The tattoo artist MIKEY BOY from Cyprus runs together with his colleague MAXI ESPINO the tattoo studio RISE ‚N‘ SHINE in the coastal city of Limassol. The two look back on many years of experience in the field of body decoration and have already tattooed all over the world. In 2013, they finally opened their own colorful premises on Dimitri Liberti Street.
Regularly MIKEY BOY also organizes art events and exhibitions, where he presents drawings, paintings and sculptures together with other artists. Also, at RISE ‚N‘ SHINE you can always meet other tattoo artists who work as guests, just as the two owners also get invited time by time to other local or international studios. Around the space in Limassol a solid group has developed over time, to which besides the two owners also the artists BAROQUE ROCOCO, ALMAGRO and KYRIAKOS SOLOMOU belong.
We visited MIKEY BOY in his tattoo studio to conduct an interview and were allowed to be present during a tattoo session. You can listen to the conversation in the podcast as well as read it below. In between are countless photos of the great art and work of MIKEY BOY. If you visit the island and you want a cool tatoo, the RISE ‚N‘ SHINE is definitely the place!
At the moment I am in the tattoo studio Rise’n’Shine Tattoo in Limassol on the island Cyprus and I am going to speak to the tattoo artist MikeyBoy, who is one of the owners of the shop. He is preparing at the moment the place for new customers and for doing a new tattoo, and he will tell me about his art and about the studio. Hello MikeyBoy. So when did you open the studio?
Hello Gunther. We opened the studio in 2013. In 2012 I was staying in Spain and then I moved around 2013 here to Cyprus. At that time and actually the whole life time of my career I was working with my tattoo partner Maxi Espino. It was like, let’s try it out with Cyprus. So I moved here and at first I was working in a shop in Nicosia. Then I said with Maxi, let’s open a shop in Limassol. So that’s how Rise’n’Shine came about. Actually the first location was in the city center, it was a proper street shop. There it lasted for around a year and then I couldn’t anymore, it was too much over there. So we went then the exact opposite way. We went to a floor with a private shop, no signs, no adds, no nothing. Which is a lot better. We got the opportunity and at the moment we are painting the floors. We wanted to pay some tribute to the tattoos from the 70s and we want to decorate everything. Now with the private studio we can do that. We are going to finish the ceiling, also we done pretty much all of the hallways. So first the floors and then we go to the ceilings. So yeah, that’s how Cyprus came about. Well now when I look back, it was a good choice.
When you have been in the center, there were just too many customers and too many people?
Yes, because I mean we are in the Mediterranean and we have this thing that we are getting charming about those things very very fast. There were no really working hours, you know, so somebody was walking by or passed the shop and just came in and stuff like that.
Now people make appointments and you have more scheduled dates and less stress. So it is more relaxed.
Yes, and we kind of like it. Because if you want to come you have got to search a bit for us and the studio. We are not that easy to find such as a street shop. Which is nice, I find that better and prefer that.
So the people who come, they really want to do something. And they are not just passing by, having a look and maybe yes or maybe no.
Yes, and we are also into a specific taste of clientele. We do custom work, so I mean you can get in our shop pretty much everything done originally. We painted a lot, so either it is ours or stuff we traded with friends. So the styles we are accommodated we try to do in our way and put our own character to it. We do something really custom vivid and also something from the wall. You know. Because tattoos now are so popular. My philosophy behind it is, that if you are getting something, then it should be something unique. I think that this is always the best way.
So you and Maxi Espino opened the shop. You both are professional tattoo artists. But of course you started long time before with doing tattoos.
Yes, I am doing tattoo for about 17 years now, yeah, pretty much. I started over in Athens at Medusa Tattoo. I went there and I used to live there actually. It was in my neighborhood. At that time, that was around 2006, the Medusa studio was one of the terrific shops in Europe. They had a real good line up of artists, real good national and European artists. The shop was nearby and I was lucky enough to do an apprentice there. So after the first time I walked in, a week later I got a new roommate, and his name was Maxi Espino. So he was also working at the shop and started living with me in the flat as well. Yeah, that was kind of a 24/7 healthy tattoo relationship. So work and then also living together. We also were like drawing pretty much all day long. We used to stay at the shop maybe like till 3 o’clock in the morning, went home, drew some more, woke up a few hours later, maybe just four hours later, and then we just went back on it again. That was good. He was really good and actually he was my teacher. Like three years later I moved to Buenos Aires with him for a few month. That was eye opening, yeah, that was fucking cool! Then years went by, we worked at quite a lot of places. For example we went to Holland together, we did a few Italian tours, there we were used to work in Italy on and off. So yeah, I am lucky enough that I could grew up with Maxi and he helped me out a lot.
