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TattooLOG

References, processes and ideas that guide my tattoo work. It’s a space to give context and clarity to the style and the thinking behind the designs.

 

A Moment Between Warhol and Beuys

A Moment Between Warhol and Beuys

tattoo design

Back in the late 1970s, two of the most iconic figures in the art world finally met face to face. On May 18, 1979, at the Hans Mayer Gallery in Düsseldorf, Andy Warhol and Joseph Beuys had their first encounter. Watching a short clip of that moment, you can almost feel the dynamic between them. Beuys, with his commanding presence, made Warhol—usually this quiet, almost fragile figure—look a little… well, intimidated. It’s a fascinating energy in those brief seconds they shared.

Beuys himself was never just an artist in the traditional sense. With his felt hat and fishing vest, he carried an aura that was part shaman, part provocateur. He believed in “social sculpture”—the idea that art wasn’t limited to objects but could reshape society itself. From planting thousands of oaks in Kassel to filling galleries with fat and felt, he blurred the line between art and life. To some he was a mystic, to others a teacher, but always a figure who made the room bend around him.

After Beuys welcomed Warhol warmly and showed his admiration, Warhol, in his typical shy way, asked if they could take a picture together. He handed his ever-present camera to someone nearby, and they snapped a shot of the two of them. Warhol then took a single photo of Beuys alone with that same camera. That image would later become the basis for Warhol’s famous serigraphy of Beuys. And it wasn’t just a one-off—Warhol went on to create dozens of variations from that single shot, turning a fleeting encounter into an entire series of works.

At my place, we have this little ritual of leaving art books on the staircase by a big window. It’s like a makeshift gallery where family, friends, and even neighbors can flip through pages as they pass by. One day, someone left a book open on the stairs, right on a full-page spread of Warhol’s Beuys serigraphy. I kept walking by it every day, and each time I felt drawn in a little more.

As a tattoo artist, I’ve always been fascinated by how light and shadow play in images. The way Beuys’ hat cast such a distinct shadow on the wall struck me—the silhouette almost looked like it had a shadow twin, something uncanny and beautiful at the same time.

What really clicked for me, though, was the personal connection. I had spent a few years in Kassel, a city where Beuys is deeply celebrated for his work with Documenta. Seeing him through Warhol’s lens stirred something familiar. That photo—especially the doubled shadow—began to feel less like an image from an art book and more like something that belonged to me. It was as if that tiny moment Warhol captured had crossed time and space to become part of my own story. And that’s when the idea for the tattoo was born.

notattoo_berlin

jorge cruzComment