Have a Tripie Tatts Day

During the pandemic, the entire human being faces new challenges. Limited activities, interactions, and mobility knock big collisions on the economic, social, and cultural aspects. Some lost loved ones, some lost their jobs, some lost their balance of soul. Uncertainty about the future is gradually haunting our minds.

Like everyone else, Michael or better known as Tripie Tatts sees this period as a time to reflect, a moment to look back, and room for improvements so that we can adapt to these transitional times. As an artist, his form of coping mechanism is to keep making artworks and conduct his first solo exhibition.

In Have a Tripie Tatts Day, Michael escort us into his artistic journey through several series of works that he has cultivated from his art school years in Yogyakarta (2016) to days of working the dreams as a tattoo artist

in Bali (2018 - until present).

Michael's works, whether it's drawings, screenprints, linocut prints, installations or tattoo provides a glimpse of the artist's life – Growing up in Jakarta, the monotonous life with all the mayhem that the city has to offer stirred up turmoil within him to seek an alternative lifestyle that is more flexible.

His study in the city of Yogyakarta broadened Michael's view on how to adore living in a more relaxed and unhurried manner, which has become the city's main identity. The principle of ‘slow living’ which prioritizes a

pin-point process has become a local way of life long before it was cool. His new modus vivendi made Michael more reflective, receptive, and intuitive.

As the lifestyle progressed, Michael's interest in travelling to enjoy the beauty of nature grew. His idea of works can’t be separated from the influence of the custom culture. Through his two-wheeled journey, Michael collects memento in the form of imagination which he pours into his works.

After deciding to stay in Bali, Michael established his career as a tattoo artist. His background in graphic arts, which often applies printing techniques, helps him to apply it to various mediums, one of which is human skin. Besides medium explorations, developments are also applied in lines technique which Michael agrees as his adjustment to the dynamic of tattoo trends. Changes in artistic style do not mean that the artist will completely abandon his uniqueness. As claimed by him, consistency is a more important aspect than emphasizing characters, especially in the field, he is currently in.

For Michael, Have a Tripie Tatts Day is like a mantra, a kind of psalm, more like a hopeful chant to help him to cross the day. As a hallmark, like the smiley icon that is frequently presented in his drawings when he was at lowest point in his life. As a totem, like his trophy sculpture, which he interprets as a tribute to his success through the bitter year of 2020.

Uncertainty is a cycle that life may always offer. Challenges have been waiting for us at every corner of life. Hope you can wade through it like the artist enjoys the effort of recognizing various points of his artistic voyage.

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Exhibition now, tatts later