Interview with Arthur Marques

I’m from Brazil, and I’ve been in Canada for four years. I actually came here to learn English. I was still studying at university in Brazil when I came, so I was studying English, dealing with school and doing a lot of other things. I wasn’t putting much energy into my art.

One of the first things I did was buy an iPad. I thought, “I’m going to do a lot of art with this.” But for the first six months, I was focused on English. Around November or December, I started drawing again.

I studied industrial design in Brazil. I also took some graphic design classes, but my degree was more about products, like tables and furniture.

For a long time, art was something I did on the side. It was only about a year ago that I started thinking, “Okay, I’m an artist now.”

I started tattooing eight years ago in Brazil.

Before that, I had a friend who was very good at drawing and started tattooing in high school. I asked her about it, and she told me, “Don’t do it. It’s not worth it.”

She was at such a high level that I thought maybe I wasn’t going to do a good job either.

Years passed. When I started university, a friend kept telling me, “You should try it. Your drawings are nice.” My university friend kept pushing me to try.

At the time, my boyfriend was a body piercer working in a studio. I went there and talked to them about learning. Then we broke up. When the studio called me, I didn’t want to go because I thought they were trying to get us back together.

Eventually, they said, “He’s not at the studio anymore. You should come.” So I went, and that’s where I started learning.

My city had a really nice traditional tattoo scene. Traditional was a big inspiration for me when I started.

Before moving to Canada, I wanted to do more guest spots in Brazil because I knew I was leaving. I went to São Paulo, Curitiba and Belo Horizonte.

São Paulo was one of my best experiences. I was already developing my own style, and by the time I arrived, I was fully booked. I could see other artists, other styles and a bigger art environment. There were a lot of queer people at the studio, and I felt comfortable.

There was also a studio I loved when I was starting. I gave them my portfolio, and they said they weren’t looking for an apprentice. I thought, okay, and did my own thing. This year, I went back to Brazil and did a guest spot there.

I’m proud of that part of myself. If you close a door for me, I’m not going to sit there being sad. I’m going to try all the other doors.

I was thinking I might change careers, meet different people and try something different. But I still wanted to draw and do some tattoos.

I did a few tattoos from my place, but I was also studying and working in restaurants. Last year, I was working at a restaurant and preparing for a door-to-door fundraising job.

I was in training and thought, “What the fuck am I doing here?” It was for SickKids, so it was a nice thing, but the job wasn’t for me.

My partner had been telling me for probably two years, “Look at this market. You should try it.” Finally, I quit my jobs and registered for my first market. I said, “It’s now or never.”

I started by trying a lot of traditional tattooing. There are still touches of traditional in what I do now.

Then I moved more into blackwork. During the pandemic, I started playing more with bodies, nudity and erotic, queer tattoos. I was also making prints at university, so the prints and tattoos were developing together.

I don’t really know how to describe my art. I guess fantasy, queer bodies and that influence from traditional tattooing. I play with primary colours, then add my own touch, like gray or blue. There is always yellow or some stars.

My art changes with the material. If I’m doing skin, a painting, a print or a wall, it changes.

That’s because of my father.

My father died, and my mom told me, “When you look at the sky and see a shining star, that’s him.” So I started putting him into my art. If you see a little star in my drawings or zines, it represents him. Sometimes I put the stars in the hair, the armpits or the pubic hair.

When my father died, I developed a fear of dying young. With tattooing, I thought, I’m putting something from me onto you for your entire life. It was a way of making me an infinite person. Like, I’m going to be alive for so long.

Then I started doing paintings and thought, “Okay, this one is going to be here forever.” People die, but things don’t die. They change. They get old.

It’s something in my mind: “I’m not going to die. I’m going to be alive forever.”

People might choose a tattoo because it’s meaningful to them, or they might just like the design. But there can be another meaning for me.

Maybe I was travelling, saw a guy, took a picture and made a design. Then you wanted that design. Sometimes that’s where the inspiration comes from.

You want my art, and I’m going to put it on you. But I have my own feeling about it too.

Yes, especially colour theory. That’s one of the things I learned at university that I use in my work.

Before, I didn’t really like backgrounds because they took attention away from the main design. Now I’m playing more with backgrounds and different shades.

With black and white, I can leave the skin colour of the figures open to interpretation. Is this a white guy, a brown guy or a Black guy?

