The guy likes to "do circus" with tattoos and has a very strange tattoo philosophy

Ink strokes contain a lifetime

With a passion for tattoo art, along with decades of dedication, artist Trung Tadashi is still happy after receiving a record for the book "The Fascination of Tattoo Art" written by himself.

The book was awarded the title of the first book in Vietnam to introduce the art of Asian tattooing, in bilingual English - Vietnamese.

Artist Trung Tadashi received a Vietnamese record for his book "The Fascination of Tattoo Art" - The first book in Vietnam to introduce Asian tattoo art, in bilingual English - Vietnamese (Photo: Nguyen Vy).

For Trung Tadashi, tattoos are not a spontaneous hobby of young people, or something for gangsters to "show off" to each other. Since ancient times, tattoos have been used by fishermen to disguise themselves as aquatic creatures for convenient fishing, and soldiers to tattoo the king's symbol to mark the royal army.

During the time when our country was called Van Lang, fishermen were often harassed by Giao Long. King Hung believed that we were a people of the mountains, not a species of Dragons under water. If we could disguise ourselves as Dragons under water to look like descendants of the Dragon King, Giao Long would no longer cause trouble.

The King ordered the people to tattoo their bodies and disguise themselves as dragons to facilitate fishing. Continuing the custom of the ancient Vietnamese, the custom of tattooing continued to flourish during the Ly - Tran dynasties.

Especially during the Tran Dynasty, from kings to commoners, everyone loved to get tattoos. This custom showed the love of people at that time for the art of tattooing, considering it a part of the cultural beauty of the Vietnamese people.

Understanding that meaning, Trung was passionate about art since he was young. However, at that time, there were not many conditions or reference materials, so Trung had to keep his passion smoldering in his heart.

For Trung, everything in life is a source of creative inspiration for him (Photo: Nguyen Vy).

Born as a sketch artist, he had a talent for drawing since he was a child, passionate about and practiced sketching since childhood and self-taught himself artistic tattooing since 2009.

"At that time, tattooing was still something strange to many people, including my family. My whole family was very opposed when they knew I wanted to pursue this job. But I used time to prove that as long as the job did not harm anyone, I believed I would pursue it to the end," said Mr. Trung.

For Trung, the more difficult and detailed the tattoo, the more "happy" he is. For example, the dragon and phoenix - important symbols in East Asian culture.

The more detailed and complex the tattoo, the more Trung likes it (Photo: NVCC).

Aiming for artistic tattooing means investing more in the drawing. Different from the usual tattoo techniques, Trung uses the freehand technique to draw directly on the skin, in order to feel the elasticity of the drawing, embracing the muscles of the body.

"To pursue artistic tattooing, the artist must know how to combine details reasonably and flexibly. Above all, the sketch must be very sophisticated, expressing the bravery and nobility of the dragon and phoenix. I once spent more than 7 hours designing a tattoo on A4 paper and that is completely normal when we put all our heart into it," Trung confided.

Countless achievements

With great passion, Trung learned more and more about tattoo art. As opportunities came, Trung became more and more famous in the tattoo industry and succeeded in a series of large and small competitions at home and abroad.

Since 2013, Trung Tadashi has started to reap the first successes in his career. Since then, Trung has become more and more famous, has won countless awards and has been invited to be a judge at competitions and exhibitions at home and abroad. Among them, Trung has been a judge for 5 consecutive years at 5 seasons of Vietnam Tattoo Convention.

Countless awards and being invited to be a judge for major competitions give Trung more motivation to devote himself to this art form (Photo: NVCC).

Looking back on his journey of pursuing his passion, Trung had a few times when he felt like giving up, but he was strong enough to overcome it. For Trung, his greatest wish is to make tattooing an art form that is recognized and appreciated by the public.

Talking about his career, Trung remembers the many times he met a client with a special story. One time, Trung met a man who had just divorced his wife and had two children, but because he lost the lawsuit, he could not raise any of them. The man asked Trung to get a tattoo of a large bear holding two small bears underneath.

Trung puts all his heart and soul into every tattoo he does (Photo: NVCC).

"Listening to the customer's story, I was moved and decided to tattoo him for free. The father hugged me and cried. Small moments like that give me more motivation, making me believe more and more that each tattoo has its own story and message. Tattoos are not bad, it's just whether we make them beautiful or not," said tattoo artist Trung Tadashi.

According to artist Trung Tadashi, tattoo artists and tattooists do the same job, but the soul of the work is always different.

"So don't just think that practice is enough. Train your mind to become an artist. The mind affects the eyes, the eyes affect the hands, the hands create the work, and that work will carry the soul of the creator, expressing the artist's own style," Trung Tadashi said.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/lao-dong-viec-lam/chang-trai-thich-lam-xiec-voi-hinh-xam-va-triet-ly-xam-cuc-la-20230412173854568.htm