Combining blackwork techniques and mysticism, Monika Malewska has found her favourite style. She delivers a strong spiritual universe. Faces with empty eyes and split bodies populate her imaginary galaxy. An atmosphere that is both dark and psychedelic. Almost disturbing. A talent to be followed for sure!
Hello Monika, can you introduce yourself?
Hello, my name is Monika Malewska and I work as a tattoo artist. I am an architect by education but I started tattooing while I was still at university. I'm also a crazy plant ladslowly turning my house into a jungle, I love spending time with my friends, being out in nature and riding my bike, especially in the woods.
Where are you from?
I’m based in Katowice, Poland and have lived here since 2015. I was born and raised in a village in the eastern part of the country, very close to the border with Belarus. I lived there for 18 years of my life. Then I moved to a nearby city, Bialystok, where I studied architecture and urban planning for 5 years and where my adventure with tattooing began. Shortly after graduation I decided to move south, to Katowice, and this is where I live to this day. It was a crazy decision, at that time I didn’t know this place or anyone here. I just got a job at a tattoo studio so I decided to leave everything and go. Guess you never get to change your life by making safe decisions.
How did you become a tattoo artist?
Well, it took a few years from when I first thought about it to when I got my first tattoo. But when I managed to make my first tattoo, it stayed with me and immediately dominated my life. The beginning was basically me going with my friend to a tattoo shop to hold her hand while she was getting her first ink. I was that awkward friend of a client who sits the entire session without saying a word and looks at your hands while you work. In the end I was so thrilled with it all that I booked a date for myself. I didn't really know what I wanted to do I just knew I wanted to feel what it was like and go back to that place again. So far it sounds like one of the worst types of customer you can get. And just so I don't disappoint you, let me add that I designed this tattoo myself as well. But yes, I was a complete rookie at all of this. In my environment, tattoos were not something popular, not even something normal. So after getting my first tattoo I completly sunk into the tattoo world. I started looking for information, follow more and more tattoo artists, learning about different styles. But it was so rare in my community that I quickly became this tattoo girl. Then I went to my first tattoo convention and what struck me most was such unlimited freedom of expression, both in creation and in appearance. All these people looked so awesome and were happy and colorful. I looked at the tattoos appearing in the contests and was speechless. Then I knew I wanted to tattoo. I've always wanted to create and thought architecture would be an opportunity to do so but it's actually very technical at first. There are not many architects out there who can express themselves in a real, free way, and I was aware that I would never be one of those architects because it's not my passion. My interest in tattooing made me very aware of that. The world of tattoo fascinated me from the beginning. And what I saw there at the convention turned my world upside down and I could no longer see any other path for myself. So starting tattooing was more than a new hobby for me. I knew that some sort of internal process had started in me but I don't think I realized how much it would change my life. So the time came and I finally found the courage to find a teacher. I contacted a local tattoo artist that I look up to, Konrad Knrd, and he agreed that I could come to the studio from time to time and watch him work. It was one of the biggest steps out of my comfort zone.
How did you learn?
At the very beginning I visited one of the studios where Konrad Knrd, Paweł Karczewski and Damian Bak were working at the time, allowing me to observe their work and ask questions. At the same time I was studying, doing my master thesis and working to earn money for my first equipment. It was a crazy pace but I had a clear goal and a lot of determination. It lasted a few months, I was visiting guys in the studio, collecting information, learning how to prepare the place, how to clean it, how to keep hygiene, which products to use, etc. Finally a brother of my friend convinced me to give him his first tattoo. I did it, it was weird and I didn’t really knew what to do. But it got better with every next tattoo. I started tattooing at home because there was no room in the studio for a new person. I had tremendous support at the time from my friends who let me tattoo their bodies. I converted one room in my apartment into a studio, made sure that everything was done in decent conditions. I was working at home, but I was looking for some good studio where I could be an apprentice, unfortunately with no luck. Back then, there were a few tattoo studios in Białystok, two or three of them with people who were aware of working in their own style. I knew that if I wanted to do it, I had to do it well and for that I would need a good place to learn. And since I couldn’t find it anywhere locally, I decided to look elsewhere. I didn't care what city it would be, I just wanted a good place to learn. And then I found Zmierzloki studio in Tychy, a town near Katowice, run by well-known tattoo artists Oliwia Daszkiewicz and Mateusz Wojtak. My parents were horrified when they found out I had quit architecture for tattooing in some small town on the other side of the country. Beside Oliwia and Mateusz, my new studio team were guys who also started tatooing recently so we were all very acive, spending hours at the studio, drawing all the time, helping each other out. As I acclimated to the new place, started meeting new people and opening up to the world, everything sped up. To have such people around you who exchange knowledge and learn from each other is a real blessing.
