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An Interview with Filip Leu by Thom Green of Mantra07th February 2004 Venue: The hotel adjoining the Milano Tattoo Convention Nine thirty AM and a day that started at 2 that Saturday morning saw us land at Malpenza International airport in Milan, Italy. In a day spent attending the Milano Tattoo convention, we hoped to not only bolster the confirmed artists list for Mantra 2004, but also experience a convention renowned throughout the world for being one of the best. We got to the shows venue after a long trip across the town via train, metro and then taxi. One of the biggest plus points for the artist working Milan has to be the fact that during the event, the organisers hire out the complete hotel building that adjoins the convention venue, a facility that adds class, luxury and convenience to the whole proceedings. Re-uniting with our friend Pili Mo'o was great and after many hugs he gave us the key to his room so that we had a base to work from. With two hours still to go before the second day of the convention began we made our way to the Hotel bar, which by now was full of artists and collectors alike, and the unmistakable pre convention hubbub. Mark keenly spotted Luke Atkinson (a fellow Cheltonian, believe it or not) propping up the bar. He was accompanied by Filip Leu, and keen to interview him we made a beeline and eventually got him sat down in the basement of the hotel. Over yet more coffee and constant chain-smoked cigarettes we spoke to the legend himself. I was so nervous, I have always loved Filip's work and see him as a real idol, and thankfully throughout he maintained a wicked sense of humour and all considered, a distinct lack of ego. I was so in awe I forgot to turn my Dictaphone on, so the interview is based on my notes and our general conversation with Filip and not direct quotations! The interview throughout bubbled along and Filip went off on loads of hilarious and interesting tangents, some of which I can't publicise and others I just don't know how to write! Your Mum and Dad were obviously massive tattooing influences on you but which other tattoo artists do you site as being your earliest influences?Greg Irons, Jack Rudy and definitely Don Ed Hardy and Horiyoshi III. My dad, Felix always advised me to wait and not get tattooed until I could get 2 full Japanese sleeves by Horiyoshi III. Is there anything (subject matter etc.) you would not tattoo?I guess anything really negative or negatively political. For someone to get me to tattoo their face or their hands they have to know me or bother me for a long time. I turn them down and then they have to really fight! I don't tend to do many portraits I just tell them to go see Tin Tin or someone else who does portraits really well ! I don't know, I guess anything that I feel could be done better by another artist like graffiti or lettering. Do you see the technical side of tattooing as important as pure artistic flair? If so what machines and inks etc. do you use regularly (have used!) and do you think it is important for a tattooist to be well versed in other mediums of art? (E.g. canvas, pencils etc.)Yes knowledge of machines is really important. And I feel a tattooist should practice other mediums of art. I feel that charcoal seems to be a particularly relevant medium. It's good to practice anything illustrative, and stuff without outlines. Sometimes you find that when not tattooing you are obviously more free to have artistic accidents, and out of these come some cute ideas. As far as inks go I use National Inks. I went through a spell of using Fairweather Inks around five years ago, but changed back. My dad always said there really is no easy ink to get into the skin. I still mix all my inks from ground powders (by hand) in a pestle and mortar. At times I stopped doing this, but soon went back to it. I found the bought pre-dispersed inks less satisfactory and noticed their lighter colours used to fade quite easily. Sunskin gave me one of their machines at last year's Milan convention and I really like it... Works really well with nice big magnums. Recently I spent some time with Lucky Diamond Rich and he talked at length about rotary machines. He gave me one which I enjoy using at times for line work. (Interestingly, Bob at Mantra has always sworn about the virtues of the rotary machine). For some reason I am much more comfortable if a client is already tattooed from head to toe! Are there any artists out there currently who inspire you and would like to be tattooed by?I tend to find my favorite artists are ones that are totally opposite to me. For instance Paul Booth approaches tattooing from a completely different angle. (At this point, and after a small digression, Filip was asked to roll his trousers up and show us the black and grey crazy hinges that Paul Booth tattooed on the backs of his knees, amazing....). Robert Hernandez is another artist like that. And Tin Tin is a fantastic portrait artist. A typical day in the life of Filip Leu would be?A typical workday would be, get up, don't eat (when asked why he replies it slows him down!), and take my vitamins and lots of coffee. I usually get into work about 12 and tend to tattoo one person; two at the most. Usually for anything from six hours, or more. I think my waiting time is till around June at the moment. I tend to mix up a lot of my own black and if I am using, say, a particular green I tend to ask the client to remember which particular colours I have used. Sometimes the first words they will say to me are this particular shade of colour! I try to be as fair as possible with a client so if we work to an agreed price I try to honour this. Although I had to draw the line recently when a client returned to finish a tattoo after 16 years! I looked at his tattoo and completely wanted to re-work it. Given all that you have achieved so far what are you especially proud of?(This question invoked a pause, further proof of his modesty) Promoting bigger needles. For a start they hurt less, and make designs much bigger and bolder! Also a lot faster to tattoo! Stacks of needles back to back. I find, as you get older you tend to relax a bit more and this reflects well in your work. I tend to freehand bigger pieces. Mark then asked Filip if he still gets nervous.He replies, "absolutely". The most nerve-racking experience for me is to tattoo a non-tattooed 18-year old woman (he expanded by saying it made him "s**t bricks!). That is really tough. Something I wish I could have asked him to expand upon was when he said "he has always respected Horiyoshi's ability to assume total responsibility for a tattoo". Filip said three things his father taught him were to always make sure he paid low rent, didn't drink in a local pub and never do a free tattoo! Describe your average client...do you find your reputation in the tattoo community tends to define your work?In a sense it's a double-edged sword that people tend to get tattooed by me because of my name. The whole brand name thing. I guess it means that in most cases there is no sales pitch. I don't think it defines my work though. I always try and get the client to bring photos with them. I have found more and more that the smaller I design a tattoo the easier its application (For instance in the Leu family Irons book, there are some of Filip's complete back-pieces, 4 to a page!) It is less easy to get lost in detail if your drawing is small, and easier to evolve a concept. He then went on to describing his brother recently helping him out with his computer. He now draws designs and through a couple of tricks using Photoshop can overlay his drawings onto photos of the relevant body parts of his clients! To tie up we chatted about Mantra 2004 and its growing reputation. Filip spoke about his two favourite convention experiences so far. Interestingly, and for a number of reasons they had been the Tokyo and Tahiti events. We left letting Filip prepare for his tattoo later that day; apparently a large dragon! Hopefully we had planted the seed of having The Leu Family Iron's Studio represented one day at the Mantra Festival. Mantra fans: cross your fingers. |