In her tattoos, she likes to combine her greatest passions, as a real nerd as she defines herself: mythology, history, Japanese culture and strange creatures with powerful looks and strong colours typical of Neo Japanese style. Russian by origin, Alina lives and works in Munich, Germany, with an eye always on the future and on possible changes.
Hi Alina nice to meet you! On your Ig page you introduce yourself as a tattoo artist who works mainly with the Neo-Japanese style. How did you get involved in tattooing?
Hi! I am Alina Vax, nice to meet you! I was born in the south of Russia and then moved to Moscow where my career as tattoo artist began. Right now I live in Germany.
Honestly speaking, I didn’t have any friend tattoo artist or even tattoos on me.
It was like a thunderbolt that hit me one summer morning and it became clear inside me that I had to give it a try.
I have an artistic family but I studied languages at university because my mom wanted a ‘decent’ profession for me. After having taught for 4 years I just decided to do what I really wanted.
How did you take your first steps into the world of tattooing?
At first, I took a tattoo course which was a disaster, but it let me know that I had to find a mentor and do an apprenticeship. And I did. He was a very strict sensei, but being a teacher myself I could handle it.
What are the particular aspects you love?
I am a real nerd, I love mythology, history, stories, culture and strange creatures. The Japanese style has all this. Moreover, it is one of the most enduring styles on skin and it never goes out of fashion.
I like the way you can combine a personal meaning or mythological story and the strength of the graphic representation of your idea in the Japanese style.
Who has helped you most in your professional development and in learning this style?
I did an apprenticeship to learn the technique of tattooing, but not the Japanese style. I have quite a collection of books, so I did my own research. Ichibay, Shige, Horiyoshi are among the artists I have studied and observed the most.
You play a lot with the eyes of the characters you tattoo, whether they are animals like tigers, demons or masks…. Do you use them to give light to your work?
I believe that colours, anatomical positions and contrast give my works a lot of light. I have a few favourite motifs, but I can give a sparkle to any Japanese-oriented theme.
I also noticed that your choices are well-defined in colour: they are powerful in contrasts, traditional but with the addition of more contemporary variations of purple and blue, is that so?
I would say that one of the main differences between Traditional Japanese and Neo-Japanese is the colour palette. In Neo-Japanese it is much more vibrant and varied. One of my favourite colour combinations lately has become sea green and turquoise with salmon red.
You are resident artist at @13munchen, how long have you been there?
The Munich, Bavaria studio @13munich helped me to settle in Germany in April 2023. A great collective, many artists I know from my time in Moscow. But I think my journey will not stop here. One of my biggest dreams has always been to work in the US.
Do you like travelling? Where have you been recently and what is your favourite place?
I can say that I have been around a lot. I have visited Norway, Spain, Israel, Dubai, Indonesia, Turkey, Egypt. And I have worked in most of these places. One place that really impressed me was the Ijen volcano on the islands of Java. It has an acid lake in the middle and dry trees at the top, if you climb it at dawn the scene is really breathtaking.
A project you would like to share with us in closing this interview?
I plan to make and sell prints with my art and, as I said before, I am aiming for the US. I really hope I can make it this year 🙂
