An insight into the thinking, process and creative decisions behind a new series of 24 original works by Hanumantra.

THR33FOLD is a series of 24 original works exploring geometry, pattern, colour and repetition through one of the simplest and most recognisable forms: the triangle.

The exhibition marks something of a departure from my usual work as a tattooer, although its visual language is rooted in the same influences, ideas and forms that have informed my tattooing for many years.

What makes this series particularly important to me, however, isn’t just the finished work. It’s the process that led to it, and a decision to take a rather different direction from the one I originally had in mind.

The exhibition that almost was

The original idea for this exhibition was quite different. I had developed a complete body of work consisting of digitally composed tattoo designs, presented as full bodysuit concepts. It was an approach that made sense on paper. The work was closely connected to my tattooing, and the finished compositions were visually striking.

Digital tools now allow tattooers to produce incredibly convincing representations of how designs might sit on the body. With the ability to refine, adjust and manipulate every detail, the results can be impressive. It’s an approach that has become increasingly prevalent in contemporary tattooing, and one I may well explore further in the future. I still intend to share that original body of work at some point.

But despite having an entire exhibition ready to go, I found myself increasingly disconnected from it.

Something about the process wasn’t giving me the creative satisfaction I was looking for. The work was polished, considered and technically resolved, but I felt it was missing a certain spark. More importantly, I wasn’t sure it was expressing the things I was most interested in making.

I didn’t want to produce something simply because it was impressive, familiar or what I imagined a tattoo audience might expect to see. I wanted to make work that genuinely excited me, both in how it looked and in the experience of creating it.

So I went back to the drawing board.

Finding the triangle

Triangles have been a recurring element in my tattooing and design work since the beginning. I’ve always been drawn to their visual character, particularly when repeated and set against the sweeping curves and flowing forms that feature heavily in my work.

There is an interesting relationship between the certainty of angular geometry and the movement of organic forms. One creates structure, the other introduces movement. Together they create a balance of tension and harmony that I find myself returning to time and again.

The number three has also held a particular fascination for me. I often find myself working with groups of three lines, points or shapes. There is something naturally satisfying about the arrangement, with a central reference point and elements either side creating a sense of balance and relationship.

The triangle brings these ideas together in a single form. Three sides, three points, converging lines and a definite place to land.

The first piece in the series began as a pencil drawing on paper while travelling through the French Alps. I was sitting outside my camper van, surrounded by mountain peaks, and became interested in their angular silhouettes. They echoed the geometry I had explored through my tattooing for years, and offered a starting point for something that could develop beyond the body and into a different medium.

The finished works use an inverted triangle as their constant underlying form. Within that structure, I began exploring different patterns, shapes and colour relationships. Each composition is built around three distinct elements: the background, the triangular form and the design contained within it.

Although the underlying structure remains consistent, the individual works take on their own character through the different combinations of colour and pattern.

Putting the screen down

Perhaps the most significant decision was to abandon the digital process altogether.

I initially developed the first couple of compositions on my iPad. It was quick, flexible and allowed me to experiment with different arrangements. But I recognised that I was starting to encounter the same problem as with the original exhibition. The convenience of the process was beginning to take something away from the experience of making the work.

I wanted to get back to something tangible.

The compositions were developed in pencil before moving on to paint, with each piece made by hand. This meant accepting a different kind of control over the finished result. Lines could wander slightly. Edges weren’t always perfectly uniform. An accidental mark or a slight tremor in the hand might become part of the final composition.

And that was precisely the point.

In a digital process, almost everything can be undone, adjusted or refined until it reaches a predetermined level of perfection. Working by hand introduces a different relationship with the work. Decisions have a physical presence. Marks remain. The process leaves its own evidence on the paper.

I became increasingly interested in those moments of imperfection, not as something to disguise or correct, but as part of what gives an individual piece its character.

This wasn’t about rejecting technology altogether, or suggesting that digital artwork has less value. It was about recognising what I personally wanted to get from this particular body of work, and choosing a process that could give me that.

Making work that matters to me

I think it’s easy, particularly when working within a creative industry, to become accustomed to producing things that fit an established expectation. As a tattooer, much of my work is necessarily connected to the ideas, interests and bodies of other people. That’s an important part of what I do, and something I enjoy.

But I’ve always felt the need to have another outlet, somewhere I can follow an idea without having to consider how it might translate into a tattoo or what somebody else might want from it.

THR33FOLD has given me that opportunity.

It has been a reminder of the value of slowing down, getting away from the screen and spending time with the actual process of making something. Not necessarily looking for the quickest or most refined route to a finished result, but allowing the work to develop through drawing, experimentation, repetition and the occasional happy accident.

In that respect, the series has become about more than triangles, colour and pattern. It has been a return to a way of working that I had perhaps drifted away from, and a reminder of why I enjoy making art in the first place.

THR33FOLD

The 24 works presented in THR33FOLD are entirely new and have not previously been exhibited. They bring together a visual language developed through years of tattooing and design, explored through a different medium and made through a deliberately hands-on process.

This exhibition is the first opportunity to see the series together, and I’m looking forward to sharing it with an audience in Italy.

Thanks for taking the time to look a little closer at the work and the thinking behind it.

Hanumantra
UN1TY Tattoo