Alex De Pase – The Art of Portraits I started tattooing at the age of 15. My desire to tattoo was born out of my great passion for drawing, which has accompanied me ever since I was a child. When I saw one of my friends tattooed arms I was amazed and I started constructing my first rough equipment first using the plastic frame of the Bic pens by melting their plastic and mounting a needle at the place of cartridge. This allowed me to make my first experiments by hand tattooing. I myself was my first guinea-pig and this was not my first tattoo as a tattooer but also the first tattoo my skin ever saw! When I tried to make a line using this technique and I realized that the ink was trapped under the skin, I began tattooing whoever friend was prepared to risk. The next step, which I am very proud of, was when I built my first tattoo machine whit an electrical shaver (by the way this passion of mine is still alive and kicking in me and I’m producing a new design line of tattoo guns). I have never done any apprenticeship, also because at the time the tattoo artists I had turned to were very holding-back and very jealous of their secrets. Losers! My education was mainly built-up studying drawing and painting literature. The tattoo technique was a climbing taken up alone, attempt by attempt. This process required much longer time but I’m not obliged to anybody! In a short time I succeeded in getting enough money to buy me real necessary equipment. I opened my first shop in 1997, it was very small but in 2004 I opened a big one, my current shop. Now I’m building again tattoo machines (but professional ones) - The idea of these machines originated from the urge to find a tool which is 100% suitable to my colouring needs. Millions of excellent machines exist on the market and I like them quite a lot, but mostly all of them present some advantages or some defects, which can be subjectively appreciated by an artist, as well as they can be hated by another one. By knowing a craftsman jeweller who was available to create a frame structure as per my orders, I decided to build a perfect machine with top-quality materials , which could fully meet my needs. It was to be assembled with extreme care, following the most adequate rules for any kind of tattoo-procedure and personally adjustable. After having taken wax models of them, some collaborators wanted to give them a try and, as far as I can understand, they confirmed to have experienced certain differences while using them. In light of this, I started producing some cast model, just for a limited circle of tattooists, but now things are moving on and I’ve started producing on a larger scale. In the next future I’ll be able to market them properly. ABOUT MY STYLE: For sure, my favourite style is colour portraiting. I believe that any manipulation of reality starts indeed from it itself. Anything else bores me. In realism, on the contrary, the target is the everlasting research to reach perfection and the perception of every single detail, volume, wrinkle, light, shade, expression, colour shading, etc. It is a neverending challenge which leaves room to improvement, ever and ever. The use of colours is a further research for difficulty, for the realism of pursuing naturalness. We live in a world full of colours, indeed. Making a portrait is emotionally very intense and involving, as whoever goes so far to making the decision to desire the face of somebody on their skin for the rest of their days, is moved by some very deep feelings, which burst out, as soon as the client sees the tattoo coming to a completion. Mi chiamo Alex De Pase e ho 31 anni. Ho iniziato a tatuare da autodidatta all’età di 15 anni e da allora non ho mai smesso di ricercare un continuo miglioramento tecnico-artistico. Nel 1997 ho aperto il mio primo tattoo studio. Passati i primi anni e visto il grande incremento del lavoro, ho trasferito lo studio in un’altra location decisamente più grande e attrezzata. Dai primi passi ad oggi ho studiato molto il disegno, la pittura e l’arte in genere, nella continua ricerca e approfondimento di ciò che sta alla base del tatuaggio. Per molto tempo ho tatuato immagini di ogni genere e stile, ma più o meno da 2 anni a questa parte mi dedico unicamente a 2 rami artistici: il realismo e un mio personalissimo modo di raffigurare le immagini e i sentimenti attraverso uno stile che ho definito “Personal Vision”. Trovo che il realismo sia in ogni caso la base di partenza di ogni artista. Fino a quando non si raggiunge un alto livello di percezione dei dettagli che la perfezione della realtà ci offre, non si può pensare di fare il passo successivo che è quello di reinterpretare la realtà stessa a proprio piacimento. Amo il realismo perché è mirato a un continuo perfezionamento nell’esame e nella riproduzione dei dettagli, della luce e della profondità. Il secondo stile “Personal Vision” è invece mirato a una visione pittorica del tatuaggio, cioè una libera interpretazione assolutamente personale (quindi non legata a simbologie o icone comuni) di ciò che una persona vuole raccontare con il proprio tatuaggio, dandogli un valore unico. Ciò che intendo dire è che ogni tatuaggio che realizzo in questo stile racconta dei sentimenti, delle storie e delle emozioni dettate da chi lo porta. Il tatuaggio è estremamente affascinante proprio perché è una vera forma artistica come lo è la pittura, e, proprio come la pittura, dovrebbe potersi esprimere a 360 gradi. Credo che ciò che un po’manca al tatuaggio è proprio la libertà di svincolarsi da quelle icone, quegli stili e quei soggetti che da anni lo caratterizzano e che non sempre appartengono alla cultura di chi li esegue.

Recent Tattoos

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Travel Dates:

Tattoo Jam
08/01/08 - 08/03/08
Venue Cymru
Llandudno, North Wales

Paradise Tattoo Gathering
10/23/08 - 10/26/08
Jiminy Peak Mountain Resort
Hancock, MA