If you have ever thought that a tattoo can never look like it was painted with a brush and oil paints, we are happy to disabuse you of this error. There is perhaps only one person in the world who makes such incredible and beautiful tattoos, and he lives and works in Bratislava – Samuel Potúček . This nice guy and artist is one of the best tattoo artists this young republic has given the world. The number of his awards from near and far abroad is roughly equal to the number of pictures that adorn his own skin. We visited him in his studio to ask him a few questions. In order not to bore him , but also you, we went in a relaxed atmosphere a little outside the usual interview routine and philosophized together not only about tattoos, but also about art in general.
What would you say to a person who doesn't have a kerka, but has wanted one all his life. However, he doesn't just want something "random" on any piece of personal nudity, but he's never been able to get down to thinking up or designing something more specific. Just someone with a long-term mental plan, but still desperately and tediously without a final visual. Any advice "to the set" is appreciated.
"It's definitely better to get advice. You know, you may have some aesthetic sense or you may know what's nice, what looks good graphically, but you mostly don't know how tattoos work and when they don't work. You don't know what image to use correctly for a tattoo. The color scale alone makes a huge difference. With black and white tattoos or images, the emphasis is more on contrast, so that it's easy to see and can work between white and black. If the image is in color, you have to stick to different visual rules."
How do you work with this then? What do you say to that?
"Well, this was so extreme that I admit that I would rather not even write back to the person in question. I could see that it would lead nowhere. You know, after years of practice, you already have a few of those "lurking" customers. Sometimes you just know whether a given idea can be moved or not. If you see that the customer is firmly convinced and adamant, it is better to go to someone who will fulfill his or her visual desires. However, I know in advance that the result will not be good. He will only do it mechanically, it will lack emotion, he will not put a piece of himself into it. It has to do with the fact that I see tattooing as art and art is about feeling. So if you tattoo and you don't put any feelings into the work, it doesn't matter."
Do you have any rituals when you go to get a tattoo?
"I have, but I won't reveal it to everyone in its entirety on the digital airwaves, even if I tell you "off the record". The most important part of my ritual is, however, the honest preparation of all things for the tattoo. That's the ritual of probably every quality job. Another ritual is loud music, it has to be there."
Wait, wait, what's that music?
"Quality (laughs)..."
You live here in Slovakia, you create here, how do you feel about this country? Have you ever just wanted to leave somewhere? Are you happy with how things work here – “in this Danish state”?
"How do I feel about all this? I don't want to point out anyone in particular who is successful. However, I also represent our country in art in my own way around the world or, let's say, especially in Europe, to make it closer to our people. I'm referring to competitions where I present myself personally, but I always go there with the idea that I also represent Slovakia. I modestly think that I'm doing quite well, my home country certainly doesn't have to be ashamed of me. However, no one has ever supported me with a cent in this. Traveling to competitions is not cheap, paying for flights, hotels and entry fees, which are often 500 euros or more. I don't mean it "painfully" at all, because I will continue to go to those competitions. However, sometimes I ask myself what I'm less successful at or whether I represent this country less than, say, athletes. They often have at least part of what they invest in the national team reimbursed. But where is the difference? Is art less than sport?
"I once received a tip from an acquaintance about a competition announced by a bank. So I registered, only to find out at the end of the registration process that it was only for people with a university degree. On the one hand, we do not reward formal education, and on the other hand, we require it. However, this should not apply to art. Art is not about formal education. You can have total talent and you can work on yourself even without studying at university. People who do not study are often not there because they are not good, but simply because they are talented even without school or jumped straight into practice and skipped the school phase altogether. So I have a problem with the art support system, because for artists, including "street artists", dancers and others who are not even part of the undernourished art support that is here, there are minimal resources. Most of them get nothing. They often make a living from traditional work instead of art, and they only use art as a hobby to supplement their income. However, I think that if we had a broader system of supporting the arts, we would catch many more people who have talent and enjoy art. If the state supported them, it would later make economic sense for them through creative business. There are many brutally talented people in Slovakia who, if supported at the right time, could represent us anywhere in the world. However, since the conditions for this are not created here, many people often prefer to give up on it in advance because they do not see the point in it and do not find a sustainable livelihood in it. They do not want to run around the offices or beg someone to say that they want to do something that is beneficial for the whole society.
