In conversation with Avant________gardener

avant__________gardener etches stories written in a language that escapes comprehension onto bodies of people. Not a matter of il/literacy at the hands of rationality, his tattoos speak to the soul. Whether it’s lines of repetitive characters that compel you to follow with your eyes and witness a language that lives through personal interpretation or compositions that seem to complete unfinished sentences previous tattoos have started, avant__________gardener’s work is his art as much as its translations of his clients’ subconscious incantations. Only moving, loving, desiring bodies can breathe life into his two-dimensional flash designs and turn them into tattoos.

Originally from Canada, the artist has been cultivating an identity that spans sculpture, photography, and tattooing for most of his life. Now a nomad that lives in motion between underground art scenes around the world, he is driven by an obsessive desire to create. On a warm afternoon in Berlin, accompanied by the distant chime of a bell tower and the subtle sting of a fresh tattoo, we sat down with the artist to talk about art, tattooing, community, and his ongoing pursuit of transcendence.

Hi, how are you doing? How is Berlin treating you so far?
I’m doing great, and Berlin has been treating me well. It’s a good place for me; Berlin is generous.  

To start, it’s reductive to simply call you a tattoo artist. How would you define the scope of your artistic practices?
Honestly, I don’t try to define it too much. I’ll say I’m an artist, and that I go back and forth between multiple practices to entertain myself. It’s connected to a lot of obsession. I bounce back and forth – when I need a break from one practice, I just switch to another one. When I feel like a balance is necessary, I’ll take a break from one and try to set myself to do the other one more.

I get that! I think this fluid balance is also reflective of your social presence, you’ll fall off the tattoo grid, and then a few weeks or months later, I’ll see a sculpture from you, haha. But it’s apparent that you have found your element in tattooing.
Yeah!

I read in an article that you gave yourself a tattoo at the age of 14, which ultimately led you into tattooing professionally.
True – that’s cute that you read that. Yeah, I knew what I wanted to do at a really young age. I tried to tattoo myself for the first time at 14. I was in school, in a class, and some friends brought a needle and some alcohol with the intention of doing piercings. So, I asked them to give me the needle, and I don’t remember where the ink came from –  I had no idea what I was doing, but I wanted to figure it out myself.

A prison-style tattoo at 14 is crazy.
Oh, yeah. The cute thing is how I already knew that art was the only option for me at such a young age. I never considered anything else. I dived in at 14 years old with the attitude of, ‘this is it, I just have to work hard to make it happen’. I knew it wouldn’t necessarily be easy, but I knew that if I made enough of an effort, it would work out. 

That is indeed really cute. How did you know that art was the only option for you at such a young age, though?
I was trying to picture anything else I would want to do, and I was pretty categorical about it. But I came to the conclusion that I just wanted to do art. That’s the only thing I wanted to do, so straight after high school, I went to an art school in Quebec; then I went to university for art as well. I just stuck to it. I had a bunch of shit jobs – I worked in a design studio for a while, I was a tree planter, but art was always the primary focus. I would do it during any free time I had.

Your obsessive dedication to your artistic practices is evident in the detail of your sculptural works, photography, and flashes. It’s phenomenal.
Thank you. 

Obviously, with tattooing, you also invite and accept different people into your artistic world, and you once told me that two-dimensional flashes are incomplete without a body to house them – can you elaborate?
In my mind, tattoos are meant to be something three-dimensional. I love to design tattoos for people, thinking of the dimensions of the body: how it’s gonna wrap, how it’s gonna work with the curves of the muscles and the bones. I take measures to ensure that the tattoos fit perfectly on my clients. I put transparent paper on people and take traces of where things are to take them into consideration as well. Throughout this entire process, you breathe life into the tattoo, and when a piece can move with the body, I think it’s the most amazing thing.