How long have you been tattooing?
I did my first tattoo in the end of 2014 so soon it will be 7 years. Crazy how time flies. 7 years is enough to learn something but I know there is still more to come. It’s all about the experience and this is something you work throug years. These 7 years have been crazy and my life changed 180° since I started tattooing so I’m pretty excited for what’s yet to come.
Can you tell us about your tattoo career?
I think I started in a very good time, when tattooing was flourishing in Poland. People start doing stuff nobody seen here before, using different tehniques, different styles. When I decided to move from Białystok to Katowice I ended up in the best place I could imagine, a dream place for tattooers. Clients seemd to fell in love with dotwork at the time, it was something new and fresh amd they were very aware of the possibilities and open to original, interesting projekts. So I had clients for my designs and could work all the time even though at the time I was a no-name on a local scene. I always felt that even at the beginning, when my skills in tattooing were still poor, my designs were good and they were defending themselves. As soon as i felt comfortable with what I’m doing I started participate in tattoo conventions not as a guest but as a tatto artist. I also start going on guest spots and been doing it all the time. Thanks to it I build my clients base all over the country. After two years of tattooing I start doing guest spots abroad and this was next big step.
How did you develop your style?
My style is constantly changing and I don't feel like I can stop in my quest just yet. I initially fell in love with the dots as soon as I saw them. I did simple tattoos using geometry, plants, animals, as well as basic tattoo motifs. Over time, I started doing more complex designs and when I found a motive interesting, I drew it all the time over and over again. That was the moment when my projects started to be about something. They carried a message and my clients felt it right away. I observed which solutions looked good on the skin after healing and what needed to be changed. I paid attention to how the tattoo lies on the body, how to build compositions so that everything works together, what solutions look good and what don't work. Big help on that proces was looking for traditional Japanese tattoos, biomechanics, geometry, tribal tattoos I’m still processing a lot of these information and try to incorporate it into my art.
How did you learn how to draw?
I draw since I remember. I was this kid who did plastics homework for his friends. My idol as a kid was my aunt who is an artist, she paint, draw and write and I soaked with it in my early childchood. I was reading her children’s books that she wrote and illustrated, how I looked at her paintings and drawings all over her appartment and dreamed that one day I can also draw this pretty. That was inspiring and it showed me the way of self expression through art. In high school I started to earn my first real money by drawing portraits and carricatures and suprisingly it went pretty well. I did this for almost 6 years and even though it’s not a high art, it helped me improve my technical skills and was good training. Also in high school I took a 2-year drawing course to prepare for the architecture exams. This was also an important period in my life, but now I see how much it helped me and blocked me at the same time. It helped with my skills, but it blocked my imagination because I was mostly redrawing pictures in a realistic style. I only unlocked myself when I started to consciously delve into different types of art, explore different forms of expression, unconventional, unlimited, free. And drawing every day. To be honest, at the beginning I hated it, my brain was as stiff as a piece of wood. Only with time did it start to soften and become more flexible. I needed daily exercises for my brain to start thinking in a different way, to learn how to create something from scratch. So with enough determination and awareness of what one is doing, there is hope for everyone.
Why do you only use black ink?
I use grayscale to be specific, greywash and sometimes grey inks as well as black. And I’m monochromatic because it suits my designs the most. I've been drawing with pencil most of my life, so working that way on the skin was pretty natural for me. I ocassionally play with colors when painting and I’ve made few illustrations in color but honestly, I only feel good with my tattoo designs when they are b/w. They look more mystical nd that’s the vibe I go for. Also, black is timeless. I like how it looks on the skin and how it ages.