The only thing an artist needs to create is food and wine, as they say. (laughter) Food, sleep and wine and that's it. I think that such projects would not be extremely difficult for the state to finance in order to be implemented. There are really many talented people on the street and we often lose their talents because the reality of life overwhelms them and they never fully use their talents to the detriment of everyone. Simply put, we need more "Cvernovka", "Tabačka" or "Zárieče" in Slovakia, which would be systematically supported by the state, not just enthusiasts and passionate volunteers. At the same time, there is a lack of greater media coverage so that people know more about such places, so that families with children can sometimes go to such spaces or studios to see them."
"The second thing is that the stomach is one of the hardest places on the human body to tattoo because the skin there is not as taut. So, my first tattoo was with the hardest color shades and in the hardest place on the body." (laughs)
What about people, customers? They say that working with people is the hardest thing.
(laughs) "I've been tattooing for 9 years and I think I do about 250 tattoos a year. I have a million percent more days a year when I tattoo than when I don't. I've already learned about different people's characters. Often, I only need to talk to someone for 5-10 minutes and I know exactly what their plus or minus type is. Some people simply take more energy from a person than others. But after all these years, I don't have a problem tattooing, even if I don't have much to say to the customer during the process. I immerse myself in my creative world and it's fine."
"For example, you always have to wash your needle in a glass. Usually plastic, so you can throw it away right away, since everything is disposable. But what do you do with the water in that glass? It's full of blood, even if you can't see it at first glance, so it shouldn't just be poured into the sink or drain like biological waste. But now there's a powder that you pour into it and the water turns into dust that you can throw away. People are always thinking of what to invent, always new and new. There's also a brutal app that, as a tattoo artist, you can basically do absolutely everything. You take a photo of the person you're going to tattoo, place the picture exactly where you want it, and you can draw it directly in the app."
Are you doing it?
"No, I mostly just look for pictures on the internet for inspiration. I often use existing motifs that someone probably already has tattooed. However, I assume that no one will have it tattooed the way I do. I look for templates, but they only serve to create something new from them. My signature is mainly in how the tattoo looks in the final result, because no one will make it look like I did, so that it looks like it was painted."
"It's both "old school" and "new school", but I do "realistic", so it doesn't work like a coloring book for me, and I'm not saying that "old school" or "new school" are easy styles, because at first glance it looks like a coloring book, but if you want to do it, you have to know something about colors, so I don't underestimate people who do any style."
"Mostly when I'm going through a bad time personally, or when something changes in my life or someone leaves my life, such as a breakup or something like that. Then I paint intensely. But it always ends up that I paint ten paintings and have two left, since I give the rest away, so I don't see this as a plan "B" yet." (laughs)
Has anyone or anything inspired you to create your specific style? It doesn't necessarily have to be someone who makes kerky, it could be anyone or anything.
"I personally don't follow almost any tattoo artists. When it comes to social networks, on Instagram , for example, people mostly follow people from the field they are involved in. I have it the other way around and I follow almost 800 people, among whom there are many artists, especially those who paint oils. As for my style, no one directly influenced me. My style developed gradually, as I tattooed. Everything you do simply has to go in a certain direction and you don't even have to choose that direction directly or go after something purposefully. It's enough that you like doing something and it will definitely move in a certain direction. For me, it started moving in this "painted" direction without anyone influencing me or even thinking about it for a hundredth of a second. It just goes in this direction for me and I'm glad that it's going in that direction. I don't know people who tattoo the way I do. Even when I'm in competitions, world-famous tattoo artists come to me and, in a positive sense, they're amazed by what I do, because they've never seen before that you can tattoo something that looks like it's been painted, because it's extremely complicated to work with colors. I often choose motifs from existing classical paintings, and that's also something I've never seen done before."
"However, the main idea of the tattoo itself has not changed over the years. It will still be a manifesto, a distinction. Only the people will change. It will mainly be artists who will want to be as different from others as possible, but at the same time there will be a lot of people with tattoos in really visible places. When it gets into the media here in Slovakia and people, even older people, see that there is someone on TV who is addressing them in a serious show and has a tattoo on their face, people will automatically say to themselves, ah, it's probably not that bad anymore and if someone is wearing it in the media and doesn't seem like a bad person, then the other people with tattoos are good too. In the end, no one will even deal with it. Not like when an elderly lady crossed herself in front of me on the street once. (laughter) And maybe I am more productive for this society than someone without tattoos and maybe even than that lady. Who knows, maybe I have done fewer bad things in my life than she did." (laughter)
"Once I tattooed a guy for about 5 hours and that same day I went to eat with my girlfriend at a restaurant and he came up to me to say hello and I had absolutely no idea who he was, I didn't remember him at all. So, I like solitude, but I don't like traveling alone. It's different when I get in the car and have to go somewhere in Slovakia. I like that, I put on some music and it's cool, but I don't like going somewhere alone for a long time. But you know what, maybe the biggest parties teach you the most. Maybe I'm afraid of going somewhere alone because I don't know what it would be like there and maybe I'm also worried about the course of the trip, but maybe in the end it would give me what I wanted. So, maybe it's a good idea to travel somewhere alone, but I wouldn't do an expedition somewhere alone for 3 months. An extended weekend somewhere in Slovakia, locking myself in a cottage somewhere by a lake and "Painting there, for example, wouldn't be bad at all. Buying 10 liters of wine and then shouting there naked at night, that would be nice." (laughs)
Do you want to follow up on that?