Also the travelling was very important. All the travelling I did, all of the travels were because of the tattooing. I have been to quite a lot of places, and all because of the tattooing. I used to book some guest spots at tattoo shops and they would help me there with their clientele. And there I was always staying with the locals, they showed me around and over the years I made a lot of really good friendships around the world. Everyone was really cool. Anyway, that was how it was used back in the days anyway. You used to have correspondence with the artists you like and then they would have you over at their shop. Then you work under their name and with their clientele. And then you get a personal relationship and as well a personal relationship. We did this exchange a lot with our place. So we used bring artists from Italy, from Greece, from Spain, from South America and just from all around the world. But then Corona came, so Covid kind of fucked it up. So for travelling it was just a bitch. But before that around every six weeks I was used to live for a week or ten days somewhere else. For some weeks I used to work in London or in Bristol. That was around four times a year. And then also a bit of work in Spain, in Italy and all that. So yeah, that is the fortunate part.
To Customer: So when you do now a tattoo, do you have a special picture you want to have? Or do you just trust him and let him do?
Customer: At this point I just let him doing his own thing. He just knows what to do and he also has done most of the stuff on my body. I know it will be good and I know his style.
Mikey Boy again: The thing with drawing stuff on is, that you can see the things before. You can customize it and put it in its form. As well you can see if it works or not. There is always also straight to skin, which shows the effects after you are done.
So you make some first sketches before you start and don’t do it directly now.
No, not with this here now. Straight on the skin is mostly with little things or in between fitter. There I just go on the row and just tattoo it straight on the skin. And then it has to be something which you are obviously comfortable with. You have done it a dozen of times and it won’t come out shitty. Or except if you are friends and you are drunk as fuck. So yeah, I don’t know how many tattoos I have done and also received from non-tattooers, like my best friends or my brother and stuff like that. Terrible, terrible results, but yeah, it’s fun. It’s cool and it’s like a souvenir from a friend. Not very nicely done, mostly it is crap, but it is also kind of punk and cool. This stuff here on my arm for example is from a friend actually. But yeah, with Cyprus and over the years, with all the lining it worked out I guess. We are still here. And I couldn’t imagine myself spending the quarantine and the Covid time in another space like here. For example if I was in London or something like that.
You have warm and nice weather here. Maybe sometimes even too warm.
Yes, and funny enough, the first few years, it was really terrible. It was sooo hot. Also with the humidity. In the beginning I used to live in Laprese, it’s up in the mountains from the last English occupation we had. Or the centuries of occupation we had. The English officers built like brick colonial houses up in the mountains. They are really nice, really graphic. So I used to stay there for the beginning, but then I moved down here from there. It was a really nice place, but also hot. Now I got use to it and it is also nice. Now I am trying to move to a village to be honest. I still want to work here and in Nicosia, but I want to live in a village. Because that is the best quality of life that you can get here.
Sound relaxing. So the work is in the city but the life is in a chilled village place.
Yeah, and you also get a really good life style. There is a high quality food production and the life is a lot slower. I mean not that it is so hectic in the cities, but it is kind of more in the place where we a are staying. Don’t get me wrong, it is not like you are in Madrid or big cities like that, but it is still a lot. I find it stupid if you are living in a place like this and you are not like super chilled out. You should be. That’s the point of moving to a village, if you want to have a place for chilling. Or like on an island.
So you have the tattoo studio where you do the tattoos, but behind all this, like most of the tattoo artists, you are as well a painter and you are a designer. You do the tattoos and you paint them as well on paper. And later on you put some of them on bodies.
Yeah, that’s pretty much it. I think the tattoo work has changed quite a lot. But now you got technology as well that helps. I don’t use it a lot, but nevertheless it is good and helps. The thing is you are missing out a lot if you are a tattooer and you don’t draw. I don’t know, I think that’s a bit of an handicap if you ask me. But in these days you can be a tattooer and don’t know how to draw. Still I think you are missing out quite a bit. Stuff which is really interesting.
And the people who don’t know how to draw, they are just copying existing things. So you designed your own characters, figures and styles.
Yeah, of course. So if you walk into a studio, you don’t know the person. But you still can from the consultation see if he is into maybe punk culture or mainstream or whatever. So it gives you an idea and it helps for customize something especially for a person. Obviously if it is a person who I tattooed quite a few times, and I know the motives better, so I can also better accommodated that person better. But nevertheless I think it should be something special for each person. I mean you can maybe copy anything from the internet in our days, which is also good and all that. But I think it should be custom. Still, it is all on.
Before you told me as well besides the tattoos you are doing a lot of other different things as well. So you do as well sculpturing and you also had a exhibition running recently.
