The Evolution of Biomechanical
Biomechanical is getting popular again after it’s original peak near the early 2000’s so let’s look at it a little closer. Biomechanical, or Biomech for shorthand, is credited to H.R Giger, a Swiss artist who was behind the lifeforms in the 1979 film Alien; he was part of their award winning team, designing the main Alien from the eggs through to the adult we see terrorizing Sigourney Weaver. Giger’s work in Alien combining human forms and organs with mechanisms and organic shapes pioneered this style’s connection between the larger art world and the tattooing world. As a painter Giger’s work started to really get popular following the film’s release, in the 1980’s. His success is attributed to his involvement in the artistic world of horror films and even punk music. Unfortunately Giger passed away at the age of 74 in 2014. See him below with some of his paintings. To learn more about Giger’s life and his work in Alien checkout this article by the New York Times.
Giger is talked about a lot in the Biomech scene but the influence goes back even further. His inspiration comes from an artist and sculptor by the name of Stanisław Szukalski. Born in Poland in 1893, Szukalski moved to Chicago during his teens and became a member of the Chicago Renaissance Lumineers. He published 2 collections during this time entitled, The Work of Szukalski (1923) and Projects in Design (1929). In 1930 the Polish government gave Szukalski his own museum, leading to him moving back to Poland to continue his work there. This didn’t go as planned though with World War 2 right around the corner. In 1939 Poland suffered the Siege of Warsaw forcing Szukalski to seek refuge in California, unfortunately though his work didn’t make it. With his life’s work destroyed, stolen, or lost in the wind, Szukalski spent the rest of his life in California writing and creating artwork. This new work was meant to prove his theory that all human culture started on Easter Island after the Deluge of Noah in the bible. While in California his work was rediscovered by Glen Bray in 1971 and they went on to publish 2 more collections (in 1980 and 1982) just before his death in 1987. His work hadn’t yet evolved into the Biomech we know today. Giger is the one who took it that one step further. Checkout some work by Szukalski below.
Top left: Coat of arms. Bottom left: Flight of the Emmigrants. Right: Syrena
Though Giger is said to be the bridge of Biomech his style was devoid of colour and described as “greasy, visceral forms with hard, metal-like structures” by Skin Factory Tattoos. This is where tattoo artists Guy Aitchison and Aaron Cain took over, starting to turn Biomech into what it is today, a vibrant and striking tattoo style. Today Biomech is anything but devoid of colour. Though some people still get black and grey tattoos (like with any style), this style has come a long way since its debut in Alien. With Biomech there’s no end to possibilities of combining the organic bio matter with the mechanized.
Although Biomech isn’t a popular ask in the last few years it’s starting to gain traction again. When looking for an artist to do Biomech, even if they don’t have Biomech in their portfolio (with it not being popular recently many artists don’t have Biomech in their portfolios just because it hasn’t come in) that doesn’t mean that they can’t do it. When looking for an artist to do this style some things you can look for are strong realism skills and creativity.
There are 2 popular kinds of sub categories within Biomech. Some people lean towards the more mechanical aspect, showing torn skin revealing tubes and gears. While others prefer the organic side featuring alien-like imagery, still at times incorporating skin tears. There is a lot of room for variation and personal style which is something I love about Biomech, but it also has it’s cons. This is a tricky style to do and it’s such a large scale style, that you do usually have to sacrifice a significant amount of skin to get that hyper detailed Biomech look.
Left: Biomech half sleeve on the organic side by Jon Von Glahn. Middle: Calf piece on the mechanic side artist unknown. Right: Bicep piece on the mechanic side, artist unknown.
Sources:
- https://www.skinfactorytattoo.com/biomechanical-tattoo/
- https://tattoonow.com/gallery/tattoos/artist/jon-von-glahn~1915/biomech-bio-organic-color-half-sleeve-tattoo-arm-by-jon-von-glahn~75233
- https://tattooartfromtheheart.com/tattoo-meanings/biomechanical-tattoos-one-of-the-newest-tattoo-styles/
- https://www.szukalski.com/about/
- https://warsawinstitute.review/issue-2020/stanislav-szukalski-the-human-riddle/
- https://www.flickr.com/photos/tattooscotland/14158147818
- And of course advice from the one and only @damncoyotechris
