Interview with Søren Lind
BY ELIZABETH TORRES
Interview with Søren Lind
Copenhagen, 2014
Interview by Elizabeth Torres.
One of Red Door’s purposes, apart from displaying the work of artists everywhere and providing the opportunity of new collaborations, is to learn and document the activities of artists in each city we find ourselves in. Due to this, I began contacting visual and tattoo artists in Copenhagen, and quickly heard back from Søren Lind, who was in Rome at the time. As soon as he returned, we had our first meeting, and then he flew to the Tattoo Convention in Medellin, Colombia. Søren speaks Danish and English and Spanish, and his shop, Enter the Dragon, is filled with creative minds from several countries in Europe and Latin America. It has been a pleasure to establish connections with Dr.Lind, to watch him work the needle as he created a dragon sleeve on one of his costumers, to hear the stories of each of his most recent adventures, and as he mentions in this interview, to begin collaborating together, connecting our databases of artists and organizing art fusion events.
The video presented below, narrates the story of Lind’s beginnings, what brought him to the world of tattooing and where he’s been since he got involved with this world. Apart from the video, I have also gathered a portfolio of images of his work, most of them in Oriental style, which he has been developing for the past 15 years professionally.
Several other wonderful encounters have been made through his shop, as I have coincidentally bumped into some of the artists who work there and later realized the connection, and then yet another artist, who has just arrived to Copenhagen from Mexico to work at Enter the Dragon, turns out to be connected to friends of Red Door Magazine in DF. Very exciting indeed.
Updates about the art fusion event we’re organizing together in this city, as well as other collaborations, will be announced soon through this magazine. Enjoy!
-Elizabeth.
For how long have you been painting, inking, illustrating? How did you get started? Who were your mentors?
I’ve been painting and drawing pretty much all my life…I think i started drawing comics at the age of 7.
I used to draw comics of my favorite movies, like Creepshow, for example.. and when I grew older I started hanging out in the punk rock scene, painting graffiti and airbrush etc. and tattoos always caught my attention and fascinated me.
When I moved to Christiania in 93, I met a guy called Steve Blackman, who was a totally old-timer tattooist from England.
We became really good friends and he taught me all the basics the way he used to do it… which was reaaaally old school.
From there, I built a studio in my wagon in christiania.., which I split in 2 ,and used half the wagon as a tattoo studio.
I started to travel much around the world doing guest spots, which I learned a lot from.
at some point I also moved to Norway and worked at a few shops up there, before I moved back to Denmark.
Any artistic influences?
I enjoy looking at work from many various artists such as H.R. Giger, Beksinski, Hokusai, Kunioshi, Diego Rivera, Dali, Frida Kahlo, Angel Bracho, among others.
What about the style, the shades and tones of your work. Do they hold specific meaning to you, and do they relate to your personal life?
not really haha! I just enjoy doing the styles I like the most, such as Japanese/Oriental works.. and black and grey styles…
I like to put a lot of black in my work, which I think gives it power..
What’s your creative process like?
I’ll try to find some peace to draw when I work on a project…and prepare things if I think it needs to..
if its for example something that needs a lot of details or whatever.
But sometimes, I actually like to draw the design directly on the customer… because it gives me a better view of how it looks on the body, and I think its easier to make it flow on the customer’s body that way.
What are your creative triggers? what inspires you? or… what leads you to make work?
Depends on what style im gonna do.. if its Japanese, I look into my books on Japanse art sometimes.. but actually I get a lot of inspiration from everyday things I see too.. like a statue I walk by or whatever.
What changes, advances or progress have you seen in your work throughout the years?
a lot haha! when i look at my old work I definitely think it developed.. but I’ve also changed style 10 times since… like, I always try to develop, and change my style for the better… so if for example a customer walks in with an old tattoo I did on him and wants something new, I probably have changed the way I draw water since then, or fire maybe… or just the background in general…
I have probably moved towards a more traditional Japanese style in the last couple of years, since I find it a bit more solid.. but will still not call it traditional.
Before, I felt like experimenting a lot. and would do a lot of crazy things…but I always studied the traditional Japanese works, and rules that goes with it.Its very important to know the rules, so you can break them the right way…I think my style could maybe be described as european Japanese style.