How do you work on a drawing?
If I have a theme from a client and we've agreed on motive I start with composition, good relationships between elements, I think about light and what part of the body it's going to be on because that determines a lot of things too. After preparing the base, I play around with symbols and different effects. If I'm drawing just for myself or doing my own tattoo designs I first look for a theme. I try to put myself in a sort of trance, close my eyes and let the images flow through my head, evolve, transform, change. Sometimes it's just a moment, sometimes it takes longer. When I dwell on an idea, the same process happens on paper/ipad - changing, transforming, slowly arriving at the end result. I like to go with the flow and see what happens along the way. Some ideas will be worth pursuing, others will be just for practice or as part of the process. I often leave some ideas and come back to them after some time, sometimes a very long time, because I see that there are other things I need to learn to finish it the way I see it in my head.
What are your main inspirations?
I have learned to find inspiration both in different types of art and in the world around me. Sometimes an idea can be triggered by a situation, by something I see, hear or feel. I am a careful observer, focusing on the small details around me. Nature is an unlimited source of inspiration for me because it helps me clear my mind, and when there is silence, there is also room for new ideas. I am fascinated by clouds, stars, the sun and the moon and could stare at them for hours. For me it is inextricably linked to spirituality, my own and that of the whole world. Astral worship was/is a major axis of belief systems in many places on earth and this subject is a great source of inspiration for me. All the gods, their imagery, cults, sacred rituals, all the magic that goes along with it, the connection of humans to the world and to that which cannot be seen. This leads to another topic which is the world of dreams and psychedelic visions, which are inseparable from the spiritual world. I try to consciously explore these fields and smuggle their elements into my work. I've also been getting more and more into the topic of folk and tribal art lately. There is a lot of beauty in it, sometimes raw and simple other times complex and colorful. This is part of getting to know the roots, the foundations for what happened later in the broadly defined art. I am also very privileged to be surrounded by creative people working in different fields of art, whom I can also call my friends. They have taught me to express myself, to think outside the box and many times their work or thoughts have triggered ideas in my head.
Do you have some painters for inspiration?
Yes, and there are many of them. Let me list a few names here: Alphonse Mucha, Stanisław Wyspiański, Maxfield Parrish, Tamara de Lempicka, Ephriam Moses Lilien, Salvador Dali, Erté, George Barbier, Toshi Yoshida, Yuko Shimizu, Eyvind Earle, Hokusai. These are just some of them, those whose works I return to most often and who have had a great impact on me. When it comes to paintings I try to analyze them, look how the composition is built, how the light works, what are the connections between the elements, look for patterns and solutions. For me, looking for inspiration in art is stimulating my mind to think and learn from it.
Are your tattoos kind of mystic?
Yes and I have always been interested in mysticism. As I mentioned before, I found a great source of inspiration in all kinds of beliefs, from religions to cults to myths. I think underlying this fascination is the fact that I grew up as a catholic and religion was a big part of my life in childchood. I had a need to seek spirituality from an early age. I saw the more mystical side of the catholic religion, some of these things were very magical to me at the time and had a big impact on my mind and imagination. However, as I grew up I realized that I disagreed with many of the basic principles of this religion. I also got the distinct impression that it was more like an institution, uninterested in giving people the knowledge of what spirituality really is and the kind of power that comes with it. I began to search for my own spirituality, hence the fascination with various beliefs that has so strongly influenced my work. But some archetypes remained in me, for example my characters often have poses like in a holy paintings, they look like saints etc. You know, growing up in the countryside I had no other stimulation of that sort, no theaters, no museums or art galleries, no concerts or other cultural things, except for school trips once in a while. Even though I am no longer Catholic, the influence of sacred art in my early childhood was big. From architecture, to paintings and sculptures, to music and rituals. It all stimulated me from early childhood and I naturally incorporated it into my work.
Are you supersticious?
