Entering tattooing from graffiti, the Lyon tattoo artist Noka gradually left his newschool orientation to fully invest in Japanese culture. His neo-jap style, without trying to ape irezumi, is part of a modern vein, partly nourished by the codes of the traditional ... as well as a good dose of comics.
It's been a while since you in the circuit, where are you today Noka?
Well, I work in Lyon, at Blossom Tattoo, which has been open for a little over 10 years now. It was Vincent (Holy Tiger) who started it, even though he is no longer with us today and has given us his little baby. I work with Morgane, Johnathan and Romain, the latest addition, the apprentice - he's been here for a little over two years. Everything is going well, there is work and we are having a good time.
What do we do for a tattoo at Blossom?
Everyone has their own little universe. As far as I'm concerned, I tend to do Japanese / neo-Japanese, like John. Morgane makes a more illustrative tattoo, engraving type, in black and white and Roman of the American trad, a little in the Italian way. By that I mean a more refined and less brutal approach than its US counterpart. But, I might be wrong since it's not really my world.
The trad Japanese, is not the one you're working either?
Indeed. I watch it a lot, however, and take inspiration from it, while trying to keep my little universe to myself and not just reproduce patterns taken from Japanese prints. I don't want to copy and paste things that already exist; as it is done a lot in the American trad for example, which I observe through Romain. In the US trad, we take classics made by the ancients to reproduce them identically, almost adding the author's reference in the description… Not in the tattoo, let's be clear ?! In Japan, for some it is more a question of taking up print patterns, of realigning them before dealing with the backgrounds, the clouds so that it works morphologically. But, as far as I'm concerned I started with Dimitri HK (tattoo artist in Saint Germaine en Laye in the Paris region) and I come from graffiti, so inevitably I always bring a modern touch to my tattoos. I hear from my work that it's about neo-jap and that's fine with me ...
You were talking about your little universe, how would you qualify it?
Asian, Japanese, and colorful inspiration because I like to work with color. I'm trying to do something a little punchy, to build momentum. I like things to move. I do a lot of big pieces, arms, backs, not bodysuits yet - unfortunately, maybe one day… - and I like to think of them all at once so that she tells something. I avoid the scattering effect of patterns connected by a background. My culture of Japan is not sharp enough to know the codes of composition that would allow me to do trad - well, as far as there really is, it seems that there are several interpretations - so I focus to make it look pretty and work graphically. On the other hand, I do not mix. No Polynesian in Japanese for example, manga or cartoon.
Your tattoo is also nourished by a strong comic strip inspiration ...
Yes, completely. Again, I'm from graffiti, I've been doing it since I was 12-13 years old and I love comics. Inevitably in my tattoo will creep a cartoonish side… which I try to contain anyway.
Cartoons, animated films too?
Oh yeah, animation suited me well, I wanted to do cartoons before I was a tattoo artist. But hey, schools are too expensive… So I didn't. And then I have friends who have worked in this and I don't regret it. If you're not a killer, you're struggling, you're still a little hand. But I watch a lot of stuff, Disney, Pixar, Myazaki, more independent cartoons, Amer Béton…
Is it thanks to the tattoo that your drawing has improved?
Yes. At Dimitri HK you clearly had to coal, so I had no choice but to draw. Obviously, after a while it comes in and you progress. But, to progress you have to stay curious and keep a critical eye. Trying to do better is the minimum so as not to go around in circles. At the time, when I started tattooing, I must have been 20-23 years old, I was really into graffiti and I had no tattoo culture. I wish I could transpose it. But when I arrived at Dimitri's I opened up to a crazy culture, everyone knew a lot of things, had an opinion. I felt stupid, but I was amazed. I loved it.
Naturally, as a graffiti artist you slipped into the New-School style.
It was the next logical step, to death. And then at Dimitri worked Steph D and he also did new-school, I was really into it. But since there was a big Japanese demand, I found myself doing it and little by little I went digging in Japan, what was being done, why, the names. I tried to understand the history, the background to find associations and not mix everything up. It fascinated me.
We find a little what you said about neo-jap: an eye on the traditional but at the same time modern. Does that sum up your personal touch?
A little graffiti side, a part of comics in a codified universe that I try to transform with a modern touch. Before, I did a lot of gradients, details, I used a wide variety of colors, but I stepped down to focus on the lifespan of the tattoos. I try to go more to the point. I shoot with a relatively desaturated color gamut. The flashy colors are quickly reminiscent of the 1990s tattoos, what I don't really like is dated. I try to take more pastel colors, cut with grays. I like the tattoo to be well contrasted so that it ages well.
How do you enjoy browsing Japanese culture?
The imagery is crazy, the iconography super rich, with very different things. It’s impossible to get around it quickly. And then I find it beautiful, interesting and above all timeless. These tattoos age well over time. Even though they were made 20 years or more ago, they still hold up, cool. It’s solid. When I got down to it, it kinda blinked on me. I didn't want to go and see other things anymore. This is where I gave up the new-school, because I didn't like the requests and ideas anymore: the little cats, the customers' kids on the swings, the gnan-gnan and cul-cul things to draw, I got fed up. In newschool I like to do worshipful or stupid stuff, I wanted projects that were a bit thug. Even in Jap, if you ask me for a cherry branch with a cute little bird, I will do it, because I am a tattoo artist and I will not refuse the whole earth; I would find that pretentious. But I will enjoy it less than if I had to do a tiger or an Oni that will rip a carp. I could go deeper into but people don't want to wear things that are too thrash ... I love to do chopped heads though. Then I would have to do flashes, but I'm too lazy for that… When I have free time, I don't do anything… I can do Netflix days without any problem. During the confinement I made myself the four seasons of the Spanish series “Casa de Papel”, from morning to evening. It was rotten. Afterwards I feel guilty ... but I like to do it. Otherwise I cycle, I see my friends, I drink shots, I graft, I go for a walk ...
What are your references in terms of Japanese culture?
I love Kuniyoshi, I love Kyosai, Hokusai of course, Kunisada too. In tattooing, among the French I like Alix Ge, Darumanu, Keuns, Boss, Yom, Sacha… After that depends on the periods and the Instagram thread, but I like Filip Leu, Luke Atkinson, Johan Svahn, Marode and Kostas Tzigaliagas, who made me my back.
Rather small, medium, large pieces?
I would love to do more small parts, so that I can start and end all at once. I should do more flashes, I'm asked, but again, either I'm lazy or have no idea. I'm going to jot down a lot of stuff and never finish it because I'm never happy. In fact I'm waiting for the fucking idea of phew that's going to work too well. I search, I make drawings, but after a few weeks they no longer satisfy me. And in the end I don't do anything.
Let's talk about your tattoos. Kostas did your back and Dimitri HK the arm, is that right?
It took a lot of years to make up my mind. I wanted a big head on my back and liked the “kappala” (cut made from a human skull in the shape of a container). Kostas is kind of his thing, the master I even think. He had come to tattoo as a guest here and he had already done John's back as well as Zeyo's. As far as the arm is concerned, it is indeed Dimitri with a composition on graffiti. There is a fence with a graffiti below which is marked "A vos chromes", my crew; there is a monseigneur pincer with a controller who is blown up by a train, a little gray, the little train from Saint-Lazare station; there a bull terrier with a bomb in the mouth and a small reference to Vaughn Bodē of Cheech Wizard, an American illustrator of the 1970s (deceased since) whose characters have been really taken up by graffiti artists, in New York but also in France later, the roofs of Paris. And in the mask ... It's me! (laughs). + IG : @nokatattoo IG shop : @blossomtattoocollective
