You can meet Karol at Dirty Lust Tattoo Warszawa, where he has been based since deciding to learn tattooing. Floral motifs have a special place in his compositions: delicate forms, thin outlines and shading built from dots. The same Karol who loves flowers is interested in motorcycles, fantasy, games and distant history, which makes him a colourful character worth introducing. To keep things from sounding too sweet, those flowers often accompany the main subjects: fierce wolves, ravens or tigers. And where does the title come from? It refers not only to discovering interesting places, discussed below, but also to Karol's choice of degree and changes of home. Who among us does not search, sometimes get lost, and eventually find something truly valuable?
Krysia TATTOOFEST MAGAZYN
Sometimes you have to get lost
You do quite a lot of tattoos for women, with flowers or decorative details surrounding most subjects. What do you offer, and who is your work for?
Ever since I started tattooing, I have felt that more women than men book sessions. That partly explains the prevalence of floral, botanical and decorative motifs. I also simply enjoy elements created by nature. Flowers are an obvious choice because they are beautiful and flexible: you can arrange them in almost any form, fitting the composition and a particular body placement. I have never thought of targeting a specific group. My work is for anyone who likes my style. Technically, I use dotwork shading, realism enclosed in a form suited to the body, natural elements, sometimes geometry, lots of detail and usually a thin outline. As for subjects, I am open to ideas, whether a floral composition or a humanoid mosquito in a hat, with one swollen hand and the other bruised. What matters is that the client enjoys what they will wear.
I understand tattooing caught your interest seven years ago. What happened then, and what steps did you take to develop? What made you think it could work?
I cannot remember exactly when I decided I wanted to tattoo. I mostly drew for myself, sometimes had small commissions, and tattooing was somewhere at the back of my mind. I became certain and decided to pursue it while in Łódź, where I got my first tattoos. Afterwards, I focused more on drawing for tattooing, but did not feel confident enough to seek a studio apprenticeship, let alone start on my own. I began studying ethnology and cultural anthropology in Toruń. I kept drawing and bought my first machine to practise on artificial skin. After graduating, I returned to my family home for a while. There I heard a radio programme about a platform that let you spend a working day with someone in a particular profession. I searched for tattoo artists and found Iwona Koźlarzewska (www.instagram.com/evilyvonne.art/). I moved to Warsaw, started working behind a bar, and my tattooing journey became serious. I spent a day at Dirty Lust Tattoo Warszawa, left my drawing portfolio and asked to learn there. They accepted me even though I could not attend five days a week. At first I worked at the bar for four days and spent the other three at the studio, learning and doing my duties. Gradually I spent more time at the studio until tattooing became my only job. It was a difficult, demanding period, but I had a goal: to become a tattoo artist. I did everything I could to achieve it. I am still at Dirty Lust Tattoo Warszawa.
Your earlier answer tells me you are not originally from Warsaw. What other places matter to you?
Łódź and Toruń, which I mentioned earlier, were and still are close to my heart. They were important stops in my life. Living there and the experiences I gained brought me to where I am now. Kurpie is closest to me: I come from there, my family and friends live there, and I need to return occasionally to escape Warsaw and rest. I change my surroundings, replacing the urban jungle with nature. I wander through forests, ride my motorcycle through small villages, spend evenings around a campfire and unwind. I also love Mazury, especially small lakes surrounded by forest, away from tourist crowds. Finding places like that is not always easy. Sometimes you have to get lost first.
Karol Sutura and black tattoos
Was working exclusively with black ink instinctive? Could your artistic development lead you to expand your palette? I noticed yellows and reds in some older designs.
I think so: working with black ink feels natural to me. Black is my favourite colour, and black-and-grey tattoos appeal to me most. I like their healed appearance and find them elegant and timeless. As you said, I have added colour details and made a few small colour tattoos. I admire artists who create colourful compositions and appreciate their execution and appearance. Personally, though, the longer I work, the more certain I become that I want to use only black, sometimes adding white details.
Karol Sutura on his interests
Creative people, whether tattoo artists or not, sometimes have interests I find unusual. Do you have any? What could someone ask you about during a session?
Motorcycles, especially custom builds based on models from the 1970s, 1980s and early 1990s, particularly café racers and scramblers. They look amazing and have their own atmosphere and charm. For a while I owned a modified Honda. It looked and sounded great, but demanded too much time and money. This year I traded it for another, standard Honda that is easier to maintain, leaving more time for riding. I am at the beginning of my motorcycle journey and really enjoy it. With time and experience, I plan longer routes and trips abroad. A motorcycle expedition around Iceland is a future dream and goal.
I also enjoy computer and console games, mainly RPGs, Soulsborne and atmospheric, story-driven single-player games. Then there is literature: lately I have been catching up with all of Terry Pratchett's Discworld books. Alongside fantasy, I like true stories. Two books that recently stayed with me were Bernal Díaz del Castillo's account of the conquest of New Spain and Sir Ernest Shackleton's journals describing Antarctic exploration. History fascinates me too, especially antiquity. Some parts of the past will never be discovered or explained and remain mysterious. My interest in folklore and myths connects with history: how people explained extraordinary things and collectively created a supernatural world of gods, demons and beings that surrounded them and overlapped with their own world.
Have you encountered any particularly interesting techniques during your artistic development? Or is there something you would like to explore?
I have not tried it or worked out how yet, but for a while I have wanted to transfer impressions of plants, feathers and leaves onto paper. I would use things found in the forest to create abstract compositions of interesting textures, perhaps an impression of a tree trunk on paper. I used to have a small collection of bones, skulls and antlers found in the forest. I decorated some of them. Embellishing a skull with ink or engraving could be interesting.
Large compositions
After several years of gaining experience, do you feel it is time to work on larger formats and add sleeves, front pieces or full backs to your portfolio?
I am at a point where I have started, or am starting, several larger tattoos. Finishing and publishing them is a matter of time. Large tattoos are demanding, but designing a coherent composition that fits the body and seeing the result makes the work worthwhile. I do not want to do exclusively small or exclusively large tattoos. Both scales have advantages and disadvantages and offer different possibilities. The most important thing is that the person wearing the tattoo feels comfortable with it. Some prefer small individual pieces. Others choose a full back or sleeve for their first tattoo.
Tattooing means working with people and having close, sometimes intimate contact. Did that come naturally, or did you have to learn it?
I am not naturally very outgoing, sociable or quick to make connections. It was a process through which I became a well-functioning introvert. Client relationships vary as much as people do. Sometimes conversation comes easily and naturally. Sometimes clients prefer to focus on music, films, series or a book during a session. Rarely, some even manage to fall asleep. When I talk, it is usually while shading. During outlines I am somewhat switched off, and any answers tend to come with a delay.
Instagram: @Karol_Sutura
Facebook: @Karol Sutura
Tattoofest Magazyn issue 185, mobile edition
Tattoofest Magazyn issue 185, desktop edition