Elvin Yong – Realism from Singapore
By Travelin’ Mick
Singapore is quickly developing into Asia’s pressure cooker for aspiring tattoo artists. One of the older ones among this new crowd from the tiny island state is Elvin Yong. His realistic tattoos have already reached a level, where he can compete with the best in the world. But it seems, that is not enough for him.
Finest shadings, which point out the tiniest details of a portrait and help create a stunningly life-like image in the skin are the specialty of Yong, a 33-year-old artist from Singapore. Among the emerging crowd of the creative tattoo artists of this tiny but wealthy city state, Elvin is someone slowly approaching star status, while also decidedly advancing into the cream of international experts focusing on realistic tattooing. But the pure reduction into working on portraits is simply not enough for the art school graduate with a degree and extensive work experience in graphic design. With enormous ambition, he composes larger pieces that cover entire sections of the body with a definite emphasis on well-planned layout and dynamics in harmony with the movements of the client‘s body. Early on, Yong learned how to see art not as a means in itself, but as a vehicle for a wider context.
Elvin, the offspring of a pretty average Singaporean middle-class family never had any other desire than spending his life drawing and designing or, simply put, “creating images.” While his school career was rather sluggish, he blossomed in art school, where the young man, fitted with an amazing talent for aesthetics and visual art, soon excelled. In his private life, Yong’s passion for heavy-metal music developed quickly into a driving force, bringing him assignments to design numerous t-shirts, booklets and C.D. covers.
Tattooing itself, at first, did not seem as an option to earn a living for him, since until very recently tattoos were heavily stigmatized in Singapore, because of their strong association with the Chinese triad gangs. Their “chops,” even though never talked about, are until now very visible in the city and easily available in particular tattoo shops, even for underage kids. These gang tattoos, of course, exerted considerable attraction on him, which, over time, he could not avoid any longer.
For his graduation present, Elvin got his first tattoo, not done in one of seedier places, but in the only reputable studio of the time, Johnny 2Thumbs Tattoo. Elvin was hooked. He wanted to try his hand at tattooing and cheekily asked Richard, son of tattoo legend Johnny, for an apprenticeship. The shop owner politely showed him the way to the door, which did not deter the determined young man. He bought supplies, which were readily available form another studio, and started working from home:
“Can you imagine,” Elvin remembers today, ”there was this guy, who let his apprentices solder needles all day to sell them to other artists! Haha, it takes someone Chinese to subtract all the mystique out of tattooing and make it a simple business!” He then continued joking about his own people and admits that this early opening up of the tattoo industry had its advantages in Singapore.
“See how the tattoo scene has changed in only six or seven years! Many young creative guys have taken the risk and started tattooing to express themselves. We are still quite a wealthy country, with a wide multicultural client base, so the risk is not that big. And the government is still ignoring it, mostly.”
And, indeed, in this small country with just a few million citizens, there are now at least ten tattoo artists who work on an excellent international level. This has recently led to a growing shortage of clients, even though Singaporeans are all over this new trend, which is fanned by TV shows like Miami Ink. But this doesn’t concern Elvin too much. His reputation as one of South-East Asia’s best is established and he has made a name for himself, which has almost reached brand status. Besides the obvious quality of his work, Singaporeans are extremely status-conscious and often choose to get tattooed by Elvin, in order to be able to brag about having a piece by one of the city’s most famous artists!
Elvin himself sees this in a much more practical way: ’Well, at least, the clients don’t bargain so much about the price anymore. Before, I had guys drive here with a Porsche and then make a fuss about a few dollars. But, again, this is us. Nothing personal. Nonetheless, it is quite obvious that Elvin, whose customers have been known to fly in from as far away as Australia, does not regard tattooing as “just business.” He does not tattoo in a shop, but in a private studio in a historic house in the old city of Singapore and can only be found after initiating contact through his website or personal recommendation. This to filter out the serious clients and focus all energy on rewarding projects. Elvin explains why he chose this approach:
”I used to have my own shop, which was nice for being a boss for a change. But the whole administration stuff and responsibilities really kept me from doing doing art. Now I can in my free time, instead of having to care about quarrels among employees or building management.”
Elvin is mainly known for his life-like portraits, but feels a bit cornered by this trend that has led to an ever-increasing demand for this kind of work. He does respect the wishes of his clients, of course, but is really trying to promote more creative tattooing. “It probably has something to do with my affection for Heavy Metal, but I do prefer larger compositions of morbid images, horror stuff, work inspired by graphic novels; simply tattoos where I can create some kind of layout, almost like for a poster or C.D. cover. In the end, of course, I do what the client wants mostly, since it is my responsibility to make their imagination a reality and, believe me, Singaporeans can be quite insistent, too, if they want something! I don’t mind, as a true Chinese person, I take on any kind of business,” he jokes.
It seems as if Elvin Yong does not take himself all too seriously; but this shouldn’t deceive us. The man is simply too good to be ignored.
Photos: Elvin Yong and Travelin’ Mick
Elvin Yong
