Tattooist Lyle Tuttle once commented that as a highschool dropout, he probably knew more about mythology than the average college professor; that if a client loves a Cerebus enough to get the image permanently tattooed on them they’re going to want to share every detail about it’s origins with the artist.

Efix Roy’s always stellar Buddhist cuttings trend the same way for me; when he has a new work I invariably find myself researching the origins of the image to find out more about it.

The Kamakura Buddhaa is a large scale statue of the Amitābha Buddha that resides in the Kanagawa Prefecture of Japan. Amitābha is the Buddha of Comprehensive Love. Without today’s cutting… I wouldn’t have had to go to wikipedia and I wouldn’t have learned something new.

The moral of the story is… Efix Roy makes you smarter.

I’ve posted skull cuttings by Efix before; I can’t remember how many. Click the SKULL tag to find out. Instead of insightful comments, I’ll leave you with the lyrics to SKULLS by the Misfits. Back before Glenn sucked.

The corpses all hang headless and limp
Bodies with no surprises
And the blood drains down like devil’s rain
We’ll bathe tonight
…

I’ve previously compared my love of Efix Roy to my love of poutine; today I’ll compare it to the love I have for feeling a big ol’ fighting bass on the end of my fishing line. So when you combine the two- Efix and fishing- you know you’re on to something good.

This piece combines line cutting and cross hatch “shading”. The purple is from the stencil and wil eventually wear off.

I always love featuring new work by Efix Roy; today he’s checking in with some “tricky, tiny” flesh removal. I’ve seen really impressive results with flesh removal on the fingers- as always, we’ll try to update with a healed photo when/if they become available.

You can find Efix at Quebec City’s D-markation or through a guest spot.

SEPTEMBER:
-10th – 12th: Art Tattoo Montreal Tattoo Convention (Montreal, Qc)
-11th: Guest spot at Tatouage Royal (Montreal, Qc)
-12th: Guest spot at Tatouage Royal (Montreal, Qc)
-13th: Guest spot at Wild Ink Ajax (Toronto, On)
OCTOBER:
-9th – 11th: Alberta bound Tattoo and Art Festival(Edmonton, Alb)
-15th – 17th: Alberta bound Tattoo and Art Festival(Calgary, Alb)
-22nd – 24th: Ottawa Tattoo Expo Tattoo Convention (Ottawa, On)

Our old friend Efix Roy just did a guest spot in sunny Australia. While vegemite is no substitute for foie gras, I’m sure that Efix made out alright. I have a handfull of photos from his down under trip, starting with this little robot. Hardly a harbinger of the robot uprising, but I’d keep my eye on him either way.

Back in February, Efix & Jesse collaborated on Gabriel’s birthday cutting… Efix just checked in with a healed photo.
It has the dubious pleasure of being the first image to go up with the new “theme” I installed over WordPress.

Not sure if I’m married to it, but change is usually never a bad thing!

From Efix:
Working on a friend is always very special for me. working on a
coworker or collegue, even more. Doing facial work holds a very
meaningfull place in my heart. combine those 3 and you get Frank’s
facial scar I did 2 days ago. It was quick and he handled it really
well. And the meaning behind it made it a true honnor for me to be
there and facillitate it for him. Thank you Frank!

Courtesy of Canada’s finest; Efix and Jesse got together and worked on a collaborative piece for Gabriel’s birthday. Collaborative pieces are surreal; you get a dislocation of sensation as the two (or more) artists work on different parts of the design.

Click through to see the finished piece!

Efix has been working on a lot of Buddhist inspired pieces lately; his latest one (on client Julie) is of the Five Wisdoms. (which you can read more about here: Five Wisdoms Wiki)

The intricacy of the design works really well with the subject matter; I’ll bug Efix for healed photos to see how it’s progressing.

We’re still months away from my visit to Efix in Quebec City; months to plan, make travel arrangements and most importantly save bail money. So as much as I’d like to wish him a Happy Birthday in person, it’ll just have to wait.

In lieu of a birthday spanking… Happy Birthday, buddy. Have a poutine on me!