A serious sense of humor and a real tendency to parties, Gamma GT, established in Brussels, is no less a talented tattoo artist who brilliantly mixes second-degree humour and a graphic style with strong precision, fed with funny comics. When the Renaissance meets punk rock, it gives Gamma GT, hang on and release your zygomatics! Here we go!
Hi Gamma GT! Can you introduce yourself, where are you from, how old are you? What were you doing before you started tattooing, etc…?
Hello! My name is Angelo, I am Franco/Italian born in France and raised in Italy , I have 38 years old recently (fucking old age). Well, before being a tattoo artist I did a lot of things! Ha ha! After the BAC I went to Belgium to do Fine Arts, and I started seriously working in bars, on both sides of the counter (LOOOL). After three years in the Kingdom, I went down to Toulouse to live there with my brother and my best friend from high school with whom we had a band. So we spent the next three years working in bars, making music and I also started my little DJ career. Then the three of us went back to Belgium in 2009, where we continued the same way of life: Bar-Musique-DJ sets, and in addition, we had set up a club with friends, we organized a lot of evenings/concerts (especially punk) in bars in Brussels. Then when I was 28-29 years old, I got tired of it, especially working in bars, the band was running out of steam, and I wanted a change. During all these years of fun, I met Lea (Lea Nahon) at different parties and we became friends. I really wanted to get a real job, learn something new, and so I thought about tattoo. I already had a lot of friends who had a foot in it, I already had a tattoo and so I decided to find an apprenticeship. I went to see Léa at the butcher shop and she told me that yes, they were looking for an apprentice, so Ringo! No Bingo! Ten years later I’m boss, yup!
Curious nickname that that of Gamma GT… Are you often confronted with problems with alcohol or have you suffered the consequences of too high GT gamma?
Ha ha! The good question completely rhetorical! The nickname comes from an old friend from high school who followed us quite well at almost all concerts, and as I liked beers and others, well, he started to call me like that… Then it stayed, I thought it fits me well! Ha ha! And it sounds good actually, there’s a little Grand Turismo side, it’s almost classy.
How would you describe your world and your style when it comes to tattooing?
If I had to describe my universe and/or my style, I would say, a mix between Bruegel and Bosch with Fluide Glacial (famous french comic magazine since the 60's) on a music background by NOFX!
What has been your career as a tattooist, and what is your current status within La Boucherie Moderne?
I started as an apprentice at the Boucherie Moderne in 2013 and today I took over the business. Nothing really crazy at that level, sorry.
Tell us more about the current Boucherie Moderne team, including the various guests.
The team has recently changed, there have been a lot of colleagues who have gone on other adventures. There are more than four tattooists and two apprentices and that’s good! We struggle a lot to have guests, because it’s cool to meet and share with new artists or to see friends and work together. It’s kind of one of the goals of having a shop, isn’t it?
What are your direct or indirect inspirations and influences in tattoo and outside of tattoo?
As I said earlier, I was given old art, my parents are restorers of works of art, and I hung out with them a lot in their workshop, so I saw a lot of old prints, paintings of the Italian Renaissance etc… At the time, it wasn’t too much for me but I think that unconsciously it must have played a lot. Then as I was growing up, I discovered my uncle’s Fluide Glacial magazines at my grandmother’s house in France, and the crazy humor that was in it, and that stayed fine! Ha ha! When I started my apprenticeship I had to find a style for myself, I had never done a tattoo before, I created drawings for album covers, concert posters or parties, but I had never worked thinking it was going to be a flash or a tattoo. But in the end, it was quite easy in the sense that I managed to reduce my drawings and make them work with an extra sentence, I loved and I love to hijack existing images, desecrate certain religious images, derision is something that is close to my heart, and personally, I am not someone (I think) who takes himself too seriously. I like to laugh and make people laugh, if I have to summarize. But above all, I must thank all the colleagues who were there during my apprenticeship at La Boucherie in the early years, they were decisive for what I became today: a big goof! Thank you guys!
What motivates you to have a good tattoo session?
The subject or the design and the place on the body. When you know that you can have fun on a cool piece and that it will only be happiness. After all the sessions are good! (The big fake ass ha ha!)
How do you and your clients approach a future tattoo? How do you proceed?
It depends on the piece. If it’s a flash, decide on a place on the body and then adjust the size. If it is a custom, I always prefer to make an intermediate appointment to discuss the design, know if I am in the right direction regarding the customer’s request and then, once everything fills right, we set a date for the meeting and let’s go!
Where does humour start in your work and how far can you go?
The humor is always there! After of course, not everyone is ok to wear a tattoo with humor, each in his own way of laughing if you want, I’m sure there must be plenty of people who find me really heavy (I think of my girlfriend who supports me! Ha ha ha!). What I prefer is the second see the 200th degree, so it can go very far!
Are there any tattoos you would like to do? Or did you refuse to do them? Where are your limits in humor and absurdity?
Bop... I don’t know, I’ve never really thought about it, I love my job and I like what clients ask me, so anyway, I’m totally happy to do what I do. What I would like to do more often is flash oversize!
What are you doing outside of tattooing? Also tell us about the group you play in…
Next to the tattoo, I tattoo! Ha ha! Well, other than that, I’m still playing music, I’m a bass player in a punk band (skatepunk) and we think we’re teenagers! Ha ha! It’s a new boys band that we started in February with friends here in Brussels. We play a little here and there, and we’ll play at the Brussels tattoo convention! It’s called Motormouth, we’ll be recording soon and you can listen to us on Bandcamp. Otherwise there’s a FB and Insta page if you’re curious!
What would be the ideal concert poster for you, outside of time possibilities and styles?
Wooow! Well, I would have loved to have been there in the late 1960s, and to be able to see all these sick groups. I would also have liked to be in the early 1990s on the American West Coast, to see the first concerts of Green Day, Nofx, Offspring, etc… See Nirvana, I would have fucking loved it so much! And finally, I would have liked to be in New York in the late 70s to see the beginnings of punk.
What was your worst moment as a tattoo artist? What was your best moment?
I think my worst moment was at the end of 2019, it was more because of so many problems with the colleagues at that time, and it was really complicated to work properly, to the point where I almost gave up, but in the end I stayed… The best moment was when I was accepted as an apprentice at La Boucherie! Hi hi!
Thank you for your patience! The last words are for you!
Thank you for inviting me! See you soon! Insta: gamma_gt
