Trash Polka, More Than Trash, Not Quite Polka
Trash Polka started at a small shop in Würzburg, Germany and has quickly spread all over the world. Though you may not have heard of Trash Polka in those terms, chances are you have even seen someone wearing a Trash Polka tattoo. Some people who have Trash Polka like this hidden aspect, that not everyone knows exactly what it is. Simone Pfaff and Volko Merschky started this style at their shop, Buena Vista Tattoo Club. Though there is a Trash Polka presence around the world it has mainly been blowing up in Europe at this point. We’ve only had a few in the shop ourselves.
Like many tattoo artists Pfaff and Merschky are artists of all trades. Pfaff got his start in the art world as an interior designer while Merschky was in graphic design. In their time not tattooing the pair are also artistic in their painting, photography, and even music. They use meaningful words and bold colour to create vibrant tattoos that stand out and somewhere along the line coined the phrase Trash Polka to describe their evolving style.
What is very characteristic of Trash Polka is the limited palette. Most Trash Polka are black and red, but that’s not to say that all black and red tattoos are Trash Polka by any means. One difference between the two is that Trash Polka has large areas of red either in the main subject or as background, where other black and red tattoos likely use red as an accent with a lot less focus than Trash Polka. This red is often used in the smears of Trash Polka. In some cases there are other colours used but it’s always black and one other colour. Red is the most common and more characteristic of the style but they are done with blue sometimes. You’ll see in this style lots of elements that could be described as chaotic with the characteristic paint like smears, ink dots, splashes, and a lot of what would appear as random. This kind of organized chaos is what makes Trash Polka an abstract type of style.
Images are all from original creators Merschky and Pfaff
This style is really unique because of all the different styles and elements it incorporates. They use a combination of natural elements, realism, surrealism, lettering, as well as abstract shapes. It may look like everything but the kitchen sink if you aren’t familiar with the motifs that that person has chosen and all the meaning behind it. Like any tattoo these don’t have to have meaning, though many people who get Trash Polka use the one of a kind style to illustrate something meaningful to them. Website, Tattooseo summarizes the style nicely by saying, “it’s one part realism, one part trash.” These types of tattoos are often riddled with symbolism. Lots of people like to use this style to represent clashing ideas, because the style already has those bold clashing elements, it lends itself nicely to representing those ideas in images. These tattoos are generally large scale like sleeves or chest pieces, some people even commit a whole half of their body to it.
Sources:
- “Tattoo Gallery.” Trash Polka Tattoos by Volko Merschky & Simone Pfaff, 24 Nov. 2017, buenavistatattooclub.de/tattoo-gallery.
- “Trash Polka.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 14 Dec. 2020, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trash_polka#Volker_Merschky_and_Simone_Pfaff.
- “What Does Trash Polka Tattoo Mean?: Represent Symbolism.” Tattoo SEO, www.tattooseo.com/trash-polka-tattoos/.
