Interview
Boria Mandlis
Boria is a Lithuanian designer, illustrator, and tattoo artist who lives in Vancouver, Canada.
His eclectic international style is based on relationships with people, tribal art, and modern tattoo culture.
Boria’s art is all about stories, characters, and their experiences across time.
What is your background and how did you start your journey?
“I received my Bachelor’s degree in design and art in Israel at the end of 2000. It was 4 years of very intensive studies, constantly working on projects in graphic design, photography, advertising, sculpture, drawing, and more. During these 4 years, a cultural upheaval was taking place in my world. I learned to understand and feel art more deeply, while also developing new skills.
After graduating, I worked as an art director for several art and architectural magazines for a long time. At work, I met very interesting and experienced people from different art industries. This played a huge role in my development as a designer and artist.”
What inspires you most?
“I get my inspiration from looking at buildings and ornaments, the world of fashion, the film industry, and from looking at plants, their shapes, and patterns.
Each artist is inspired by completely different and unpredictable things. Much depends on your cultural heritage and your education as a whole. You can subscribe to art magazines, admire other artists’ work on social media, or just look at the clouds and come up with different images for yourself. Any of these areas can be important in your development as an artist and as a person in general.
Inspiration is a long and cumulative experience. It’s thousands of hours of sketches, analysis, new sketches, communication with other artists, and the desire to constantly discover new industries and become better.”
What themes do you pursue? Is there an underlying message in your work?
“My tattoos almost always have elements of mysticism. Eyes are one of the most important aspects in my work. In the eye, there is a soul. In different cultures and traditions, the eye carries very different meanings.
I’m also interested in eclectic work. The ability to mix styles both conceptually and technically makes a person think and try to interpret this work in different ways. However, not all my tattoo works have a definite theme. Some are created just for aesthetics, simply carrying elements of beauty and composition. But even in these visually aesthetic works, inner motives and states of mind often appear.”
How would you describe your work?
“It depends very much on the meaning invested in this work. If we are talking about technique, then it’s a work between black ink and skin color. The skin has its own color, and this is important to understand.
I also work with a lot of line and composition in general. I don’t try to come up with a name for my style. Many tattoo artists refer to their work as black work, with a lot of black infill.
I’m also constantly coming up with new ideas to make my work unique.”
Which artists influence you most?
“During different periods, I followed certain artists, ranging from Russian constructivism to the eras of the early Renaissance. I definitely like Hieronymus Bosch’s works, as well as works by Marc Chagall, Gustav Klimt, Dali, and Rene Magritte. I also follow and dabble in 14th century Japanese painting, where I like artists such as Shubun Sesshu.
In the 21st century, I can single out a lot of bright artists. In the tattoo direction, one of the outstanding examples is Alexander Grim, with his incredible amount of lines and patterns. Another modern and bright artist that inspires me is Vanessa Alice, (aka Miss Van), who since the age of 20 has been initiating the feminist movement through Street Art.”
“My style is shaped by my education in graphic design. It’s very important for me that all the elements in my tattoo work look just as good in 20 years. I try to work more in one technique, constantly improving it and minimizing the number of shadows and potential errors.”
What is your creative process like?
“My process is quite repetitive. As a tattoo artist, you must listen well to the client and his needs. At the same time, you must remember your style. Do not forget about creativity, but also understand that skin is not paper.
Most times, I start by making quick sketches with pencil and paper. In between the sketches, I drink coffee. It is important for me to evaluate the sketch after a few days with a fresh eye. I criticize and evaluate how the design can be improved. Only then will I transfer the sketch to a tablet and refine it further. Very often, I photograph the part of the body that will be tattooed, and I work out the sketch on the photo.
Creativity is a process in which there is no beginning and no end. Even when it seems to me that the work is finished, there is always a feeling that some details can be improved.”
What is an artist’s role in society and how do you see that evolving?
“A tattoo artist, like any other artist, makes this world more beautiful. People of this profession bring both aesthetics and a conceptual message into the world, whether they’re working in sculpture, theater, or tattooing.
Art remains with us for centuries, forming new trends and directions, often integrated into modern technologies. Art in the future will appear more on the digital level, like NFTs and other formats of modern media. This is another development in art, where technology has a direct influence and helps many artists create new models in their industry.”
Please tell us about any previous exhibitions that you found noteworthy and would like to share.
“The last two exhibitions that I visited and received both aesthetic and moral pleasure from were in the The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.
This is a temporary exhibition, Kimono Style: The John C. Weber Collection and In America: An Anthology of Fashion exhibition of Japanese kimono, this is about the culture of Japan, which can be seen in the form of a Japanese pattern on extraordinary Japanese silks and other rare materials. Astonishing as usual, is the unlimited imagination of Japanese masters over the past 400 years. And just like Japanese designers in fashion, they use the shape of the Japanese kimono very consistently.
Exhibition Collection and In America: An Anthology of Fashion is a collection of American designs in the fashion industry, and its development over the past 400 years. ow the social system influenced the development of fashion in general and in individual boutique brands.”
Instagram: @b_o_r_i_a
