After a long career behind the machines, Guil Zekri is now devoting himself to painting. A medium in which the Israel-born tattoo artist, who also runs his own art school in Cologne, is totally immersed, creating mysterious, mystical and realistic works inspired by the Baroque and neo-classical movements. Thrilled by the enthusiasm of his first exhibition at the Gods Of Ink convention held in Frankfurt, Germany, on 14, 15 and 15 April, Guil tells us about his new life and the choices that led him there.
Alongside your career as a tattoo artist, you are devoting yourself to oil painting and it seems to have taken a big place in your life. How did this progression come about?
I think I have always been a painter. I have studied plastic arts in Paris, philosophy and aesthetics, and I was always attracted to the Fine Arts. My work as a tattoo artist was also influenced by them, development was quite natural as I have started painting and drawing not only for the tattoos but also for merchandise (T-shirts, posters visit cards, and so on). What happened gradually is that the more I painted the more I felt interested in painting, and in the last 15 years of work I have found that it has became a necessity. So, it was just natural to plunge into painting full time
Can you briefly tell us about your tattooing career?
I have started getting tattoos already in the end of the 1980s. I was a metalhead and wanted to get tattoos. To do so I’ve clean some floors, worked in McDonald’s and every bit of money that I got I spent it on Vinyls or tattoos. In 1998, I have moved from Israel to Paris where I started my studies and did a bachelor in arts and in 1999 I have became an apprentice in a tattoo studio in Paris. These 10 months there teached me how to make needles, to fix my machines, to prepare drawings and take care of hygiene etc etc. I did not finish my apprenticeship there because I felt like I’ve been used by the owner of the shop so I’ve stopped and concentrated on the arts and my bachelors.
What happens then?
In 2003, I have moved to Germany to a small city called Munster and there I have found a studio that accepted me. I was 29 and at this time it worked. I restarted the process of becoming a tattoo artist! In 2003 I started to tattoo professionally and then I opened in 2007 Reinkarnation, worked on every convention possible (London, Paris, Stockholm, etc.). I loved it and I still do today. I still own Reinkarnation tattoos and the lobby tattoos (2 tattoo studios in Cologne) and I still travel to conventions but not as much as I did before.
You recently had your first exhibition of paintings at the Gods of Ink convention. How did it go?
The convention was amazing for me. I have spoken with Miki Vialeto about having a space to work as a tattoo artist on the convention as I have done the last 12 London‘s to conventions. My relationship with Miki is very honest and we have decided that, as I don’t tattoo that much currently, it is just not fair to take a place from a young Tattoo Artist that is putting all his life into tattooing in the moment. But, after a very brief conversation, we’ve understood that it would be a great idea to present my work in the convention. Miki is a great supporter of my artwork and I felt very honored when he told me that I can expose work there. So, I have brought 16 paintings to the convention and for me, personally, it was a great success. It was a confirmation that everything I have worked for in the last 10 years have created a new person. Also, the respect and love and support I’ve got from all the tattoo artists that I’ve worked alongside with for so many years and so many conventions have somehow confirmed that this is what I was supposed to become, I suppose, a full-time painter, every day. I can’t thank them enough for this amazing experience.
In your work there are many representations of many naked bodies. Does this attraction for the body, the anatomy, precede your interest in tattooing?
Yes, of course the connection between being a Tattoo Artist in doing big works like bodysuit, sleeves, leg sleeves, back pieces has a direct connection to the anatomy paintings in my work. I do believe that the human body is a very difficult subject to work on, and to represent in art. I do think that to follow the morphology, and the construction of the human form is easier, but without no doubt, the 20 years that I’ve been professionally tattooing have helped me a lot in understanding the human body, the human form, its anatomy and the connotation included in its representation on a canvas.
Surprisingly, tattoos are absent from your paintings, is there a reason for this?
Yes, it is true. I have never really thought about integrating tattoos into my artwork. There is something in my brain that says that it needs to be separated. My artwork is a dialogue between me and myself, and between me and the canvas. The tattoos is a dialogue between me and my customer, or the person who decides to get the tattooed by me so deliberately. I have chosen not to integrate tattoos into my artwork or its representation on human form. Today it is done and naturally when I’m tattooing I’m a Tattoo Artist ; when I’m painting I’m a painter, these are two different mediums, and they should be treated differently!
On your website you refer to the Baroque and Neo-Classicism movements, what do you appreciate in these movements?
