Pietro Romano is an Italian tattoo artist who has taken to creating Avant-garde, abstract and graphics tattoos. Born in Torino, Italy in 1978, Romano followed his passion for all things artistic by studying fine arts before settling on tattoo art as his favorite medium. His bold, unusual designs bring fine art into the world of body art and tattoos.
Abstract Tattoos? Avant-garde Tattoos? Graphics Tattoos?
There were several art movements of the 20th century that fell into the category of abstract art. Abstract art is essentially art that represents the world instead of recreating it on canvas. Essentially, an oil painting of a mountain that looks like the mountain would fall into the realm of realism while a drawing in which the mountain is simply represented by a line would be called an abstract art work. The line represents the mountain but doesn’t have the same amount of detail, perspective or realism as the mountain itself. Many tattoo designs are therefore abstract but we’ve become so accustomed to both tattoo art and abstract art that the connection between the two often isn’t noticed.
One form of abstract art that appeared in the early 20th century was Avant-garde art. The word is a bit obscure, because it translates directly from French into English as “advance guard”, but there is little information about how or why the phrase became the name of this art movement. When Avant-garde first began appearing, the art was as mysterious as its creators. The entire realm of Avant-garde seemed cloaked in mystery as its inexplicable films and unusual art left viewers with more questions than answers. Despite the obscurity of the Avant-garde movement, this art genre was incredibly popular. To this day, the bold, simplistic designs of the Avant-garde artists remain popular and are a fantastic source of inspiration for tattoo artists who want to create eye-popping designs with clear lines that hide obscure meanings.
Many modern graphics are based on the simplistic designs created during the abstract art movement. The image of splattered paint that features heavily in modern graphic design was first introduced to the art world through the famous abstract artist Jackson Pollock. The main difference between the abstract artists of the early 20th century and the artists and designers of today is the way that modern designers often combine realistic and abstract elements in an art work, creating a juxtaposition between reality and the imagined world. In contrast, the original abstract artists worked mainly from a world of thought and fantasy, creating art works that resembled the real world as little as possible.
Modern artists and graphic designers are swinging back to abstract art by creating collages and mixed media art works that combine elements from abstract art and reality. These art works will often include text in the form of quotes, photographs of popular celebrities or the logos of large corporations. Instead of expressing an idea through art, the way that the original abstract artists did, many modern artists (including Pietro Romano) are creating art that expresses their own personal opinion of the world.
Abstract Art as Tattoo Designs
Pietro Romano’s designs are intriguing because although many look so dissimilar, each carries an element of the artist in the design. Romano’s personality can be found in each piece through the use of balance and what seems to be a carefully considered and planned randomness. Some of Romano’s designs look as though they have been slapped together from mismatching elements, but on closer inspection the tattoo art work comes together as a whole, unified design.
Romano enjoys using red and black as the predominant colors in his tattoo designs. Red and black work well in graphic art because the two colors offset each other, creating vivid contrast that adds to the power of the design. Often, Romano will create most of the design in black, giving only the most important elements a red shade. The subject matter of his designs is often cheeky, rebellious or simply a new way of portraying classic symbolism. Visit Pietro Romano’s facebook page for more tattoo art and to contact the artist.