FREEHAND FUTURISM BY BAKUNISTA

Tattoo artist, musician, painter

Bakunista describes himself as a “gipsy freehand tattooer”. He’s one of a kind, with a freehand futurism style that he puts his own unique spin on. Although what makes him stand out the most is his technique: tattooing without a preliminary sketch; he goes straight to the skin. Born and raised in Russia, Bakunista has been travelling for the last few years, tattooing in various cities and countries across the world, including Berlin, where we got the chance to meet and talk to him.

STK: What made you decide to start leaving your artwork on people’s bodies?

BAKUNISTA: First of all, there are no borders for me where and how to create my rituals but I like to involve people that are my canvas and be a part of the puzzle in my world exhibition. Exchange of trust and sharing an energy is the main thing. I know that I can make something with needles that no one have done before. And since 2014 the sect is growing.

STK: Tattoos in Russia have strong popularity. Have you always been interested in tattooing? Can you share a bit of what’s happening over there?

BAKUNISTA: I never was part of that cliché movement and I’m going to run as far as possible from everyone who calls himself a tattooer or makes it in ‘traditional’ ways. I had an idea, that I am going to practice my rituals on my skin, from when I was 12. After a period of time, I started tattooing but was feeling shameful when I was too close to that cliche of making it; from that copy-paste fast business. I guess it’s the same as being a DJ who mixes tracks from others but keeps telling that it’s their music. There is not many artists—maybe a few in each country—who are trying to jump through the wall of subculture. I hope that there is ten or twenty of them who aren’t following any direction created before them. We used to never speak about freehand or free direction without drawing. Especially in Russia—all of them [tattooists] are printers who dream of clients for money—yeah there is a lot of kids, generation of the iPad, playing with skin and stealing motives from each other. It’s the same with old school snobs who are trying to keep youngsters as far as possible from business. And Russian and Ukranian Belarus tattooers are as accurate as Asian [tattoo] artists.

STK: How do you know what to tattoo on someone? Do you always make it custom for the person? Do you get to know the person first and then start to make it suit his or her personality or style?

BAKUNISTA: I never know and don’t need to know ‘cause it’s not a program; it’s a ritual for me. From the beginning, I take like an hour for consultations. To get to know the person, get their vibe and mix it with my ideas. It is always my ideas and always I make something new what I never saw before, ‘cause why should I copy if [it’s] possible to make an original. After I turned to freehand, I just showed the outline and discussed it with the client for a while and change it if it was needed. And after I turned to ‘freehand futurism’ everything became a complete ritual. I can feel what kind of person they are directly. But the sessions are not about making my wishes happen. It’s about being in a trance and projecting this energy from another dimension onto the skin. The main thing I need from them is maximum trust and to keep the silence during the process. There hasn’t been any person who has been shocked that I’ve done something wrong on them or something they don’t like, because it’s pure.

STK: How did your style evolve over the years? How many times did you change your style to find the one you have now?

BAKUNISTA: There were many steps throughout the years that were important for me to understand that I don’t need to run anymore from cultural roots and at the same time, I don’t need to follow any existing directions or tools or styles. I started out designing layouts, posters and merch for black metal bands. For sure, it was a lot about engraving motives. And I still was following my own direction, when I could easily say that no one has done work like this before. Now my style is at a level where there are no objects which you can easily categorise - there is no stencil, there is no outlines or discussions - and forms are adapting to each shape of the body like a suit, like a second skin from four dimensions, they are futuristic and aren’t compromised. My travel and life inspiration change my style every day but all my artworks are parts of a style.

STK: We saw you at work. It is really fascinating to see how you can tattoo someone without making a sketch on their skin beforehand. How does it work for you in your mind?

BAKUNISTA: First of all, this shaman way of ‘tattooing’ is about max focus on the trance and keeping balance over a few hours. Fastness is going to make your brain unfocused and out of the process, because there must be one hundred percent concentration. I stop to realise after a few hours what’s going on around me, it’s like someone else does the tattooing through my head. I have trained this way through improvisation; session by session. Then one day all sessions became rituals and all of them done in a process I don’t remember exactly. When I see fresh work, I am as surprised as the person who was in trance with me. I can’t explain it in any way than that, my head is a connector right now, between this world and another one. Each session is a new direction. I’m trying to organise an atmosphere that is a bit different and makes my performance more special. All works are so different, it’s kind of fun to make this collection of bodies bigger and bigger around the world. Everything is based on one hundred percent trust; it makes my rituals pure. Standard tattooing requires repeating artwork four times: one sketch, when you discuss it with the client; two, after changes; three, when you stencil on the skin. Tattooing in general is a cheap subculture, without a deep background meaning anymore. First of all, tattoos came from shamans, you can find tribal ritual tattoos on the mummies which were found after an ice age. Now tattooing is capitalism and the wish of kids to have something cool on their skin or to make fast money copying sketches. My style, ‘freehand futurism’, is an automatical performance ritual. I am transferring an energy onto the skin of a member of the sect. Basic freehand is when you draw an outline before and discuss it with the client. That’s why it’s wrong to call my style just ‘freehand’ or ‘tattooing’.

STK: We see that you also have a lot of tattoos on your own body. Many of them are religious symbols. Why did you choose to have these symbols on your body?

BAKUNISTA: I spent my childhood in a Christian school and was singing in a choir. The thing I enjoyed the most were artworks on that topic, not that education. Since that time, I always go in different temples and organ concerts—sect events as well—’cause it gives me inspiration and calmness about the idea that most humans don’t wanna change anything around them. They just follow different systems which are easy to integrate into their life. All religious stories have the same parallels about what is happening but all it is is easy to recognise copies of copies of copies. That’s why it’s hard to imagine how it looked millions of years ago. I believe in my own sect without dogma and cult—only free mind art directions and improvisation in music, tatts, movie making etc.

Borders of conservatism do not exist for me and the sect. On my chest is a crucified animal. I use that symbol to show my enemies their place ‘on the cross’ - not on my sessions - real life. A dead animal on the cross is a conservatism way of thinking.

STK: Where do you get the inspirations for your tattoos?

BAKUNISTA: Philosophy, sect, travel, life experience and E|[ ]|E which symbolises barbed wire, a universal sign of Russian ‘soul’ or music concept.

STK: Have you ever been on drugs during a session? If so, how does that affect your art?

BAKUNISTA: It’s way heavier than a drug high or something like that. It’s not the same process.

STK: Tell us why you use a mask during your tattoo sessions and how you get in the zone while tattooing.

BAKUNISTA: The mask is a part of the process each time I make art. It gives an atmosphere. It gives an understanding of my background. I need to hide myself after militant actions from my past - secret police searching.

STK: I also see you doing projects other than tattoos, an LP for example. Can you tell us a little bit more about it? What other interests do you have besides tattooing?

BAKUNISTA: In the past I was a vocalist in the black metal band, HVØSCH, from St-Petersburg. After I began a never-ending Europe tour, I started two projects: Gulag Stacheldraht and KGB E|[ ]|E. Gulag is a improvisation performance band where me and Mystical (Nicz Records) made experiments with soviet synthesizers and play noise, dark, ambient, drone—mostly it sounds like music for movies. Same with KGB—it’s my solo project—same improvisations but with modular synth and soviet synth sounds like music for movies but less active and mostly it’s drone noise.