Where are you currently located?
Im located at badstuestræde, in the heart of Copenhagen, Denmark.
Do you have any upcoming trips / conventions / exhibits?
This year im trying to plan to go to Hong Kong, Japan… and Colombia. =)
What are you currently working on?
At the moment, I’m working on a skateboard I’m painting for a friend, and also a contribution to 2 Argentinian books of oriental tattoo designs by Daniel Martino.
Are you involved with the artistic community in your area? collectives, groups, galleries, etc… feel free to promote friends as well.
Not too much actually.. but we do have this ArtFusion project coming up =) which was your idea haha!!
I did some art shows before… for example, with my friend and co-worker Pelle Moller ,who went to art academy and does a lot of paintings, wood prints etc.
And I currently have a painting in an exhibition at Brandts in Odense at the moment… which is the biggest exhibition of tattoo related things ever in the history of Denmark..It is also about the history of tattooing in Denmark, where we actually have some of the oldest tattoo traditions of the world… the first Tattooshop in the world was Tattoo Ole in Nyhavn, Copenhagen…- and that shop still exists.
Dr. Lakra is doing some painting for the exhibition as well, so if you’ll get the chance,go see it in Odense.
check it out at : brandts.dk
Please mention some of your past achievements
As far as award achievements goes, I just got one in Colombia, which is the 3rd I won there… and the weekend after, I won one here in Århus, Denmark at a convention there.
Through the years I’ve also won various awards in Norway, Sweden, Iceland, and of course Denmark, mostly for my oriental works.. one of my backpieces also got the tattoo of the year award in 2012…and a female customer of mine won the miss ink queen award with a piece I did on her…at some convention.
My favorite achievement would be a back piece I did with a friend of mine in Colombia last year in 7 hours… and we won the best of show award with that…but it was really funny to cross styles while working on the same piece. and I really enjoy doing ArtFusions with other artists , – I get a lot of inspiration that way, because everybody has their own way of doing things… so you learn from each other.
Feel free to promote here any upcoming books, book tours, shows, etc.
I did one book project called Style Fusion, with my friends jack from Barcelona, and Nicklas who works at my shop. That book can be ordered trough my e-mail, or bought at the shop.
Also I have some work at the upcoming second book about tattooists… called Inkslingers, by Jacob Schultz.
and some artwork in the book “Japanese Mythical Creatures” by Crystal Morey.
+ the ones I already mentioned of oriental tattoo designs by Daniel Martino from Argentina.
one of them is a collaboration of dragon designs/drawings etc.
his books are really great.. and worth checking out.. they’re mostly by Latin American artists… with very nice artwork, and good quality.
you should also check out the upcoming issue of “Z” tattoo ,which has an article about me.
Where can people get in touch with you to purchase your work or to schedule an appointment?
They can reach me at doktorlind@hotmail.com
or come by the shop at Enter the Dragon, Badstuestræde 3,1209 cph.k -Denmark
I currently have a 2 month waiting list.. so its a good idea to contact me ahead.
Words to live by:
What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.
How do you promote your work / career? (networking, social media, friends of friends, etc… give advice here for people who are getting started)
I actually don’t promote myself that much, but do have a Facebook and webpage… sometimes I send work to magazines.. but its rare that I get the time for that these days…oh and I also fuck with instagram.
Any books, shows, records or places you recommend?
my favorite places would probably be South America.. Colombia, Peru,Brazil…
records…musicwise.. if you’re into hc. you should check out aftershock, payback, steal your crown and my friend jesus’ band colusvs.
I also like integrity, deviate, madball, blood for blood, and of course suicidal tendencies..-to name a few..
my all time hip-hop favorites would be underground kings. and I like tres coronas a lot too..
Links where people can follow you:
Anything else you’d like to add?
you should also check out my friend Connie Hurtado’s magazine
she’s doing great work with it.
and my friend Antonio Ruiz if you’re into photography and digital art.. he’s amazing …
oh and my friend Elizabeth’s magazine Red Door haha 😉
thank you!
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