Starting out in realistic black and white, Prissy Del Rey decided to go on a journey, an artistic journey that took her to the East from where she draws her deepest influences. From this trip, Prissy acquired a style that she experimented with until giving it its current form. Oriental arts, mysticism, nature, dedication, passion and a personal vision make Prissy an artist to follow in a caravan advancing in a distant desert that stretches as far as the eye can see.
Tell us about your path, where you come from, what you did before tattooing, what pushed you into tattoo and why?
Hello Inkers! First, I want to thank you for this opportunity, I’m so blessed to answer at your questions. Well, my name is Priscilla, aka Prissy Del Rey, I’m 28 years old and I tattoo as a pro since 5 years now. I’m from a family based in Paris, I have a little brother, my dad is a house builder and my mother was a streamstress, she changed to become a kind of nurse for the elderly. When I grow up, I was interested by all the manual things. I did a special class where I discover car mechanics, boat body and carpentry. Finally, under the guidance of my mother, I start a professional baccalaureate in commerce before to go a license in Human Science in communication that I obtained in 2015. There I discovered sociology, anthropology, neuropsychology, linguistic and also media communication… it was passionate. To celebrate my last year of study, I get my first tattoo : « We all mad here » on my neck, from Alice in Wonderland, which was the subject of my final study defense. It was kind of magic, as a freedom and reconnected me with my creative links from my childhood. Everything went fast at this point. From observations and first tattoo I made at Stanl Ink Tattoo not so far from my place, I then left with my clothes in a sport bag to Luxembourg where I found a job as a manager at Adikt Ink. A tattoo shop with many tattoo artists from Thailand and managed by a businessman who also have a event company. I learned to manage a commerce and the tattoo artists in the week days, to participate to the management of the organization of events, an as a hostess on week-ends.At the tattoo shop I had the luck to watch different styles and step by step to be taken under the wing by the one I still call nowadays Mister President, a tattoo artist into traditional asian style, X Dragon King. Over time, I get more seriously into my job of manager the day and working about tattooing the night during one year to finally dedicated myself totally to the tattoo. But my boss didn’t want to lose me as a shop manager, so I left the shop two months later et took the road to survive as a guest during two years. I was on the road three weeks a month, I nourish myself with everything I could learn, it was a real El Dorado. I was lucky to work in Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Switzerland, Spain and of course rance… For the young girl I was, it was simply amazing!
What were your first crush in tattoo, the people, artists or tattoo school/style who had a strong impact on you and put the seeds of what you do and are nowadays?
When we talk about tattoo school, I want to say that I’m out from the school Body Staff at Vincennes (near Paris), since my first guest at Nico, he always gave me the codes of the real tattoo with his passion, he let me introduce to people fro tattoo, gave me the advice of always deal with what I’ll meet. I have an infinite respect to him. But, at the beginning , I was more inspired by the black and greu dark realism with Anjiris Straume. Then after with the lettering, I love the balance and the discipline that lettering demands. I principally mention with pleasure Gabril La Haine, Delia Vico and Chocos GS.I think that there is something « affirmed » in the way to get a lettering as a tattoo, we have at the same time the the literary meaning of the word that refers us to a proper meaning/direct, but also a graphic combo to help us to express and interpret the feeling that one carries there. Then the art Nouveau side, even not in tattooing, is a domain which have the art to pull out beauty. Whether it is architecture, the craftsmanship of ironwork or that of jewelry design and so on… It’s still one of my inexhaustible sources of inspiration.
Since when did you find your own style and what were the steps to get into it?
What I can say is that the Necro Ornament started around the year of 2019. I was a tattoo artist resident at Narbonne with Heidi Ernaga, which have a fat lines and floral ornemental style. I saw her laying giant layers on the backs of women, armed with her sewing meter and a pose, it’s during these moments that she inspired me to see and to observe the body in a different way. I didn’t see a simple independent flash, but rather the body that imposed itself in its morphology in the first place. Then I started to work on inspired ethnic tribal and to be interested into styles and the different symbolic languages they contain. Should be Berber, Polynesian and so on… I am absolutely fascinated by the fact they have at the same time an aesthetic dimension and in another part a more mystic approach, with a profound meaning to a given community. I was since into a neo traditional vibe and into a black bold calligraphy, I tried to work some bodysuits to train myself to develop a concept with some oriental riad archs and I used it as a basis for advancing and understanding the codes of life-size ornament. Then iron ornaments from balcony I saw in the streets, some Art Nouveau doors and so on… It’s exciting to be able to see the multitudes of crafts that can be used to sublimate the human body. From there, I tried to mix all these different influences and make it a dynamic movement, but it was very dissonant, it looked like a kind of metal band logo flow, to try to image the thing. My customers didn’t understand, nobody understood this changing of style from me. During the year of 2020, after a vey complicated year trying to work, the Covid and the first confinements will mark the beginning of a caring construction during which I had time to read a lot and make an step by step evolution on Necro Ornement.