Well, yes and no. I’m not shaking in fear when black cat cross my path on Friday 13th. But I do enjoy the subject itself because supersticions are strongly connected with symbolism and this is my thing. Also I think it’s inseparrable from believing, whatever you believe. I like exploring the old superstitions that existed among the Slavs. Also if you know about tattoo history, you see that all over the world, in ancient civilizations, tribes and cultures they had a certain meanings and that follows certain supersticions were linked to them. They were symbolic and their energy could either guide people through their lives or mark them. I also decided to avoid clearly negative symbols and meanings because I really believe that we have to be caferul and aware of what kind of energy we are putting on our skin. But for me the intention that one have behind the tattoo is very important so in that way I can call myself supersticious.
Is tattoo a passion for you?
Yes it is, otherwise I couldn’t do it. I fell for it so much that I was willing to change my life completly just so I can do it. Tattooing has consumed me from the beginning and affected my life strongly and my passion became also my work. And when passion meets work it’s not always pink and glitter and rainbow relationship. I had my ups and downs with tattooing, especially when I did too much of it and didn’t keep balance between this and my other passions and free time. I used to be workaholic and still try do fight this but as I start working in my own rythm and made time for rest and other passions, I feel more balanced, more inspired and more willing to draw, create and tattoo.
Do you express yourself through other arts ?
From early childhood my main activity was drawing with pencil and at some point in my life I closed myself off to other media. The last few years have been a big turning point for me and I've started trying new things, some just for fun, others I hope will become more in the future. I started painting some time ago and I use that as an excuse to play with colors and styles other than my own. I also play with clay a bit, creating small sculptures, utilitarian or competently useless objects, and I find it very relaxing. Working with spatial forms is a whole new way of creating for me and I am so fascinated by it that I want to pursue it more actively in the right time. I also love taking amateur photos with my analog camera and point it mostly at my friends, sky or nature around me. I try to keep it with me all the time. Analogue photos have an enchanted soul and a piece of the moment in which they were taken, that's what I love most about them. My other great love is poetry and I recently returned to writing after many years of complete abandonment. Writing helps me organize my thoughts, see things as they really are, slow my mind down. It is almost like meditation, it requires silence and stillness. This form of expression is closest to my soul, most personal. I hope in the future it will go beyond the drawer and I will be able to share it with people. Nurturing these passions and creating in areas other than just tattooing has brought a lot of freshness to my life and mind and it helps me stay creative.
What is the main challenge of tattooing today in Poland?
During the last decade, the Polish tattoo scene has flourished and for several years the market has been gradually saturated. Tattooing has entered the mainstream and with it the number of tattooed people has grown very quickly. Unfortunately, it often happened that people without any drawing preparation or knowledge of the industry bought themselves equipment and started tattooing, opened their studios. Such approach spoils the market, also accustoms customers to the tattoo that you can get quickly, cheaply, but also in very average quality. For me personally, if you want to put something on someone's skin, you need to have some basis and drawing skills. It comes not only from the respect for the profession, but above all, from the respect for the client and his body. Besides the lack of technical and drawing preparation there is also a lack of proper work ethics, very loose attitude towards the client and the profession. This in turn translates into the attitude of customers and the fact that they also do not take tattoo artists and appointments seriously. Poland does not have a strongly rooted tattoo culture, it is a relatively young field in our country, initially associated mainly with the underworld and prison tattooing. Tattoos in the 90s were, to put it mildly, average. Copied stickers, bad portraits, futboolmclubs logos etc. Most of the tattooists had no other skills other than operating the machine. I say ‚most’ because there are few dinosaurs who were doing good stuff back then, had very good drawing skills, a lot of determinantion and were just passionate about it. They are the creators of what we know as a polish tattoo scene right now. But what has happened in recent years is simply amazing. A sense of aesthetics has come to the forefront of tattooing, a lot of people with art education or amateur artists have entered the industry and set a new direction and. Tattoos became an art. In Poland we have a lot of great tattoo artists, just say what style you want to tattoo and you will find someone who is great at it. Besides many of these people create also in other fields, they paint, draw, sculpt. It's worth promoting because these people do a really good job and cross the borders of imagination and body perception in the context of tattooing. @monika_malewska