Baroque and Neo-Classicism have been the styles that have influenced me the most. I do love all styles of painting, and I do love all styles and different directions that art has taken in the last centuries - including contemporary arts. But I do believe that, technically, it is very hard to paint a neo-classic painting, or a figurative baroque painting. Most of the paintings in the baroque time were figurative, and as I love painting, the human anatomy or the study of stories told by humans through the Bible or mythology, I guess I have decided to adopt these two different genres of style to represent my symbolisms and my iconography.
In the themes that you tackle we find suffering, faith, spirituality but also transformation, mystery. These are themes that are specific or at least related to the world of tattooing. Should we see a direct influence or reasons for your interest in tattooing?
This themes are global and general themes that occupies the human mind from the beginning. I do not believe that the influence of my subjects in my artwork are directly influenced by tattooing. I do believe that my artwork, at least, for me has a deeper meaning, and a personal research that is above the research I do in my tattoos, or that in general is done in the tattoo scene ! Tattoos are a very social structured behavior, structured type of art and a limited medium, while painting is a very solitary and intimate artwork that is done with yourself, so this type of things have more to do with my childhood, upbringing, cultural interest in social influences than the tattoo world itself.
If I understand correctly, you paint rather painfully, or at least with very high standards.
I have a necessity to paint. Painting have become the most important part of my life, I am not sure if it is the painting itself meaning mixing colors and putting them on a canvas or the personal research in the character depth or the depth of my character. Working out these themes and subjects that are virtually a representation of myself as a person as an artist and as a human, that makes the work very personal. Even though I’m trying to represent figures, human figures in a fantasy full backgrounds and situation, the symbolism is definitely representative of my knowledge in mythology, spiritualism and religion - though I do not consider myself to be a spiritual man. I believe that the representation of this spirituality through imagery, understood by every person who sees it, will evoke a personal struggle inside of the person himself. I try to pass through what I feel through an image of the human form to be understandable to each person who observes carefully enough my walk. No matter where the person comes from, the color of his skin, his sexuality, his upbringing and education. I hope that my work represent symbols and iconography that has meaning in every collective memories of human kind.
How long do you spend on a painting?
Good question but a complicated one. The concept sketch, drawing can take years in my mind before it actually gets into being painted. If you are speaking about the preparation of a painting and the painting itself, the basic technical side of it I would say, between a week and two weeks between 10 to 15 hours painting a day. Depends on the size complexity, how many figures are on the painting and so on and so on.
You're also the director of your art academy in Cologne, where you teach painting. What advice would you give to tattoo artists who do or would like to do painting?
I don’t have a real advice, except try to be yourself and paint. Being a tattoo artist is very different than being a painter and believe me I know! It is very important to put aside engagements, money, the immediate respect that you get as a tattoo artist when the customer sees a final result relatively quickly and pays it with money that gives a immediate satisfaction comparing to painting that is the struggle in definition. That in my opinion would last a lifetime and would never be fulfilled. It is harder to be happy as a painter than to be happy as a Tattoo Artist so, maybe my advice will be : if you do find the balance, then go on to do both but if you cannot find the balance, then you should choose 1 medium. All in all, I have chosen painting. But that means 50% of hard work and 50% of cultural intellectual research without which you cannot be a good artist in general, no matter what is your medium is.
How do your students look at tattooing?
Well the older generation of my students are not really interested in tattoos. They do find it intriguing though they would not get tattooed, but they find the artwork on the body and the ritual of passage interesting. The younger generation, they actually all want to be Tattoo Artists so I do believe that the industry will become even more mainstream and even more popular but let’s see what the future brings. I have something to say to the young generation : if you want to become a great Tattoo Artist, please sit down and draw and learn what was done before you because nothing drops down from the sky except meteorites maybe.
Next projects?
Yes, many projects. There’s one or two workshops that are coming and one of them will be in December in Budapest in Perfect Chaos tattoo studio. The second might take place before the Tattoo Planetarium convention in Paris in February. I’m working on one or two commissions. This is new for me but the themes are interesting and I have all the freedom in the representation so it’s cool. And I’m working on a painting that will be presented in the Corpo Gallery next year in May an exhibition curated by Beautiful, Bizarre magazine. So yeah many new things are coming up. I’m happy about it. + @guilzekri.artist @guilzekri.tattoos @fineartacademycologne
