Today’s episode will be dedicated to a leading Czech tattoo artist, Lukáš Poláček. Ink is his daily bread. What do the motifs adorning his body mean, and what is the opinion of this unmissable tattoo artist on tattooing? That’s what the next episode of the “Under the Skin” series will be about.
I did my first tattoo myself in fifth grade, with stolen ink and a compass. It was a red circle with a black outline on my ankle.
Your parents must have been thrilled, what led you to do that? I wanted to find out what happens when you inject that color. It was great; I even got praised. Tattooed people fascinated me; I always had a connection to it.
When did you get your first “official” tattoo, so to speak? When that fascination lasted until I was eighteen, I got my first tattoo. They were kind of silly things on my back, but I’ve already covered them up.
My First Machine Tattoo Was on My Back
I don’t tattoo young people because the things they like change over time. Their opinions aren’t constant. I’m able to do a small tattoo for them in a place that can be hidden or removed with a laser.
How did it continue? I tried some piercings and scarification, but I came back to tattooing. I got bigger tattoos, then I started tattooing, and I re-evaluated everything and covered it up. I started focusing on traditional “OLD SCHOOL” tattooing, which is why I have my whole left arm done. When I looked deeper into it, I started doing more modern things. Splashes, geometry, graphics… I tried to keep up with the times.
When you started tattooing, who was your first “guinea pig”? Me, and then my sister-in-law; I did some lettering for her.
How did it feel to tattoo someone else for the first time? You have to overcome the fact that it hurts people. You can’t be gentle with them because if you are, you’ll tattoo slowly and carefully. You won’t focus on quality, but rather on not causing pain, which means you’ll do it poorly. At first, I had trouble detaching myself from clients. Even though it hurts them, the result is a high-quality job.
Do you think tattooed people have anything in common? Not at all. Tattooing isn’t a culture; it’s a craft and an artistic expression. In my opinion, it’s a person’s last free will. Our other freedoms are quite limited, and people come here for many reasons. They want to look interesting, or they record important information, dates, and experiences. These are people who collect tattoos; it’s a hodgepodge. There’s no common denominator for our customers.
I’ve been trying to count how many tattoos you have this whole time. Could you estimate how many there are? I have one big tattoo. It’s like furnishing an apartment with tattoos. First, you start with the kitchen counter so you have somewhere to cook. Then you put in a toilet so you have somewhere to go. Those are the important things, and then you start buying silly stuff you don’t really need but like. It’s the same with tattoos. You should get the main supporting motifs that mean something to you and are important, then you just fill it in with something interesting that fits.
Has it ever happened that you forgot about a tattoo you have? Sometimes a photo surprises me when someone takes a picture of me from behind, but I’m aware of everything I have.