On the iPad, I can change colours easily. Tattooing is more restricted. If I think a shade isn’t going to work, I talk to the person about it.

The way I understand my art is that it’s an evolution. I don’t have all the techniques I want yet. With time, I want people to look and say, “Oh, he’s doing something different.”

Mostly flash. I’m not a big fan of customs because it reminds me of working in design. People say, “Change this, change that,” and in the end, it might become something I don’t want to do. But I have to do it because of the money.

I take commissions sometimes, but it depends. If somebody comes asking for realism, I’m going to say, “Did you see my Instagram?” There are other artists who can do a much better job with that.

I’m not closed to learning. I’ve been trying more shading, and I’m loving it. But realism isn’t my thing right now.

If somebody brings me another artist’s work, I can use it as a reference, but I’m not going to do the same shit on you. I’m going to make my own design.

I know that somebody using my work as a reference can be a good thing. But deep, deep, deep, I hate seeing somebody take a design. I put energy into it. I put time into it, and you just got it.

I went to Montreal in November 2022 and really liked the city.

During the pandemic, I followed an artist named Romeo. Later, I saw him on TikTok and realized he was in Montreal. I thought, I want to meet this guy. Maybe we could have a good work connection.

I contacted the studio about a guest spot and went there. I met him, watched him tattoo and thought, “Fuck yes.” We connected, and he became a friend. He also connected me with people in the U.S.

I went back several times. On my last visit, we had pizza and talked. I did another guest spot at the studio too.

I’ve also done guest spots in New York, Vancouver and Calgary. I’m going back to Europe soon for guest spots in several cities. I’ve been putting a lot of energy into art, and a lot of doors have opened.

My rule is that every trip has to break even. When I break even, I’m fine. If I make more, let’s go. I’m not losing money, and I’m having an experience.

Advertising is the main thing for me. A good studio helps, but you have to do your own advertising because sometimes the studio doesn’t help you a lot.

So far, I’ve never made less than I put into a trip. I can travel, meet people and make the money during the trip. I feel like those experiences make me and my art more interesting.

Now I usually look for queer spaces. I feel more comfortable because there is a community and we have things in common.

Followers don’t mean a studio has the right audience. I look at the comments, the people interacting with the studio and the other artists who guest there. If people keep going there, there is a reason.

Most of my clients outside Brazil are queer. In Brazil, I still tattoo childhood friends and people I already know, so it’s more mixed.

In the beginning, I wasn’t comfortable saying I was queer. During the pandemic, a company invited me to do a live interview. That was the first time I publicly said, “I’m a queer person,” and talked about my art that way.

Even before moving to Canada, I was becoming more comfortable. I started feeling like I could express myself, and I don’t give a fuck what people think. If you don’t like queer people, that’s your problem.

Some of my extended family isn’t supportive. I’m not talking about my mom and sister. But I’m doing my own thing.

When people say they like my drawings, it gives me energy to keep going. I’m a queer person. I’m not going to hide it anymore. I hid for so long. Why am I going to hide my art?

I like people. I like bodies. I have the freedom to do what I want.

I’m a fucking workaholic. I’m always drawing. On the airplane, at the beach, before bed, I’m drawing.

But I have to give my brain time to breathe. Travel is nice because it gives me other references. Another city, other people, other colours, another library, another museum.

I’m trying to masturbate my mind with all of these things.

Right now, I’m overworking. I have to organize my calendar, book tattoos, do the tattoos and go to meetings. Sometimes I don’t have time to do art or study. I feel like I’m missing a team, people who can do the administrative part so I can do the art.

I usually draw before bed. I’ve seen so many things during the day, so many people in different positions. My creativity comes at night.

Get support. Don’t say no when people want to help you.

People sometimes think they have to do everything themselves. But there are friends, there is family. You need people to help build your base.

Talk to people. Ask for opportunities. Don’t be afraid of hearing no. You have to be shameless.

I don’t think I would be here without the people around me. My life is built on community.

I’m still at the beginning. I’ve only really been treating art as my profession for about a year.

We don’t have to be afraid of the future. Just live your life in the present. That’s what I’ve been doing, and it’s been really good. I’m enjoying what I’m doing.

If this doesn’t work in a year, I’m not afraid to change. I’m not afraid to work in an office or do something different.

I’m not afraid to change. That’s it.