Divan Therapy And Tattoos In Victor Montaghini's Secret Studio

The highly sought after Brazilian artist reveals from his secret refuge the process of creation that follows with each of his tattoos

Originally published at Pandalux. Text and photos and video: Agê Barros and Rodrigo Bressane aka The Bear.

Not many of his current 182,000 followers on Instagram can imagine the relationship that Victor Montaghini has with each of the tattoos shown in his feed. Each drawing goes beyond being ink on the skin. For him, the work carries a responsibility that makes you think: how much of you carries your own tattoo?

His workshop-slash-studio is located in a secret place in the south of Sao Paulo. He used to live in Vila Madalena, but he couldn't find the peace required for the creation process of his works. He moved without revealing his new address. The client only receives the location after the appointment is confirmed - an appointment that will be given two years in advance (yes, you have read that correctly) because of his waiting list.

Victor has a very personal creative process. The tattoo session can be very quick, thanks to the time invested in practicing. But what comes before the first contact of the needle with the skin can take months. The duration of this process? “It depends on each person, every situation, I do not worry about it, I might delay it as much as it is needed” Victor explains between one and another cigar puff interspersed with a cup of machine coffee.

"I do not feel comfortable tattooing a person whom I do not know at all"

– Victor Montaghini

Victor says that a client often comes up with a design idea but, deep down, he wants to express something completely different. His ability to correctly interpret this idea comes from psychoanalysis, an area in which he plunged when he felt the need to better decode what was going through the mind of his customers. "The guy comes and says he wants a sailing boat, but in reality he wants to express freedom, and in the end, we can get to the design of a bird, for example".

It's probable that the density and uniqueness of Victor's work comes from this connection and the technical ability that functions as an extension of his pencils and brushes. By the way, after extracting the idea from the client's talk, he bends over the drawing board and completely disconnects himself from everything. There the traces flow in the paper almost in the rhythm of the music that fills every corner of the workshop/studio all the time.

Looking around the studio and looking at Victor's paintings that occupy a whole wall - with the ever-recurring feminine motif - the end of the tattoo session makes it clear that everything in his head represents a huge catalyst process. From intention to idea, from concept to skin, living canvas of all that catharsis.

Singular is a project by photographer Rodrigo Bressane and Agê Barros, from the Pandalux studio in Sao Paulo, which highlights people and their unique creations.