Rodrigo Botero began his career as a tattoo artist in the early 2000s. After moving to North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, in 2014, he continued developing his craft in tattoo studios across Brazil, Spain, and Sweden. From the very beginning, he immersed himself in the techniques and aesthetic foundations of traditional tattooing, with a particular focus on classic American and Japanese styles. Holding a degree in Industrial Design (Visual Programming) from the University of Brasília, earned in 2008, he approaches tattooing with an authorial vision that challenges conventions and incorporates graphic and thematic elements uncommon in the tattoo world, giving his works a unique identity across multiple techniques. His visual signature is not confined to a single style; it lies in his ability to infuse his personality into every piece he creates.
His influences can be understood through three major groups: National Art, International Art, and Non-Classical Art. Within National Art, he draws inspiration from the modernist architecture of Oscar Niemeyer, the tilework of Athos Bulcão, the modernist paintings of Tarsila do Amaral, and the expressive richness of Brazilian cordel literature. His international references include Pablo Picasso, Keith Haring, Hokusai, and the avant-garde legacy of the Bauhaus. In the realm of Non-Classical Art, his sensibility is shaped by pop culture elements such as LP covers, music videos, cartoons, manga, comic books, anime, graffiti, and, of course, the history of tattooing itself.
In 2024, he opened his own studio in Bonn — a space that aims not only to offer tattoos but to foster an environment where art and marginal culture intersect. The studio embraces the idea of an analog resistance, standing against the increasingly digital nature of contemporary life by cultivating practices and relationships rooted in touch, manual craft, presence, and materiality. For him, tattooing is both an artistic gesture and a cultural act — a way to preserve, reinterpret, and reintroduce the symbolic power of traditional aesthetics and countercultural expressions into the present.
If you’d like, I can also create a shorter version for a website bio, social media profile, artist statement, or press release.