At 33, Jo Maddraft is already a tattoo artist who counts in the French landscape. Technically, his superb Asian compositions in colour show an undeniable mastery of light and contrast. They also illustrate his vast graphic culture and the many references that have nourished him, from pop-culture (manga, anime, video games), painting and tattooing. In Bourg-en-Bresse, located about a hundred kilometres from Lyon, his home town, Jo is now pursuing his artistic quest for the ultimate neo-Japanese style.
Tattooing is originally a family thing if I understand correctly?
Yes, I watched my father paint and tattoo all my childhood! He didn't have a shop though, 40 years ago it was more complicated to get into this field. But I've always been intrigued by it and I've always drawn.
When did you get into tattooing?
Some years later. At that time we bought the machines in kit form from Jet France (a distributor of equipment belonging to the Pigalle tattooist in Paris, Bruno). They were equipped with a system that worked in such a way that we didn't have to weld the needles. That's how I got started, at 16, on mates who were mad enough to get pricked and under my father's supervision. I knew I was doing shit but I had no other way to learn. My first tattoo, done in 2004, was a salamander overlay of a 'cow death' (see photo taken in 2014). I was not at all lulled by traditional tattooing when I started. I experimented a lot on my own, combining painting and tattooing. It was only later that I understood the meaning of classical styles.
Then you go professional?
I started off with a long period of studying and wandering, during which I learned a lot. I drew a lot, I touched other fields. The desire to tattoo was always present but I decided to try my luck in comics. I worked on a script, a manga strongly inspired by my childhood universe (Dragon Ball Z, Knights of the Zodiac, Nicky Larson, etc.). It told the story of a young man who wakes up on a beach near a battlefield. He has amnesia and goes in search of his origins and has many adventures. I presented the project to Glénat, they were interested. I sent them my first pages and the storyboard and the project was validated but, unfortunately, I had to stop it because of family problems. That was a turning point in my life. The following year I decided to go all out with tattooing.
Do you find a shop easily?
The tattooist I went to thought I wasn't ready to tattoo - which I understood. He offered me a one-year training course for the sum of €6000. I wasn't rolling in money and I refused. A few weeks later he contacted me again to offer me a deal: I would work for him, I would get 0€ for what I tattooed but that would pay for the training! I said OK and started working like crazy, 10 to 12 hours a day, to show that I was motivated. At the same time I worked nights and drove 90 km a day to the shop. The pace was a bit too high though, so I decided to sleep a few days a week in front of the shop, in my car. One day the owner surprised me and offered me to sleep inside. I was wrong! I started at 8am, prepared the rooms for everyone and usually finished around 10/11pm. Then came the time when I started getting 30% of what I was tattooing. But as this took away from the workload of the existing tattooist, he pushed me out, to keep it simple.
What happens next?
When I was 21 I went into partnership with a piercer to open a new shop. I was the only tattooist there for seven years before we decided to split up with the piercer. I then took a year off to renovate an old building and in parallel I tattooed in several shops all over France. After a year of wandering and work, ZOKU Tattoo shop was finally born in Bourg en Bresse, a private studio dedicated exclusively to tattoo and painting where I could create my universe around Asia. It's a warm place, without any passage. I hope to be able to bring in passionate people to exchange on all forms of art.
You are a good colourist as your tattoos show. Is colour something you were already interested in when you started?
It's the logical continuation of black. For those who want to learn and progress, colour is, in a way, and to use a reference to video games, the end of level boss. There is a lot to digest and a lot of paths to explore in this field. Moreover, colour is a reflection of the world I grew up in, surrounded by manga, comics and video games. These colourful universes joined my passion for beautiful lights and contrasts.
What were your other influences?
They were mainly in painting. I liked artists like Louis Royo, Alphonse Mucha, Juanjo Guarnido, Roberto Ferri, Leonardo da Vinci, Dali and so on.
Among tattoo artists, which professionals did you look to when you started out?
I had two or three references: Jeff Gogue first of all, my idol. He is really the artist who inspired me the most. Then there was Shawn Barber, who could do beautiful paintings; Nikko Hurtado, Paul Booth, Joe Capobianco, James Tex and of course Filip Leu. All of these artists fall into the category of high-level tattoo artist-painters. They have shaped my education in tattooing. At the time, I followed every single piece of information about them, analysing their tattoos to progress.
What did you see in them that you wanted to do too?
