Russia's Modern Myth Maker

In September 2007 the American magazine Tattoo Revue gave me seven pages in issue #130, in its Planet Ink section, under the title "George Bardadim: Russia's Modern Myth Maker". The article opened with the long history of tattooing in Russia, the prison tradition with its own symbols and signature style, and placed me among a new generation of Russian artists working on the international scene.

The start was told the way I always tell it: friends from the punk scene who wanted tattoos, the needle ending up in my hand because I could draw, a first machine built from whatever there was, and Taras. That story lives on the Skin Deep page.

Animals in Black and Grey

The writer connected my work to an old line of tattoo imagery in that part of the world: animal life, from rams and deer to imaginary creatures. Much of my portfolio then was a realistic version of the same instinct: powerful birds, bears, big cats and other strong animals in black and grey. The photos chosen for the article said the same: tigers, a leopard, a lioness, a wolf, an owl, a bear.

I said I enjoyed working in any style, but black and grey was what people in Russia asked for. My greatest strength, I said, was "creating a realistic 3-dimensional effect", and I wished I had more chances to work in colour.

Larger Pieces

Asked what I wanted next, I named larger work: sleeves and back pieces. The photos already pointed there. Among the animals were dragons with lotus and peony, and a full back piece in black and grey: Gyōja Bushō, the Suikoden hero who fought a tiger with his bare hands. It was not my own design; I tattooed it after a drawing by Horiyoshi III. I had begun to study irezumi the year before. It took more than a decade before I worked in nothing else, a road described in Judged a Decade Later.

The Fifth Floor

The article described the studio as it was: private, on the fifth floor, no street traffic, appointment only, custom work. The studio itself is the subject of The Fifth Floor. What I said about the work there still holds: "Each tattoo should represent the personality of its wearer." I collected as much as I could about the client's idea, then drew until we agreed. "Sometimes I spend more time creating the design than actually tattooing it! But the customers are satisfied when I work this way, and they come back for more work!"

The article closed with Yana. I said I could not have done it without her "love, support, and encouragement". Almost twenty years on, that has not changed either.