Sixo Santos Portrait
Based in Montreuil on the outskirts of Paris, Sixo Santos works at The Tattooed Lady. He has always been passionate about drawing, and began with graffiti before moving into tattooing, his main activity today. For him, tattooing is an intransigent practice based on a dialogue between two people. Colour spray cans were too expensive for him when he started out, so he was obliged to work solely in black and white. We met up with the artist who challenges the norm, with his portraits full of emotion often inspired by comics, with their vintage, often completely surrealist feel.
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Hi Sixo Santos!
On your website, you say you do tattoos, paintings and drawings. With which one did you begin?
I started with graffiti when I was 16. But you could say all my work has always revolved around illustration.
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What is your main activity?
Nowadays, I mainly do tattoos – the practice has everything I need.
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What does engraving a drawing or text on someone’s skin represent to you?
For me, tattooing is above all a dialogue between two people. The person you’re tattooing entrusts his body, his skin to you, that’s what makes it so beautiful. That’s why I have to give my all to each and every project – I have a lot of responsibility to the people I tattoo. It’s an incredibly uncompromising practice with which you can’t cheat.
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Who would you be honoured to tattoo and why?
I tattooed Léa Nahon, a tattoo artist I have a great deal of respect for; I was very honoured. But I don’t really feel the need to tattoo someone in particular. To tattoo people who entrust their skin to me is already quite an honour.
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Are there any conditions to being tattooed by Sixo Santos?
Above all, to be nice, and grant me enough freedom to be able to give you the best I can. Mutual trust is what’s most important.
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Have you ever tattooed one of your own drawings on yourself?
No, never, because I get bored very quickly of my drawings. I prefer to sport those of others.
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All your tattoos and most of your drawings that are up on your website and Facebook page are in black and white. Why not draw and tattoo in colour?
I used a lot of colour in the beginning, especially with my graffiti. But back then I was quite poor, and didn’t have enough money to buy colour. So I began to use black spray cans on white backdrops, it was cheap and very interesting. And once you start using black, it’s hard to stop. As Soulages said: “I like the authority of black. It’s an uncompromising colour. A violent colour, but one that encourages internalisation.”
You create a lot of portraits. What do you like about faces?
Faces are the reflection of our emotions, a great deal can be expressed through one. I used to like to draw people freehand, so as to get imperfect faces; I tried to draw beauty from ugliness, I would probe my characters. Nowadays, I have another approach; I cut the faces, remodel them, bring out elements: it enables me to tell a lot more, and I like that surrealistic dehumanisation. I also do quite a lot of portraits of women in the “Ladies” tattoo tradition; I like to perpetuate that tradition.
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What did you like about collaborating with OLOW?
I find the clothes beautiful and very well made. They’re a great base for my drawings; I know that they’ll look their best.
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Our 2016 Fall-Winter collection is based on England. What memories do you have of that country?
I have very fond memories of a graffiti jam in Bristol; it was the first time I’d ever been to England and I liked everything about it, except the food. The music, the people, the architecture, I’ve got quite a fascination for that country and all of its sub-cultures, and I loved being submerged in the British craziness.
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Will we be bumping into you at a convention or an exhibition soon?
I will probably be a guest artist at Kéa’s in Montpellier, to celebrate the first birthday of his tattoo parlour, Moderne Electrique.
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What are your upcoming projects?
To start glass painting.
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His website: sixosantostattoo.tumblr.com
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