Simone Pfaff & Volko Merschky
Simone Pfaff, born in 1973, and Volko Merschky, born in 1965, are a couple of German tattoo artists known for their “Realistic Trash Polka” style, now associated worldwide with their Würzburg shop Buena Vista Tattoo Club in Germany.
Self-taught tattoo artists after art studies – interior design for him, graphic design for her and photography for both of them – the particularity of their approach is seen in their aesthetics as well as in the process. The “Realistic Trash Polka” is a combination of realistic elements and abstract or graphic elements, built around a basis of digital collage. For the authors, the intrusion of graphic elements is the “trash” or disruptive dimension of the aesthetics of their tattoos; it also refers – firstly through its name – to musical rhythm. A composition gesture customary music, here represented on the skin.
The starting point of a tattoo can be a theme, a song, a poem or a quote given by the customer who then knowingly commits to give total freedom to the artists; both artists work on the tattoo, using a process they define themselves as abstract, drawing on emotions rather than with a dedicated iconography. An iconoclastic vision, now regarded as avant-garde and earning them an appointment book full for the next two years. Simone Pfaff and Volko Merschky are also photographers and musicians.
