’t done anything yet. Just be aware that you can get lost in references, there are so much, and that’s enjoyable. Sometimes I’m like : « Oh my job is just to find references ! » (laughs). A lot of times though I find a handful of different images I like and I collage them all together. You only work in black & grey, why ? I understand it better. I concentrate more on the form, the line, the contrast, it freed up more space in my brain. I like the look too, myself I don’t have any colour tattoos. It’s good for everybody, no matter what is the colour of your skin. Sometimes colour can only looks good on a certain type of skin. But I want tattoos to be accessible to everyone. I think also that it heals better over time. Colour is fine to me when it’s flat, graphic, and japanese style. Do you feel like being part of a specific style? My stuff doesn’t really fall into one specific genre of tattooing; mine is more in between stuff. I definitely like that illustrative kind of look for tattooing. The very photorealistic stuff is very impressive but every times I see it I don’t like that it’s based on a photo, the reproduction of an image. I don’t like to copy I’d rather create an image, especially for tattooing. I try to make a little bit more graphic, it ages better, lines are really important and that is something that misses also to photorealistic stuff, but you need it for tattooing. There’s a lot of a peaceful mind in your work… There’s no violence in my work. I feel like most people that come to me want something that’s just like beautiful, that is not super intense. I think it has more power to it. I try in every tattoo to see how peace feels, more than anything. I like faces, I think that’s something very powerful, weather that’s a deity, a Saint… It’s not an easy thing to draw, but it catches our eye. The content of the image is something that is supposed to be beyond us, in some ways. Do your customers get a specific benefice from your tattoos ? A lot of them don’t have many tattoos. A lot are coming for the first time or they’re not into tattoos. I don’t get collectors, I get people who think they don’t want to get a tattoo until they see my work. Maybe because it encapsulates things they’re working on. I know there a lot of people that are completely sober, like alcoholic anonymous, people that don’t drink, used to have problems… CONTACT: https://savedtattoo.com/ https://www.instagram.com/andersonluna/

The tattoo scene in New-York is busy, are you close to it?

I care more about my tattoos than everything else. If I’m getting better then I’m happier. I’m not trying to hang out, trying to be in every tattoo show, event… New-York is my home and I have my friends here,… Most of the tattooers come from other places, so when they come here, they meet tattooers and tattoo people, and that’s all. That’s their whole circle of friends. Everytime I do see tattooers it’s always eight of them altogether ! They always hang out together. But I never hang out with them, here it is my town.

When did you start getting tattooed?

Really young. I was doing graffiti and used to hang out in the Bronx. I went up to this tattoo studio, Tuff City, where Ces and Yes worked. They were also doing graffiti together and I wanted to meet them. While there I was looking at the wall and I saw these drawings of beautiful women, faces… and I asked who was the artist. That was Andre Malcolm (working at Invisible Ink at that time, now at Analog Tattoo in San Francisco, ndlr). I met him and he completely took me under. He started working on my left harm when I was 15 or 16… really young, not supposed to be tattooing me (laughs), and I kept in touch with him.

Were you drawing at that time ?

As far as I can remember I’ve always been drawing, painting and all that. Very early I wanted to tattoo, I thought it was a way of living, doing art. In any other kind of art field, you’re spending a lot of time alone, alone in your room making your artwork, but in tattooing you get to meet a lot of people. I was in this art program in the Bronx. I was about to go to an art school but right before that these guys of Tuff City were opening a shop and offered me to work there. I had done maybe 10 tattoos on my friends, like small ones, and they gave me a chance. I staid 3 years, starting with small motifs. Andre ended up working there as well. He helped me a lot, he taught me everything I know. Then I met Scott (Campbell) and offered me to come at Saved in 2010.

How difficult was it to switch from paper to skin ?

A lot of things I had to like unlearn and I got to learn the design for tattooing which is completely different. It has to be all planned out from the beginning, and follow certain rules. Like you have to be able to read an arm from across the room not only from very close. For me, most important visually is that it has to be readable. Enough contrast, enough skin, enough black. As readable as possible.

Still, you put a lot of details in it…

I still do, I want it to look like amazing from afar and I want you to get close and there’s still something to look at. I try to make it so that it doesn’t get lost when you’re far away from it, with a strong impact.

Your doing mainly religious figures, did you always do ?

I’ve always been obsessed with religion. Since I was a child. My grandmother was catholic and she would take us to the church. I’ve always felt the shock of the space inside of it, being intrigued by the many images there, feeling so much power and a lot of energy. I didn’t believe in a lot of these stuff, I always had to question and searching, I read a lot about different religions, but the imagery is always something that I really enjoyed. To draw and paint, it is something powerful. I’m not so much into western religion and now I’m very much into eastern’s. I love the western esthetic and the images as well, but I relate much more to Hinduism and Buddhism. They are more in line with my world view which is about here and now, self-transformation, making yourself better… Something more internal.

Is there one imagery better than the other for tattooing ?

I have a lot of respect for these imageries but I think the style and the way it’s drawn is much better in the eastern religion; and it’s definitely better for tattooing. It’s been around longer, it’s older, and I feel like the more ancient it is, the more it’s been used and revered, the more powerful it is; it carries more validation. The indian stuff it’s really fun for me to do, you don’t see a lot and there could be more tattooed. There’s more freedom to play with it, there’s always different styles, while there’s so many ways to do the tibetan stuff wrong. I would like to do more egyptian, because I don’t see that much out there. It’s really untapped, it can definitely be developed.

How do you go through your references ?

I have a lot of books. Too many. A thousand in my house, they’re everywhere. I like to collect them. I like to have them with me, I do read a lot. Anytime you look at a reference it’s hard, I can spend 2 hours and I haven’t done anything yet. Just be aware that you can get lost in references, there are so much, and that’s enjoyable. Sometimes I’m like : « Oh my job is just to find references ! » (laughs). A lot of times though I find a handful of different images I like and I collage them all together.

You only work in black & grey, why ?

I understand it better. I concentrate more on the form, the line, the contrast, it freed up more space in my brain. I like the look too, myself I don’t have any colour tattoos. It’s good for everybody, no matter what is the colour of your skin. Sometimes colour can only looks good on a certain type of skin. But I want tattoos to be accessible to everyone. I think also that it heals better over time. Colour is fine to me when it’s flat, graphic, and japanese style.

Do you feel like being part of a specific style?

My stuff doesn’t really fall into one specific genre of tattooing; mine is more in between stuff. I definitely like that illustrative kind of look for tattooing. The very photorealistic stuff is very impressive but every times I see it I don’t like that it’s based on a photo, the reproduction of an image. I don’t like to copy I’d rather create an image, especially for tattooing. I try to make a little bit more graphic, it ages better, lines are really important and that is something that misses also to photorealistic stuff, but you need it for tattooing.

There’s a lot of a peaceful mind in your work…

There’s no violence in my work. I feel like most people that come to me want something that’s just like beautiful, that is not super intense. I think it has more power to it. I try in every tattoo to see how peace feels, more than anything. I like faces, I think that’s something very powerful, weather that’s a deity, a Saint… It’s not an easy thing to draw, but it catches our eye. The content of the image is something that is supposed to be beyond us, in some ways.

Do your customers get a specific benefice from your tattoos ?

A lot of them don’t have many tattoos. A lot are coming for the first time or they’re not into tattoos. I don’t get collectors, I get people who think they don’t want to get a tattoo until they see my work. Maybe because it encapsulates things they’re working on. I know there a lot of people that are completely sober, like alcoholic anonymous, people that don’t drink, used to have problems… CONTACT: https://savedtattoo.com/ https://www.instagram.com/andersonluna/