"I will definitely do it a million percent in my life. It just needs to come at the right time and the right person who has similar visual ideas and beliefs as me. But I definitely keep it in my head and I will definitely continue to do it."
Thank you. I hope we didn't bore you with questions.
"Not at all, finally someone asked me normal questions." (smile)
Colors have to go together, you have to distinguish between warm and cool colors so you don't end up wearing some kind of "mixed" look.So, is it enough for me to come up with a rough visual idea of the style and I don't even have to fundamentally consider the location on the body or the specific size of the kerchief? Even if I can draw, is it better to come up with a detailed design without it? "The best thing for a customer is when they come and describe the motif they would like to have done. The tattoo artist is there to help them and fine-tune the design of the motif so that it is not only beautiful, but also suits that particular person and looks aesthetically pleasing on the body. On the other hand, the tattoo artist should also do what he wants and what he enjoys. If he doesn't enjoy a particular tattoo, the result will never be as high-quality. As is generally true, if a person does something that he doesn't really enjoy, he will never put as much effort into it as if he really enjoys something."
Now, however, people come to me with an idea for a motif, but I find or suggest a specific image that I find suitable and people trust me.
So the rough outlines of the idea are enough for me and you can fine-tune the rest, right?
"Yes, but, you know, another thing is that the term "thick features" can have diametrically different meanings for different people. For example ... (laughs) ... I received an email the other day with a detailed idea of a kerka. It said that it would be the entire back with an incredibly detailed description of what should be there. How everything should be placed, that the figure should be exactly so many centimeters, there should be a pocket watch under it, whose dial should be yellow, the numbers blue ... simply, it can't be done this way if you want a nice kerka that you and I will like."
I always leave myself behind in every project, so I'm not very interested in doing things where I can't apply this.
So when someone comes up with something completely stupid, do you have no problem telling them that please don't do this, you unfortunate man or woman?
"Hey, I've done it many times. But to be honest, often after a conversation and consultation, when I've shown what I can do according to the idea and what I can do this or that way, I finally convince the person in question. However, if the person tells me that they don't want it that way, then I understand and respect that. Just as they have to respect me that I simply don't want to do something because I don't think it will be good. If our paths don't meet somewhere in the middle, then it doesn't matter. But I don't get offended at all if our ideas don't match. It's just that our cooperation won't work out like in any other business and we'll say goodbye peacefully."
Are you not defined by genre?
"No, I'll give it all. From Jaromír Nohavica to, I don't know, Carl Cox. (laughs) I was hunting in my mind for what name to give, so that the range would be as extreme as possible, because that's how it is. I like all good music, I have no prejudices in this field and my ears are open to anything of musical quality". I just haven't fully gotten into classical music yet. I always thought that you had to grow up to the classics, that it required a bit of gray hair and a beard, but after you got me out of the wrong record, that there was no need to wait, I probably won't consciously resist it."
What bothers me the most is the undersized position of art in Slovakia and its system.
"Artists, many of whom are educated people who graduated from universities, studied, for example, painting, many of them do "street art" after school. They simply paint walls because that's the only way they can make money, because they often simply wouldn't be able to make a living from paintings and drawings. On the other hand, sometimes we formally require a university education even where it's not absolutely necessary."
If you could change one thing about supporting the arts, what would it be? Or alternatively, if you had the opportunity as a state to pump money intensively into something in the arts, where would it be?
"Sure, I know, of course from the "spot". I would definitely invest them in other art centers. In places where artists meet, where there are restaurants, where photographers go to take pictures, where they have openings. Where artists go to show their art and where people who are interested in art go. Where they go to dance, where they go to have fun, because art, in my opinion, is mainly about feeling good and having fun. It doesn't take much, because artists don't need much. They don't need marble on the walls.
