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My name is Rizzo Gennaro, I was born in Naples on the 13th of July 1984. My life has always been all over the place
I have always been a keen drawer, and I started as many with Disney comics characters
I started working when I was 13, I worked as the milkman, as a goldsmith, as a barber, but I never gave up my drawing.
I have once been recommended to attend an art school where a fair number of classes were taught.
That’s when my dad opened a bakery and I, feeling responsible for my family, went to work with him...working with your father in a family business is not always easy
Meanwhile, I kept attending design classes. The atmosphere was cool there and we also had afterschool classes. If you go today, you can still see my pieces hanging outside every class, in Andy Warhol style.
Once studies were over, I started working in a typography. At some point, I decided, with my brother in law, to go to a tattoo convention.
I could not stop thinking how much I would have loved being a tattoo artist
I asked the man who is now my tattoo teacher whether he was available to give me classes
I had my first tattoo made when I was 16. Because I was underage my dad had to come with me, but he is been very supportive of my will to learn tattoo art myself
When I was 18 I had my second tattoo made (my dad still behind it), I covered the first tattoo with the image of a geisha and then I had a samurai drawn near her to keep her company
I have a passion for Vespa Scooters, so I had one tattoeed with a ... on it
I have always been keen on tattooing others, but you have to know how to handle tools and techniques first
I started with friends as guinea pigs
I kept working at the typography, as I needed the money, but it was not something that satisfied me professionally as tattooing does
To earn a little more, I worked as an entertainer at parties and then went into juggling
Entertain people and make them laugh gives me such an amazing feeling, and the funniest thing is that when you walk around dresses as a clown you can do whatever you want!
When you walk in your normal clothes instead my friend even tell me I look grumpy
I mean weird things happened, like stopping at the traffic light on my scooter and seeing the lady next to me frigthened and locking the doors of her car... which seemed disconcerting to me
But when I am dressed as a clown, these things don’t happen, people laugh, my nephews and niece burst into tears every time they see me, in fact my three year old niece refuses to kiss me
To start working as a tattoo artist there are some exams to take, this is a public procedure, recognised at the European level.
The exams are in anatomy, ….business??, tattoo technique, drawing (which should be covered in more depth in my opinion )
The funniest things happen when working with clients who come for a tattoo: I had one completely misinterpreting the healing process of the tattoo
Or for example someone came to ask for a semi-tattoo, a semi-permanent version which does not even exist!
Or people who want aesthetic asking for anti-aesthetic!
At times people don’t really know what they are doing. I mean tattoos have their own meaning
There are gatherings around the world and in Italy nearly every month
Tattoo artists used to do a bit of everything, now instead they specialise and choose their own personal style.
I personally do realistic tattoos, mostly portraits, and then I personalise them according to my style, the clients’ tastes, always trying to meet their expectations
Often people want a tattoo with the portrait of famous and sometimes defunct people, such as Einstein, Dalì, Padre Pio
The weirdest tattoo I have been asked for has been a glass with false teeth in
But as I said the tattoos that realise my potential the most, I feel, are portraits
The tattoos I dislike the most are the ones made to cover up a previous tattoo. That is because you are inevitably limited by what you need to disguise and cannot express yourself artistically as you would do
Someone famous I would like to tattoo is the Pope, I guess with a skull it would go well, or something macabre along the lines
In Naples, people go for what is on the up and fashionable at the moment.
Neapolitan girls are very uncreative with what they choose. Most often is the ‘infinite’ or the stars that Rihanna has tattooed on herself
If Rihanna had the tattoo of a bum made, we would be asked to do that too, guaranteed
I never say ‘this is the most beautiful I have made’ because that would set a limit, instead I always think I can do better and overcome any limit
My Neapolitan dream is for everyone, every Neapolitan citizen, to find in Naples what many have to go abroad to look for, a satisfying dimension and possibly their dream job…