Our team here at Tattoogenda, had the pleasure of being able to interview Juan Muriana – the tattoo artist from Spain who came to the Brussels tattoo convention and won first place in the best of Friday and Saturday contest.
This convention is considered one of the most important in Europe and Juan wanted to make a bold statement by attending, which he managed to do might we add.
drawing. He says it’s really important to be able to be a good artist first before you start tattooing. Not only that, but you have to keep practicing it – daily!
Apprenticeships?
During the interview he talked about his own apprenticeship as well. His mentor was Victor Chil – a well-known tattoo artist, at Family Art Tattoos in Barcelona. He spent one year working with Victor, learning and observing his techniques.
Juan also mentioned that he wouldn’t be taking any apprentices on himself, for the moment at least. He mentioned that he thinks that he’s still got a lot to learn, so, perhaps in the future.
Pssst… we have a whole blog about how you can land an apprenticeship. Interested? Hit me!
When asked the question if there are tattoos he doesn’t enjoy doing, his friend and client (our translator), told us that he does everything. His Instagram following is growing, with over 5K followers (at the time 3.5K), but he’s still working to develop his style and establish a niche for himself in the tattoo industry. This is why he’s now venturing more into the surrealism style. It allows him to develop his skills further, as the surrealistic tattoo style isn’t as limiting as the ‘normal’ realistic style.
He also mentioned that he’d like to do only color tattoos in the future – mainly surrealistic and realistic ones.
‘’Color is the new thing for him’’
His first award
At the convention, Juan won his first award and got first place in the best of Friday AND Saturday contest!
He told us he was actually very emotional and happy as he wasn’t expecting this win at all. Of course, he got congratulated and got well wishes from his peers, but Juan was mostly proud of himself because his Spanish compatriots were now proud of him too.
Juan is definitely dedicated to his craft and we can see that in his badass works of art! His experimental nature and dedication definitely makes him an artist being worth to watch and learn from.
What’s your guys’ opinion on surrealism tattoos? Be sure to let us know in the comments!
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