{"id":5979,"date":"2015-10-14T16:10:14","date_gmt":"2015-10-14T16:10:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tattoosocietymagazine.com\/web\/?p=5979"},"modified":"2015-10-14T16:10:14","modified_gmt":"2015-10-14T16:10:14","slug":"moni-marino","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tattoosocietymagazine.com\/web\/moni-marino\/","title":{"rendered":"Moni Marino"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Interviewed by Dave Paulo<\/b>
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Dave:<\/b> Hello, Moni. Can you tell me a bit about yourself?<\/p>\n

Moni:<\/b> Hello, David. As you know, my name is Moni Marino. I\u2019m Italian, of Sicilian origins, and have been tattooing for more than 20 years. I am the daughter of a painter and a seamstress, and I studied in a technical institute. As a child, I was constantly smeared with oil paint colors. I drew and painted with my hands and feet, and sometimes even licked the tubes of paint. <\/p>\n

I admired my father, who would paint for hours, and I was totally fascinated and in love with the brushes. At the age of 14, I saw a tattoo magazine for the first time and something in my brain, and in my heart, clicked. At that moment, I knew that I wanted to become a tattoo artist. At the age of 15, I started tattooing my first boyfriend and all of his friends in the small town where I lived. The word spread quickly and many people were bothered and approached me about it, which made me very sad. So after I finished studying, I left Italy and my family. I went to the train station and without any money or a planned destination, I ran away from all the people who had prejudices against me and I separated from my parents…<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Moni:<\/b> (continued) Fourteen hours later I was in Berlin. After a week of survival on the road, without money and without knowing a word of German, I finally met an Italian family who took me with them to the other side of Germany, and I began to work in a pizzeria and learn the German language. It took me four years to save up enough money to buy a new tattoo machine, ink, and needles for tattooing…and I began to be happy again.<\/p>\n

Dave:<\/b> Being a female tattoo artist, has it been easy or hard in this male-dominated business?
\nMoni:<\/b> Yes, that\u2019s right; there have been very few women in the tattoo business in the past. Honestly, it has not been easy to be accepted. It\u2019s been a long and difficult process that was full of obstacles and discrimination. I think that both my tenacity and my ability to be humble have made my success possible. Today, I am happy and proud to see how many other talented women are dedicated to this business.<\/p>\n

Dave:<\/b> Where do you live now?<\/p>\n

Moni:<\/b> I live in Germany. On the 14th of February I opened my new tattoo shop called the \u201cBlack Barock.\u201d It is located in Essen, a nice city that is 30 minutes from D\u00fcsseldorf.<\/p>\n

Dave:<\/b> Can you tell me more about your new tattoo shop?<\/p>\n

Moni:<\/b> Until now, I have worked as a guest artist in other tattoo studios. During the last four years I traveled around the world a lot and I experienced so much, drawing inspiration from other countries and cultures. Last summer I felt like I was ready to open my own shop. It took five months to create it, but now it\u2019s wonderful, and it is how I always dreamed that owning a shop would be. It is big, black, and decorated in the baroque style.
\nThe \u201cBlack Barock\u201d consists of a tattoo studio, an art gallery, and a clothing store. I am also giving tattoo seminars and fine art workshops there. I\u2019m really honored to run and own my own shop. I want to thank my friends, my family, and my fans; they always inspire me to keep going and keep developing new ideas.<\/p>\n

Dave:<\/b> Who was the most inspiring person for you in the very beginning?<\/p>\n

Moni:<\/b> It was definitely my father.
\nDave:<\/b> It seems to me that a lot of younger tattoo artists have college degrees in the fine arts. The things that they can do on the skin are outstanding. Do you think it is necessary for a tattooer to have a background in fine arts or any formal training?<\/p>\n

Moni:<\/b> It is amazing when they do, but I do not think that it is necessary. You must have art in your blood. That\u2019s not something that you can learn in school.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\nDave:<\/b> What are your favorite colors?<\/p>\n

Moni:<\/b> Black and coral red.<\/p>\n

Dave:<\/b> Which subjects do you prefer?<\/p>\n

Moni:<\/b> Venetian masks, as well as children\u2019s and women\u2019s portraits. I like to create the gentle look in their eyes, where I can bring their souls to life. I try to give the portrait a sense of life.<\/p>\n

Dave:<\/b> What is your favorite aspect about your job?<\/p>\n

Moni:<\/b> That I get to travel around the world and make people happy.<\/p>\n

Dave:<\/b> Are there any famous artists who have influenced the direction of your career?<\/p>\n

Moni:<\/b> I admire many tattoo artists; for example, Steve Soto and Carlos Torres.<\/p>\n

Dave:<\/b> What would your job be if you were not a tattoo artist?<\/p>\n

More of this interview inside Tattoo Society Magazine back issue #48<\/h2>\n<\/div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":5988,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[202],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tattoosocietymagazine.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5979"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tattoosocietymagazine.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tattoosocietymagazine.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tattoosocietymagazine.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tattoosocietymagazine.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5979"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tattoosocietymagazine.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5979\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tattoosocietymagazine.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tattoosocietymagazine.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5979"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tattoosocietymagazine.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5979"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tattoosocietymagazine.com\/web\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5979"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}