Macko: Tattoo, love ‘n’ hustle since 2002

Life and art paved the way from the little southern Italian town of Monopoli which over the course of twenty years of work would lead tattooist Antonio Todisco to become Macko Tattoo, the hallmark of Chicano Black and Grey, admired not only in Europe but also where Chicano has its roots on the West Coast of the United States.

This tale is told in full and for the very first time in the new book published by Tattoo Life €$£ Macko.

From sacred art which he had concrete artistic experience of in a craft studio in Florence while a student at the Art Academy, to the contamination with graffiti and street art in Los Angeles during his first trip which would mark his “Cali Life”.

And the revelation which would forever change his vision of tattoo. “I realised that southern Californian culture really did have a lot in common with that of southern Italy: the central role of the family, the ties to your own circle, the virtues of loyalty, religion, conviviality. I came back from that stay enriched by all sorts of artistic stimuli that would yield fruit decades later”.

From there the springboard which got him noticed, first at Italian conventions, then around Europe and finally, in America, so he became Macko, a term which brings together his southern Italian dialect and a tougher sound which would open doors for the “hermano italiano” in the home of Chicano tattoo.

€$£ Macko. My Latin Italian Black’n’Grey

€$£ Macko. My Latin Italian Black’n’Grey

€$£ Macko. My Latin Italian Black’n’Grey

€$£ Macko. My Latin Italian Black’n’Grey

“…So, thinking back to the nickname “Mashcónə” I’d had as a kid, meant to be funny but pretty emblematic, which in my local dialect means “macho, a tough guy who’s really flashy” – and I decided to go for an internationalised version of Mashcónə, Mashco… Macko. There it was: I had just come up with my name in the trade.”

Encounters, travel, his current count of three shops and his development in tattoo, we follow his work through his artistic evolution to see ever more clearly where it all came from.

There is that potent cocktail of classical art, or rather the highest form of sculpture in the history of art, which Macko expresses through his use of Black and Grey, giving depth and movement with the play of shading and his understanding of the play of volumes on various parts of the body.

And then there is his Chicano fine line, determined by the lettering and classic subjects of this culture like the iconic Payasa which Macko himself created.

LA PAYASA has become my style icon, my Muse who has accompanied me for over a decade now. The best seller in my portfolio, rooted in the classic iconography of the clown in Prison Art. The clown masks their feelings with happy face make up, hiding the negativity of their true emotional state. La Payasa (clown” in Spanish) is the representation of a “fallen woman” (lol) who masks the sadness in her heart with make up.

With a touch of realistic technique and a strictly Black ‘n’ Grey style I came up with what is still my hallmark piece. Over the years, the Payasa has become an integral part of the international scene, there are millions of them around today and unfortunately, the younger artists don’t even know where she came from.

For me, it’s a source of pride, but at the same time it saddens me – here we are again with the dualism of the soul – and, once again, the ambivalence of the clown!

La Payasa alongside the skull, Cathrina, the car and the dollar, but also Michelangelo-s David and the clown, follow one another in a series of illustrated plates of sketches and tattoos, set apart by the colour black and an awareness of values, traditions and lifestyle, art reflecting life and vice versa, never really knowing which came first in this imprinting of Italian Black and Grey Chicano which is so evident in this book.

€$£ Macko. My Latin Italian Black’n’Grey

€$£ Macko. My Latin Italian Black’n’Grey

€$£ Macko. My Latin Italian Black’n’Grey

€$£ Macko. My Latin Italian Black’n’Grey

€$£ Macko. My Latin Italian Black’n’Grey

€$£ Macko. My Latin Italian Black’n’Grey