I had some basic drawing skills - although not the ones I have today - but I had huge gaps in my tattoo technique. When I started, Nikko Hurtado and Jeff Gogue were very active on the networks, they had sites where they posted videos of them tattooing. I watched a lot of Nikko for the very technical side and Gogue for the artistic, instinctive side. This guy fascinates me, especially in his working relationship with the Japanese tattoo artist Shige, whose influence he transcribed in his own way. Nikko and Jeff were for me the perfect mix between the good technician, who can go to the end of his ideas, and the artist, who frees his gesture, his ideas, his philosophy, his universe. As far as Filip Leu is concerned, he represents for me the history of Japanese tattooing in the West - at least in my early days.
Over time I imagine that other tattoo artists have joined this pool of references?
Of course, hundreds of others have inspired me: Carlos Torres, Bob Tyrrell, Victor Portugal, Henrik Grysbjerg, Guy Aïtchison, Shige, Orientching and I forget many. What I like most about them is their will to make the style evolve and not to stagnate in old school references. There was a lot of experimentation at certain times and most of the tattoo artists were doing everything, they knew how to do everything. That inspired me a lot and at the same time it pushed me to try things myself, to try all styles and especially realism. When I started, it was the best way for me to learn the whole technical part.
Your very detailed compositions, with very patient work on colours and textures, are a legacy of this? Is it a way of bringing your drawings to life?
To bring a drawing to life, you have to get as close as possible to what the eye is used to seeing. So the closer you get to realism, the more it flatters the eye, because it's easier to understand. Conversely, the more naive the subject, the more it is open to interpretation.
When do you integrate Asian culture into your graphic universe?
At the beginning, it was mostly linked to pop culture-manga. Then, as time went by and I drew characters from Asian mythology, I became interested in traditional Japanese tattoos and studied their symbolism and religious references. My interest is mainly aesthetic but I am also attentive to its symbolism.
Do you only do illustration/Asian style or can clients come to you for other types of projects?
I'm not stuck on one graphic style! As long as the project allows me to develop my creativity and gives me some freedom, I like to change worlds. This makes me more versatile and gives me new assets to develop my style. I'm always researching and learning.
What is your objective today?
I don't try to fit into a well-defined category and I would say that I try to make dynamic drawings, which fit the body in an ergonomic way, with a strong contrast for a good aging. All this in an Asian, ancient or neo futuristic atmosphere, like AKIRA (famous Japanese manga). Unfortunately, I'm not there yet. Partly because I have to deal with people's desires, shaped by their own experience of drawing and art. Also because I have a lot of influences from other worlds, like Ghost in the Shell, Gunm, Samurai Champloo, Ninja Scroll, comics and video games. I'm still immersed in them. In the last few years, however, I must admit that I have become a bit weary. Tattooing is becoming an obstacle that prevents me from freeing up time for my personal projects. Maybe also because I can't keep up with it anymore. I would like to be able to devote myself more to neo-jap illustration. I'd like to modernise traditional culture, with lots of movement and detail, crazy lights, etc. All the things I can't really do in tattooing.
Who are the tattoo artists you look up to?
Steve Moore, James Tex, Victor Chill and Orientching.
Do you spend a lot of time drawing in your daily life?
For the last 15 years it has been an integral part of my life. I draw when I get up and go to bed at 2am with a pencil in hand. When I'm not working for a client, I'm doing a painting, drawing or sculpture (which I never finish). I have dedicated a large part of my life to art in general and I like to experiment with as many media as possible. I try my hand at all styles, patiently, in my corner.
And painting?
For me, it's the only way to enjoy myself, without any constraints, and to let myself go with 100% personal ideas. The medium also allows me to spend hours and hours on it. It's my outlet!
What satisfaction do you find in tattooing that you don't find in drawing or painting?
It challenges my skills and gives meaning to all those years of work in art and illustration. These tattoos are worn by people, they matter to them and will disappear with them. My experience will have contributed to the life of another individual. This tattoo will not just be a forgotten drawing under a pile of books.
Does your father still tattoo? What does he think of the professional you have become?
He hasn't been tattooing for a few years and he doesn't paint anymore either. I think that after a lifetime of office work he has lost his childlike soul, or at least he can't really make it exist anymore. So yes, I think he's proud to see me succeed in making a living from my passion and I think he respects me for that. + Instagram : @jo_maddraft Zoku Tattoo Shop 14 Rue du Général Logerot, 01000 Bourg-en-Bresse