Sometimes we don't even realize what such a visit to the studio can mean or trigger in the lives of children who, let's say, like to draw.
Okay, let's get back to the kerks before I start crying over how we as a society still don't realize the added value of art, culture, and creative businesses. What was your very first kerk you made and how old were you?
"I was 19 years old and it was the day after I graduated from high school."
Did you do it for yourself or someone else?
"To an ex-boyfriend. (blissful smile) It was a turquoise lizard around her belly button. (laughter) Just so people know it's not just like that. Turquoise colors, which are paler, are harder to tattoo because when you tattoo, blood comes out right away and even if there's not a lot of it, the palest colors are very hard to see."
I wasn't so much interested in how jewelry was made, rather how it worked, I wanted to draw it.
How has modern technology affected tattoos?
"Technology has not bypassed tattooing, and development is going quite quickly. In the past, it was done with a coil machine. Traditionally, it was done with a needle. Most of the machines that are made now are motorized. They don't make any noise at all, they are much lighter and look like pens. They are no longer the classic machines that make you deaf by the age of 5, but they are light and don't hurt your hand. However, various other practical products are also being produced."
All the photos I have on social media are realistic, they are not edited at all.
Before you tattoo something, how do you prepare? Is it on paper somewhere?
"Yes, you trace everything over such thin paper and print it. Basically, you give yourself reference points and define the space from where and where. Every tattoo artist has them in their head in some other way, probably through many years of practice. You mark them and print them and then you actually orient yourself accordingly. It's basically like a coloring book for children, except that it's not for children at all and requires considerable skill and practice. I'm not going to underestimate any tattoo style, but this is basically the principle that you trace an individual pattern with lines and color it in with one color."
What about the oil? Aren't you going to drag it somewhere else?
"Definitely, when I'm old *... (laughs). I don't have time for that yet, but I have periods when I paint more. I have an awful lot of feelings inside me from every situation and I'm the type of person who has to put those feelings somewhere. When I don't put them anywhere for a long time, I start living in a kind of semi-depression and I feel like everything is "on hold" and nothing is good. I guess we all have that. I think that this is how I put those feelings out of myself onto the canvas. I have periods when I just have to paint."
"If someone wants to get a tattoo of a beautiful woman, for example, I immediately look for a painting of a beautiful woman."
What do you think will happen to tattooing as an art form, since tattoos are now mainstream? No one is surprised by tattoos anymore, there are many styles. What do you think will happen to this subculture?
"Whenever you want to see what will happen to a style in a few years, look to the regions where those styles come from. If you look at America, almost everyone has a kerka today, and that's why people want to be as original as possible. They often have all sorts of nonsense on their faces. In the 70s or 80s, with a kerka you wanted to present yourself as someone who disagreed with a system. However, it mainly concerned people on the edge of the law or society."
Do you have a favorite place you like to return to?
"I have several places that I always go back to, but always depending on what I want. When I feel like being alone and not seeing anyone, I have my own place for that. When I want to eat well again, I go to another place, when I want to have fun, I have another favorite place I go to."
So, are you filming the same locations?
"Yes, the same places. In Bratislava, I really like the Red Cross location."
Do you travel abroad a lot?
"Yes, I'm traveling, of course."
Solo or with a group?
"Usually with a group when we go to a competition. Usually we go with friends, we rent a car. Five to ten of us go, some go alone, some take their girlfriends."
We recently interviewed traveler Martin Navrátil, who often travels completely alone on various adventure expeditions. What about you and solitude?
"I really like solitude. I like being alone, but that's probably also my job. When you see a different person every day, it can sometimes get overwhelming. People often greet you on the street and you don't even know who it is."
Kerky, oil, visual art, fine, but what is your relationship to art in terms of fashion or style of dress? Do you deal with it or do you completely ignore it?
"Sure, I like fashion. There were times when I didn't care about it at all, but later I understood that it's also a piece of art and now I like it. I like to buy nice things and when it comes to clothes, I have a weakness for sneakers. I have new ones all the time. I'm like women with shoes." (laughs)
Some people who make kerky also design t-shirts. Are you also moving in that direction?
"I had a brutal idea and so did the guy I went with. He sewed and I designed the T-shirts and it all had great potential, but unfortunately, it didn't work out. Now I have 80 T-shirts thrown in the studio under the stairs. It didn't work out because of me, it just somehow got lost and it didn't make any sense anymore, I was starting to go grey by the end of it."
