This article originally appeared on VICE Australia. Tattoos hurt, but for most people the pain is just a means to an end. And tattooists are usually mindful of their client's pain threshold, catering for breaks and mitigating any unnecessary brutality. It's abnormal to restrain someone while they're getting tattooed, or for them to bolt upright in agony to escape the needle's unrelenting penetrations. Nor is it very common to see sadistic mirth occupying the faces of multiple tattooists as they inflict the unnaturally long, thick, shallow lines, seemingly without pause as though interminably carving through tough wood.
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Enter Brutal Black. It's the tattoo project where mandalas come to die. Where your neo-traditional Japanese tribal tatt is shown to be nothing more than a cute little fashion statement. Valerio Cancellier, Cammy Stewart, and Phillip "3Kreuze", the three tattooists behind the collaborative project, want to bring back some ritual and rebirth to tattooing. What they've come up with is one of the most brutal experiences one can imagine; they proudly claim it will "ruin your life". I contacted them to learn more about why the hell anyone would do this.
VICE: How is Brutal Black different to a normal tattoo session?
Cammy: With my normal work, what's most important is the end result. But this is a completely different thing for me. I'm not saying this type of tattooing is for everyone but this concept tears apart what I feel tattooing has become: plastic, soulless, broken down by fashion, the media and popular culture. To me this is a big fuck you to what most people believe tattooing to now be.
Valerio: Today the tattoo world is the continued research of an exceptional artisanal product which is very often referred to as art—rejecting the ritual aspect. Brutal Black Project doesn't want to settle for compromises. Its fundamental element is experiencing the ritual.
Phillip: In my everyday tattoo work, I'm still brutal, rough and hard, and I fill huge skin in the shortest time, but I pay more attention to the customer and to his body. In this project there's no compassion, no scruples, no sense of empathy—it was a little strange to behave like that. But it's fucking sick to kill these people during the session. Seeing the pain in their eyes, the shaking from their bodies and the mess. It makes me proud that I'm reaching goals together with my clients. It doesn't mean a full sleeve or big piece, it just means to break one's own will and to go to its outermost. When you have problems walking after the session, you have done it right. Pain is perishable, proud remains eternal!
Cammy: With my normal work, what's most important is the end result. But this is a completely different thing for me. I'm not saying this type of tattooing is for everyone but this concept tears apart what I feel tattooing has become: plastic, soulless, broken down by fashion, the media and popular culture. To me this is a big fuck you to what most people believe tattooing to now be.
Valerio: Today the tattoo world is the continued research of an exceptional artisanal product which is very often referred to as art—rejecting the ritual aspect. Brutal Black Project doesn't want to settle for compromises. Its fundamental element is experiencing the ritual.
Phillip: In my everyday tattoo work, I'm still brutal, rough and hard, and I fill huge skin in the shortest time, but I pay more attention to the customer and to his body. In this project there's no compassion, no scruples, no sense of empathy—it was a little strange to behave like that. But it's fucking sick to kill these people during the session. Seeing the pain in their eyes, the shaking from their bodies and the mess. It makes me proud that I'm reaching goals together with my clients. It doesn't mean a full sleeve or big piece, it just means to break one's own will and to go to its outermost. When you have problems walking after the session, you have done it right. Pain is perishable, proud remains eternal!