That’s beautiful. To dive deeper into your beautiful flashes, I was curious whether you agree with the representation of your style as a new alphabet?
Yes, thank you – I’m obsessed with everything that is alongside scripture, language, graffiti, and a doctor’s writing. So I do think my flashes are my alphabet, but it’s an infinite alphabet. People see tons of things in there, and it’s open to interpretation. I like that people can personalise the tattoos, and see things that are personal to them – I’ve heard comparisons to mosquitoes, spiders, and dancers…

There’s a level of opacity that imbues the tattoos compared to their existence as flashes; your authorship also decreases.
Yeah, well, it’s collaborative with the people I give the tattoos to as well. I collaborate with their body, ideas, visions – it’s fucking essential for me that people get out of the room and are as happy as possible with what they have. I have a specific direction in mind for the style of my art, but it’s open for people to develop ideas, for me to develop dreams from them, and to absorb whatever they bring. I try to do the best I can with it.

That’s beautiful. I remember you telling me that sometimes tattoos don’t look aesthetically pleasing together, but a story develops from their proximity.
Well, it’s important for me to be as honest as possible about what’s gonna look the best with a client’s body and pre-existing tattoos, but of course, we all have crazy tattoos and stories associated with them. These tattoos might not be the most aesthetically pleasing, but they’re really important.

Do you have tattoos that fall into this category?
Oh, tons and tons – I have a collection of first-attempt tattoos from a bunch of artists who had never tattooed before. I’ve given a tattoo machine to the hands of many people, haha.

I love that! Moving forward, you’ve previously expressed your aim for transcendence.
Always. 

What does that mean? What are you trying to transcend?
I’ll keep this one as mysterious as I can, but transcendence is the ultimate goal. On every level of life, I tend to want to transcend.

Okay, I would argue that you have already transcended certain aspects of Orthodox tattooing. Can you discuss the transformation within the tattoo world and the shift away from traditional tattooing?
What I’m going to say is based on my own experience; I don’t want to claim that this is the truth. I’ve been tattooing for ten years now, I’m 29 turning 30 soon. Traditional tattoos have dominated the world of tattoos for approximately the past 80 years, and in the past, tattoos were typically done in a certain way according to established traditions. People could only get tattooed in a tattoo parlour, mainly by male tattoo artists; you had a choice of four colours, and a lot of flash was repeated constantly. All these rules and traditions eventually push the artist to do the most artist thing there is to do, which is the absolute opposite of what’s been happening. The absolute opposite of doing traditional tattoos in a parlour was to do abstract tattoos in private studios and new spaces. There are no more rules, and people have started tattooing in all sorts of ways – they’re no longer doing apprenticeships. As everybody started turning to a DIY format, numerous new styles and techniques have been developed. Of course, it’s without saying that some of them completely failed, but when you start doing something and you keep pushing it, eventually you’re gonna succeed in one way or another. I think it’s for the best, and beautiful things come out of this style of tattooing.

What do you think galvanised this change?
The scene pretty much exploded during the pandemic. People had the money and time to invest into doing art; every tattoo artist I know taught their partner how to tattoo. There’s been exponential growth in the industry, and in that manner two huge capitalist beasts Instagram and Amazon have had a huge impact on tattooing during the last seven years. Which is fucking crazy; when I started tattooing, it was pretty much impossible to get your hands on a tattoo machine if you weren’t a part of a shop or doing an apprenticeship. Eventually, pen tattoo machines were introduced to the market on Amazon for 20 to 60 bucks so that anybody could have a tattoo machine in their hand out of the blue. With Instagram, on the other hand, anybody could reach an audience without having a parlour with your flash on the walls. Anybody could see your work, so it was really accessible. Back when I started, DIY tattoos were really badly seen. I had some shop experience, but it felt distant from me – it didn’t feel close to what I wanted to do. I wanted to do styles that weren’t represented, and I had toxic interactions in shops already; I felt stuck. Eventually, a friend who was already a skilled tattoo artist at the time gave me a pair of needles, and I came back home and asked my roommates, who were also in art school with me, if they wanted to try it with me. I remember them saying, ‘fuck, yeah I want to try’. To this day, both my friend who gave me the needles and I make a living out of tattooing: legend, shoutout to Badluckveteran.

