His style is defined by anything that captures emotions and speaks to the truth of his clients. It is deeply connected to the stories they hold close to their hearts and lives. We’d like to introduce Arlen Bellotti, a tattoo artist from Malta, whose surrealistic graphic style blends aesthetics and concepts that capture the eye. As he explains in this interview, it is a fusion of flowing compositions and spiritual guides.
Hello Arlen, where are you from?
Hi Tattoo Life, I come from a small island named Malta, a Mediterranean island with a lot of history and culture. It’s an island where the sun always rises and the heat blazes—where it’s easy to talk to people and gain recognition. I’ve lived here for the past twenty- seven years.
Do you have your tattoo shop or do you work in a team?
I do not own a tattoo shop, but I have a family/team, which means more than any shop could fulfil my desires. I am currently working under Legacy Tattoo Studio, which is originally owned by the master Stevotat2 – Steven Bugeja. He’s a great friend, a pioneer of tattooing, a great artist, and a great man.
It’s an honour for me to be there. I’ve achieved so much just by being around mindsets that align with my artistic approach and improved both as an artist and human being. We’ve travelled a lot together and grew next to each other. I would consider him one of my role models, and I’m grateful I’ve got the chance to work alongside him.
How did your career in tattooing start?
Tattooing was always something that attracted me, the permanency of it, the underground vibe, and the sound of the machine were music to my ears since I was a little kid! I used to be excited and waited for Miami Ink to come on TV just so that I could imagine myself waiting until I was 18 to get my first tattoo. It started when I met my first tattoo artist, who became my mentor and taught me most of the stuff I came to learn today. He’s still someone whom I truly admire and respect for the rest of my life. It’s a funny story about how it started, I was in school back then, with no money but great ambition.
I was once at a grocery store when we crossed each other, and there was the question: would you like to work with me and become a tattoo artist? It didn’t take much thinking for me to drop 7 years of art school and start tattooing; it was what I’d dreamt of anyway, and that’s what got me started. Tattooing wasn’t an easy path, but I’ve had faith, and I’ve always wanted to be world-famous.
I wanted to prove that I was worth the vision I had in mind.
I slept in tattoo studios and showered in gyms, worked all day and night on projects, and tattooed multiple clients for a minimum charge. It did not matter how comfortable the cushioning was, all I needed was the buzzing sound of the machine and the smooth shades of black and grey, delicate strokes of fine lining, and an imagination to reach the world.
What is your background? Is it linked to art schools?
Art school was always in my heart. Since a very young age, I’ve started drawing; my mum used to buy me single sheets as that was what we could afford back then, one cent for a piece of paper and a pencil that never left my hand. It wasn’t too long until I started to find my crowd, attending art lessons and technical design in high school; art taught me technicalities, observation, imagination, and destination, whilst technical design taught me discipline, ethics, precision, and neatness.
You can see both of those elements integrated into the style that I do now. Six years in art college came after two years in the foundation, two years in graphic design, and two years in fine arts. I could not have wished for anything better than the combination I’ve done.
Fine arts taught me the narrative, the storytelling, the technicalities, deadlines, and adapting to mixed media in art.
Graphic design gave me all the lessons that I needed to get my own style going, the computer is what I mostly use now. Photoshop has probably become one of my best friends by now, we spend a lot of time together, and I’d say we’re almost one thing by now. Photography, Cinematography, Anatomy, Flow, and Program use are all subjects I’ve explored in school and still use now.
Where did you cross tattoos?
As I’ve mentioned earlier, tattooing has always been in my purest heart. From TV shows to artists in town, tattoos seemed to find me searching for my own voice. I’ve spent a lot of hours in tattoo studios and had artists help me out with school assignments at the age of 17; I guess when you hang around the barbershop long enough, sooner or later, you will get a haircut.
How did you develop your graphic style?
The balance of space, alignment, contrast, and proportion in graphic design always caught my eye. Realism was a way of expressing my capabilities, but it wasn’t enough to explore my deepest realms.
It did start off with realism until I knew I wanted to enhance the client’s body, similar to the pleasure a website can give to the eye or a dance of a font that captures the glancing sights. Graphic design taught me proportions, and that was something I wanted to implement in my own style.
How could I capture the body to enhance who sees it from afar and near sight?
Using lines lets me bisect muscle groups and create an enhancing style; it gives a dance to the body that’s just irresistible not to glance and smile. It’s similar to bodybuilding, where the athlete tends to form his/her muscular forms, the same rules apply to enhancing the body’s natural size by the nature of the lines and positioning of the graphic style.
You add details to realistic portraits and subjects taken from artworks that make them surreal. How would you describe your style?
My style is a description on its own. It signifies a story that the owner tends to keep close to their heart and lives. The surrealism of the designs creates thought-provoking emotions and not straightforward tales of life. Through interpretations, one can understand what lies between the lines.
My style is a mixture of aesthetics and concepts that capture the eyes; it’s a mixture of flowing compositions and spiritual guides.
I like to give my clients a guarantee that what they will get will always signify a part of their lives that they hold dear to their minds. It’s a journey that one will embark on and live forever in the midst of their truest sides.
Where do you get the references for your subjects from?
I mostly get my references from the internet, Pinterest, Google, Behance, and sometimes I get them from books. In reality, references are everywhere in everyday life; a reference isn’t just a picture, but an encounter can most likely influence what’s behind the real depiction. References come from the stories people have gone through and what they really feel about what they’ve been through. It’s the emotion that arises in their eyes whenever they speak of the concept they have in mind. The reference is just there to see, and the internet is just the tool to interpret what they’ve already been through.
What are you favourite subjects?
Anything that captures emotions and speaks the truth of my client’s devotions. Apart from being poetic, I find a balance between realistic subjects such as faces and hands to capture such importance and artificial intelligence, surrealistic artworks that glimpse us into another realm we haven’t yet tapped into. They give me the best of both worlds- the real world we live in and the world of dreams where every encounter seems to pop a question and an answer. Subjects vary from one another, and I find all of them to have a great sense of notion that makes them all my favourite ones.
Do you like to do guest spots? If yes where do you usually go?
I love guesting! The Networking, the vibe, the artistic mentalities, and the overall journey. It’s a bliss to be able to guest spot; I’ve been in places I’ve only dreamt of, such as Mommy I’m Sorry and Pardon Paris. I still have their welcome paper in my living room and I’m grateful every day when I look at it. I guest all around Europe and wish to take it further. Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Sweden, and England are some of the places I’ve been in, and I can’t wait to guest all around the world. That’s something I’m forever grateful for!
What is your dream for your future of tattoo artist?
I’d love to become a world national, a celebrity tattooer, and one who leaves a mark. I’d love to start my own community of like-minded artists who want to create art! I want to be of service to everyone who has a journey to mark and be their checkpoint to embrace their new start. I’d like to build an empire of empaths who can relate to their clients and believe they can change how people view art.
