the dirt with leon

By Pat Law • Feb 15th, 2009 • Category: The Dirt

A brand new segment in blankanvas, The Dirt documents the lives of interesting and intriguing people I meet. To kick off this new segment, we have Leon Lam-hien of Shitoujii, the tattoo artist responsible for turning my back into a piece of art.

Born and raised in Lyon, France by a Vietnamese father and a French mother, Leon is currently based in Hong Kong, where he runs his own tattoo parlour, Shitoujii. Over a cuppa and 5 sticks of cigarettes at a coffeeshop opposite his somewhat dodgy hotel (It was Hotel 81 at Joo Chiat, and this bugger haven’t had the slightest clue he was right smack in a sleaze zone!), I realised I was in the presence of one of the most genuinely raw souls in the world. Leon doesn’t bother with any PR spiel. I bet he doesn’t even know how, even if he wants to. Beyond the clumsy answers lie a delicately honest passion – Leon loves and breathes art. And he happens to be fucking good at it too.

It is indeed refreshing, to meet a raw talent who isn’t preoccupied with his ego. He has redefined the meaning of a tattoo for me, and thank god for that. The rest of my remaining skin will herewith be reserved for him.

I’m most honoured to have his interview as the inaugural article for The Dirt. I hope you enjoy it too. Download the Hi-res PDF version here.

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9 Responses »

  1. jojo on February 16th, 2009 at 8:38 pm:

    This is superb. I think you have just took your blog to a new level above the rest. Who is up next?

  2. @patlaw on February 16th, 2009 at 8:55 pm:

    Interview with Leon, one of the finest tattoo artists in the world. http://tinyurl.com/b6pd4h

  3. melly on February 16th, 2009 at 10:16 pm:

    very nice, he has nice handwriting for a dude too. do you have photos of your back piece? i’m always looking out for recommendations for tattoo artists, he’s been bookmarked.

  4. Pat Law™ on February 16th, 2009 at 10:28 pm:

    Hi melly,

    Yes I do. Check this out. And this and this from his website too.

    Pat

  5. Ian Timothy on February 18th, 2009 at 10:17 am:

    Love this new segment.

  6. Daniel Goh on February 20th, 2009 at 12:05 pm:

    This is simply awesome. I can’t believe people who say blogging is dead – microblogging simply can’t reproduce something like this.

  7. Pat Law™ on February 21st, 2009 at 6:13 pm:

    Thanks guys. Stay tuned for more… I’ve a pretty exciting line up ahead! :D

  8. Skin Art à la Tim Burton? | Thangdynasty on June 30th, 2009 at 12:01 pm:

    [...] If however,  you are looking for something quirkier, less traditional and different yet edgy, check out Québécois tattoist Yann Travaille’s works whose style smacks of Tim Burton and my favourite artist-tattoist Leon (More at blankanvas). [...]

  9. NELL on January 10th, 2010 at 1:05 pm:

    definitely the most unpretencious (could b the french blood in him) n confuse dude but freaking talented and so so naturel.. i'd have him tattoo anytime.. ^*^

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