To what extent do our experiences influence tattoo? We’re asking this provocative question in order to urge you to reflect a moment on what it was that caused you to choose a particular subject to get tattooed. In this number, based on this premise, we have devoted three out of the five galleries you normally find in Tattoo Energy to some of the most common subjects in tattoo art: flowers, animals and portraits. These three themes are intimately linked to the personality of whoever chooses them...

(from the editorial by Miki Vialetto)

Alvaro Alonso: Straightforward Neo-Traditional

He has only recently moved to Sacrifice Bcn in Barcelona and is increasingly in demand for two subjects in particular: faces and animals which he executes in a straightforward Neo-traditional style we asked him why and he replied simply that this is his comfort zone in tattoo.

Hocheon: A Bridge between South Korea and Japan

Legends, heroes and characters of Ukio-e, balance, control and harmony. Hocheon brings his magnificent bodysuits to life in his shop in Daegu, in South Korea, flinging open the doors to the tattoo scene in this fascinating part of the world.

Angel Reynosa: Realism never gives in

A long hard road where he kept his eyes peeled for every possible influence to feed his talent. Subsequently, still learning, he became an excellent tattoo artist specialised in Realism and in his portfolio there’s a bit of everything: Italian actresses, horror movie characters, historical photos and even a fabulous rhinocerous. You’ll find him working at ‘Full Circle Tattoos’ in San Diego and this is his story. The story of Angel…

Galleries: Mythology, Portraits, The Stomach, Flowers, Animals

Tattoo Portraits: Elizabeth Bathory

This is the story of a controversial female character. Extremely controversial. Quite extreme in the collective imagination Erzsébet Bathory went down in history as “the Bloody Countess”, responsible for a hundreds of awful crimes in Hungary at the turn of the 17th century.

Tattoo Symbology: Fire

The ultimate alchemical symbol and a dualistic element unlike any other in the sense that it can both give life and wreak havoc, fire is an eternal subject which has always had followers within the tattoo scene. From ancient China to the Celts, Scandanavian peoples and the Aztecs, the “masculine” product of combustion is redolent of myth. Without forgetting the “feminine” contribution of water which contains and placates fire, making it utterly perfect.