Yeah, I am sculpturing as well. Mainly I am doing masks. I mix things together. Well, at the end of the day I am Cypriot, so during the centuries we have been occupied pretty much by everybody. By the Cretans, the Phoenicians, the Persians, the Greeks, Mycenaeans and so on. So we had a lot of countries combined, which is a good thing because we have got a multi-culti variation of art going on. And I get a lot of inspiration out of that for my sculpturing. Also I am very interested in the Japanese Shinto. Oddly enough I found some stuff that we have in common with Shinto. So a lot of characters and some stories. We have some common stuff which is great. And they are on the other side of the planet. I based my work on those things and I use that for the sculpturing that I do. There I made a lot of experimental variations. Like I burn my sculptures and instead of electric curving I use techniques like the ones which the ancient Greeks were using 3000 or 4000 years ago. As well the same with the Japanese techniques. I use stuff which you can get out of that and you simply can get on the island. Like bones and you use nature elements and ingredients to make the colors like gold and silver, copper and those. We use the traditional paints. So we use that and we use fire. We open holes in the ground and we use the olive pit as an accelerant which also the ancient Greeks used a lot. And also dried olive leaves. They produce sert and smoke, so you can paint with those. It is quite interesting. I am also trying to do workshops up in the villages. There we just doing furniture and such things. There I can also do those rituals how I call it. So back to the roots. Which is good, so I find it interesting.
If people come to Cyprus and they want to get a tattoo from you or Maxi, they can just write you an email? Or a message via Instagram?
Yes, like that. Well, we keep it simple. Just text us on Instagram and that’s pretty much it. We try to keep things uncomplicated. You can also write us an email to maxiespino@hotmail.com or call us via 0035 / 797 762 639.
So tattoo, yes, but do you do as well piercings?
No, we don’t do piercing to be honest. None of us is really into the piercing culture, so we kept it with the tattooing. No one had the stomach for piercings. Yeah, we just accomodate the tattoo.
How would you describe the style of tattoo what you do and how about Maxi? I am sure he is doing as well some different things and everyone has his own style. When I look around here, I see a lot of typical motifs which you usually can find, like the dragons, birds, eagles, animals and also women characters. What would you say, that’s my style and I like to do this a lot? What would you describe as your favorites?
Well to be honest, every time when somebody asks me this question, I like cool tattoos. A cool tattoo is for me something, that you accommodate someone specific. It could be pretty much everything. The style that I like most is like mixing what we call traditional American or classic European, which was from early 20th century with a bit more modern types to it. It could be like a classic cobra let’s say, but instead of a cobra head is the torso of a woman and on top is a skull with wings. So could be a lot of different stuff. I like mixing and matching stuff that I like. I also like the aesthetic of Cypriot motifs which I use at a background, mostly from pots and vases, stuff like that. I mix that with some classic imagery from Americana I guess. So I take that and mix it with my heritage and where I come from. So instead of sailors and stuff it can be some ancient Greek gods or Cypriot heroes and stuff like that. Like Aphrodite for example, or Greek sayings. Stuff like that. I do enjoy that and I am more of an illustrator. I like the primitive look of tattoo on the skin. Like tribal is one of my favorite styles. Something that is iconic and really eye catching and graphic. Maxi, the other half of the tattoo studio, he does pretty much everything, but he is well known for his Japanese tattooing. So he does pretty much everything, but that is the stuff he does the most.
So also around here in the studio, the Asian motifs are from him. And the tribals and characters with Mediterranean parts are from you?
Yes, and Maxi is also inspired by Cypriot paintings. We have in the front an artwork with flames, that’s his as well. So he is into that type of art. And we also have artworks from Baroque Rococo. She works with us every now and then. She mainly works in Nicosia, but she is here at our studio time by time. In Nicosia she has a private studio and she does ornamental stuff with flowers and mostly Tibetan graphics and figures. Yes, I would describe it like Tibetan ornamental style. We try to keep it in the niche. But we do everything, from the small to the big stuff.
And if somebody wants to have something specific, then you have befriended artists from other studios who can do that and you work together with them.
Yes, so let’s say there would be a customer who wants to have some specific portrait or something like that. We don’t really do portraits and I also don’t like the esthetic of that anyway. So that would be a style that we don’t really accommodate, so we send him off to somebody else who does that. There are some tattoo studios who do portraits and they do a quite good work. There is no point in doing something that you are not into, because it is art at the end of the day. If you are not into what you are doing, it is not coming out that good. And then it kind of sucks if it is on the skin. So our philosophy is, if you are not into it, then pass it on. Simple as that. We like cool tattoos and the stuff we do, anything else we pass on. So I want to be honest about this work and I do what I like.
Sure, you just want to do a good job.
Of course, and it is a small place. You have to be professional and take pride in your work. That is number one about whatever you do. Either you create sculptures, music or clothing or whatever.
Are there are lot of other tattoo artists on Cyprus and in Limassol? I have seen two more studios in the center.