That’s wonderful! I also enjoy badluckveteran’s work – I didn’t know you guys had a strong history.
Yeah, we’re still really good friends, and trade semi-regularly – it’s really wholesome.

Lovely, and we’ve spoken a bit about the tattoo community, but I’m curious to hear more of your experiences as you have a holistic perspective as a producer and consumer.
Ah yeah, I’m a good addict for sure. I’m a really strong advocate for trade culture. It’s really important for me to meet the community to exchange and promote new stuff. I’ve been guesting worldwide lately, and it’s been really nice to visit some places where the DIY scene is still in its early stages of development. They’re doing awesome new stuff, and it’s really nice to go exchange with these people that can bring something new to the community as well. 

The DIY tattoo scenes around the world differ significantly from one another. How do you think these scenes are connected beyond the shared practice of tattooing?
Well, I think there is a will to create different stuff. It’s one of the oldest art forms, it’s been around for what seems like eternity, yet it’s still widely seen as a subculture. It’s still looked down upon in many different communities and spaces, and we don’t teach about it in university. Even inside the tattoo scene, people doing different stuff have been previously criticised – all of these elements bring tattoo artists on the margins of the mainstream together in a community to push limits and boundaries. Everybody’s trying to do something unique, and I think it’s the most beautiful thing about this community.

Do you have artists that inspire you? Do you have any on the top of your head that you could indulge us with?
There’s a tattoo artist that really inspires me that I’m going to shout out here, because I think their work is sick, his name is Pysellino. He’s an Italian tattoo artist, and I’m planning to go to Milano this summer to meet him. We’ve been chatting for a moment, and meaning to trade for years so I’m finally going to Milano to make this happen. I think his stuff is really inspiring. His roots are in graffiti, and he doesn’t tattoo that much, but this stuff is really good. Check out his flash sheets, they are mega. He does some gallery stuff as well. You find him airbrushing the walls and shit, haha.

Amazing, to drift beyond tattooing – you just released a photography book titled The Drain, did three artistic residencies, and presented your welded sculptures in major artistic spaces around the world. What are you going to do next?
You know, I don’t have a base, I don’t have a home. I’m travelling full-time and doing artist residencies that allow me to sculpt, which I really need to release from myself. I have a mini studio in Berlin for the next two months where I can go to weld, which is pretty fun. Although I think I’ve done enough residencies for now. I want to create a wild project with friends somewhere – to find a crazy location, people, and connect with them to make something wild, like an art show. I’m really into unconventional spaces at the moment; I don’t want to be exhibiting in white cubes anymore. I’m really intrigued by spaces that have a language, that are tinted with a past, with things tied to it. I think it’s a lot more interesting, and there’s a lot to do with that.

What would be an unconventional space that you’ve thought about, which you would like to exhibit in?
There was one space in Berlin, but it got shut down. I’m quite pissed, but I’m gonna make it happen eventually or under another form. This was a baby idea for a bigger idea, which I’m gonna keep secret for now, but I found this beautiful basement with a white brick arch, and a bunch of spiders everywhere. There was quite a gloom to the space, and sadly, it got flooded over the summer. 

That’s so sad!
Well, no, that’s the most exciting part. I really wanted to do a show in the flooded basement and get these suits that fishermen use so people could walk in water. I was imagining some works floating and suspended with projection on the water…just something special, a different experience, you know. 

That sounds wild.
Unfortunately, I’ve lost access to the space for now, so it won’t happen this summer. I’m gonna have to find something even crazier.

Haha okay, I’m excited to see. This final question has been a running staple of Glamcult interviews for a few months now, but can you name three of your favourite things at the moment?
Oh, yeah, for sure. Lava. Pandan leaves. And sunglasses. Yeah.

Nice range, that’s perfect. This was the best answer I’ve gotten to this question so far; the delivery had conviction.
I thought about this in the morning: I was asking myself, “what are three things I’m actually into for real?”

Well, to end, thank you so much for this lovely conversation!
Good shit, thank you.