How can you describe your style… and why?
Necro Onement, even everyone can see his own interpretation, first I will say of its Greek prefix « Necro » that is literally death, I see here more than a deep feeling of renouveau. I like to think that like any ethnic tattoo, it acts as a bridge between the celestial and the earthly. That it sends us back to a timeless symbolic knowledge. These designs and tattoos are used as a protective armor, as a talisman and that’s what I’m trying to do. The Necro Ornement on which I work and express myself, refers us to time immemorial, that of primitive chaos, it is raw, part of our microcosm, it represents for me the fears, the multiple and varied negative life experiences that are part of us. The fact that it is solid pushes the relation of the meaning, that of making body with this black and being able to wear it with physical and psychic affirmation. But it is above all a lively movement, as strong as a plant, it undeniably continues to grow upward towards the sun, in fluid but permanent combat towards balance. It takes part to the harmony of the tattooed person by his morphology and be fixed on the body as a symbolic jewel armor, and/or it can be purely aesthetic.
From where did you get your more important inspirations? And those more far ou less easy to find?
Even if it is very large, I know that I am mainly inspired by the history and therefore the traditional arts, especially those of the civilizations present in the Persian territory and the fertile crescent that mix in their ways immutable beauty and collective myth. Architecture and temples occupy an important place in my references, with Fakear in my ears, I like to watch 3D reconstructions of the Palace of Persepolis, that of Darius 1st in Susa or the city of Babylon and its gate of Ishtar, among other references of the kind. Temples follow the crafts that surround it, such as Babylonian astrological sculptures, Egyptian jewelry, Persian and Turkish carpets, Syrian carved wood, gold or bronze artifacts, as well as Byzantine mosaic art for example. Then I would say the whole of Islamic art, the iconographic representation of the divine being forbidden in Islam, then Orient saw the birth of a new artistic current based on the expression of the divine by geometry and plant ornament, symbol of universal harmony. We can talk about mosaics, liturgical calligraphy, metal art (copper lighting, tray, doors, grilles, etc.), henna too, and of course architecture, which is my favorite reference on the subject is undoubtedly the great mosque of Isfahan in Iran, jewels in this domain. And last, I would say the world of clothing. When I was a kid, I used to walk through my mother’s workshop with all these pieces of fabric, these dummy models. I have always been inspired by the woman and I admire those who know how to adorn her splendidly. Applied to tattooing, the work of Muchacho Navaja, perfectly illustrates to me the ratio seam on skin. On the haute couture side, I think of the organic genius of Iris Van Herpen, the alien side of Thierry Mugler and Alon Live, but also of medieval fashion and young illustrators of gaming/manga that offers us incredible digital references costumes/armor futuristic.
I think that, sometimes, there is an « insectoïd » design on a big part of your work, the way it puts on bodies, the rigorous symmetry… What do you think about this?
Yes, excellent remark. The insectoid side is totally present. The Art Nouveau jewels of René Lalique among others inspired me enormously, he made many magnificent pieces mixing insects and ornaments. It’s really a combo that has marked me, because it’s a set that we are not used to meeting, yet it expresses everything in beauty the relationship of symbiosis that exists between insects and plant nature. Many insects are so small, but have been present since time immemorial, unlike humans. They even lived an era of gigantism in the Carboniferous, long before the arrival of the dinosaurs, where we could have encountered dragonflies 2 meters tall and tree ferns as big as a palm tree. It was in this process that I began to incorporate this giant plant/insect aspect into ornamental, then on the bodies.
How did you proceed to conciliate the patterns design and the way to put on the body? By research, drawing, tests, customers body shape?