To be honest, I don’t really know. So mostly I keep to myself. The tattoo culture is now a bit different to what I am used to. I am also of a different age, so it is different now. My culture was like you have to be tattooed from head to toes. You have to be packed and to breathe and bleed and live tattoo. It was a different culture and now it is not like that. So honestly I have no idea what is going on in the tattoo scene here on Cyprus. I try to keep on my lane and I do my own stuff. And that it’s pretty much it. But I think there must be a ton of studios and tattooers, because the popularity of it has really blown up during the past five or six years.
Are you also into comics?
Of course! Lobo was a cool comic and one of my favorites. He was always fucking the day like shit, with mercenaries and his crazy face. It was heavy metal style, and he was always cool and crazy, smoking a cigar in space. Back in the day I was more into comics, I used to read metal stuff. I still got a stack of comics and I love that they had like few different stories with different characters. There were troopers and Judge Dredd and all that, I liked the esthetic of it. I was also listening to punk music at that time, sometimes also metal. So it was about the combined esthetic of it. Or Conan the Barbarian, the illustrations and the story was amazing. After I have seen that, that was actually the first time when I went with my hands onto drawing. I copied a lot of things from the comics at first.
I think comics are often the start and becoming artists did copy characters and sceneries from there.
Sure, especially also with graffiti. To be honest I don’t know a lot of graffiti artists, but often it seems that they also get a lot of inspiration from comics. You can see it with some artist, that he or she was into this comic or that story.
How is it to get equipment around here. Nowadays you can order everything via internet, so it is easy?
Yes, now it is easy. With the internet everyone can get stuff from there. We still have a local shop, but the internet is more reliable than the actual shop. I go to shops and I prefer the face to face interaction. As well you are supporting someone’s business. You know, you can go to the supermarket or you can go to the small family grocery store. In Cyprus the prices are not a big difference compared to the bigger supermarket. So then you support the smaller shops. And it also kind of makes sense for my studio, because the owner of the grocery store then send his niece to me for getting a tattoo. Also I want to help out with the local economy. So I try to buy stuff in the shop. As well actually today they still use the same kind of equipment which I use since 18 years. There is also new stuff which is coming out, things are changing, but then again they want to promote the old type and styles of needles. But sometimes if things are not available in the shop, you are forced to buy it from the internet. There you can find anything.
Any new actions and ideas for the future? Are there any exhibitions or events planned?
We will have an exhibition in November where we are going to show paintings from Maxi and El Dobinido. And I and another artist, Leni, we will be having our sculptures. So basically we are moving then the show from Limassol to Nicosia and from there we will see how it goes. We will see if we get the same or even more attendants. And maybe later on we will take the event also abroad, who knows. So at first we are going to do the exhibition also in Nicosia and then we will see how the response is from people around there. We had it already once in Limassol for eight days and it was good. So we will see how Nicosia works. Actually it was also planned that I would be in Barcelona and Madrid in September, but it was not possible because of Covid. So the past three years was about making plans really fluently and then just rolling the dice. So I don’t know what is going to happen in the next years, but we try to be positive and proactive. Or else you would be fucked, so what are you going to do? Dig a whole and die? So keep on doing the stuff.
The whole time while we were speaking for this interview, you kept on doing tattoos on your client. Can you explain what you did before and what are doing at the moment?
So at the moment I am drawing on fillers. So when you have free spaces between tattoos you use fillers. You need to fill them up, because you should. It is what we say the densification. A word that I stole from the artists know as Curly Moore, the god of tattooing. So this style what I am doing now is decorative, this one here is like Thai prayers let’s say. Everywhere in Thailand they decorate a lot of houses, fabrics or textiles like that. I use it mostly for the patterns, because I am not religious. We use it as a decorative, but it also has a cool meaning. This one here is like a sort of spiral and it is about the start with the ascension and till the life comes to an end. It has a really powerful meaning and I like it as an ideology. As well it works nice on the skin. And this here is what we are just doing now. So painting on skin and decorating. At the end of the day it looks cool and it also has a positive meaning behind it. So cool and positive tattoos are always welcome.
INFOTHEK
Artist: MIKEY BOY
Website: http://www.mikeyboytattoo.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mikey.boytattoo
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mikeyboytattoo
Tumblr: https://mikeyboytattoo.tumblr.com
Tattoo Studio: RISE ‚N‘ SHINE
Adress: Dimitri Liberti 1 – Limassol – Cyprus
Phone: 0035 / 797 762 639
Email: maxiespino@hotmail.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/riseandshinetattoo
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rise_and_shine_tattoo_club
Tattoo Artists: MIKEY BOY – MAXI ESPINO – BAROQUE ROCOCO – ALMAGRO – KYRIAKOS SOLOMOU
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