Everything about adapting to the body is by far my favorite part. It's often forgotten, but the body responds to the golden number, it has its own unique morphology. It is also the living support of our most radiant memories but also that of our complexes and deep physical pride or not. All these features are particularly highlighted on large-scale projects or those affecting intimate areas. It is from an observation of the body in its form and a precious exchange with its client, based on listening to the other, that the tattoo artist will be able to imagine a unique concept adapted to the physical and moral condition of the tattooed. This is what I like most about this job, the feeling of having the incredible chance to be both a friend to listen and the artisan of a life.
How long does it takes to realize a big tattoo work, between the basic idea, the proposal you send to your customers until the final achievement?
In general, for a complete ventral, from neck to pubis, or for a dorsal including the buttocks, I count about 6 sessions spaced out of a minimum month, so I would say that a big project is done over almost a year, between reflection, making appointments and its final realization, also taking into account the small hazards of each person’s life. First, there is the client’s approach by message, indicating to me his wish to adopt a concept or to explain his project. Then comes a photo of the body taken from afar in order to see its visual set and draw directly on it, I first focus the general shape of the sketch very quickly to show the customer the kind of composition/shape that comes directly to me following these instructions. From there, it can lead to a direct validation of the form or feedback with the client until an agreement is reached. Once the appointment is made, the final drawing is received a few days before the appointment. The first session serves as an acquaintance day around a herbal tea, a stencil puzzle to pose and to tattoo all the lines. This is a special moment, as the customer makes a real first impression of the entire experience. He must feel intimate, comfortable being nude, free to step back to project himself and be completely confident with the process.
Each one of your tattoos is unique, even if it follows the same graphic line and it’s instantly recognizable, did you always want to obtain that kind of visual impact?
I know now that I am currently halfway between the Ornamental and the Neotribal in tattoo, but I have very worn inspirations out of tattoo so it may be that that plays on the "unique" side. For the impact, I think I fell there little by little, I like this contrast, the tattoo is something that must be legible from a distance, in agreement with the body and time, so on a large scale and with the power to accompany the aging of the tattooed person. For me, wearing black implies a real position and a deeper reflection on the part of the client, he must see himself wearing it over the long term, assume it and fully assert it on a daily basis. It's a whole set that must be approached with maturity, self-awareness and for the other.
Do you already know which will be your artistic evolution or do you think you had not finished to explore your actual graphic world?
I think I just opened the door to what I want to create. But in any case, this is the first time that I'm really stabilizing in a style and feel the need to make it stay for a long time. Tattooing large area of black requires a particular technique that I can really assume after almost two years of work. My Necro Ornament clientele is still being built day by day, so I’m only at the beginning of the journey. I opened my first private workshop in September 2021 in Perpignan where I work alone for the first time. Baptized and decorated in homage and inspiration to "The Gate of Ishtar", it is really as Plato would say my syndrome of the cave or the Inner Citadel. It is a place where I am in my cocoon, in a dimension of calm and proximity with my customers. In May, with Muchacho, we will work on our first collaboration and I look forward to it. Already satisfied with the idea of being able to share this experience with the tattoo artist that I appreciate the most to date, I also hope to be able to collaborate with Delia Vico who is someone that I admire a lot too.
Besides tattooing, you do drawings and paintings, do you have other artistic desires or steps you wish to achieve?
I like drawing realism sometimes, also painting calligraphy on canvas or on my Mom’s hand-sewn kimono. In recent months, thanks to my mother-in-law who gave me the idea, I have been working on making carpets inspired by ancient Persia/Turkey. In addition to being an ancestral art, it's a real pleasure for me, to study the meaning of the symbols, colors and shapes that I interpret in Necro Ornament version, it is a new world that I appreciate as much as the tattoo and that I intend to develop well. Still with a small foot in the textile, I worked this winter on my very first printed fabric in order to make clothes in collaboration with Avril La Rouge, a woman gifted in her craft, I am so eager to see the result. Moving away from tattoo in my personal activities brings me closer to the professional side, so I keep going. But if I have to think about the future, in a few years, you will most likely find me in a yurt at the bottom of a garden to make tattoos and/or to meet me aboard a decorated caravan, loaded with carpets in the direction of the Souk of Bab el Oued.
This interview is now at his end, it’s up to you: last words!
For the last word, I just want to express my gratitude to my family and to all the people I’ve met so far, whether they’re clients, artists, etc... and contributed to the woman I am today. Although it is a profession combining devotion and loneliness, it is nevertheless the most humane profession I have encountered so far. I am proud to be a living craftswoman. Insta: prissy_del_rey
