Tina Lugo: The Tattoo Artist Who Loves Working with Shunga

Tina Lugo is an award-winning tattoo master and illustrator in the ero guro genre. She (also "they") labels her works as "Contemporary Pop Japanese Erotica and Horror." Born and raised in the Bronx, Tina attained her BFA at the School of Visual Arts, NY, and worked with fellow artist, the French-born painter and ceramist Nicolas Touron. Nowadays, she has her own platform where you can book an elegantly bizarre tattoo based on her designs or classic shunga prints.

Fig. 1. Tina Lugo with her works (cmmnsnss.com)

Fig. 2. Bite Harder, It Feeds (web.archive.org)

Fig. 3. But I’m a Sailor Scout (web.archive.org)

Fig. 4. Instagram.com

Fig. 4a. Tattoo (Instagram.com)

Fig. 5. culturainquieta.com

Fig. 6. tattoodo.com

Fig. 7. Instagram.com

Fig. 8. Instagram.com

Fig. 9. Instagram.com

Influences and Aspirations

According to some interviews, anime cartoons were Tina's childhood fascination. As a student of art schools (LaGuardia High School of Music and Art and the College at School of Visual Arts), she had a clear vision of whom she wanted to be. Nevertheless, there was a slight shift from the career of a manga artist to the follower of the underground comics tradition, provoked by Tina's interest in ero guro and her intense nightmares. The main influences were Takashi Murakami, Toshio Saeki, Hanna Barbera, and Henry Darger. The latter names embody the artist's creative outlook since Barbera was a world-known cartoonist, and Darger posthumously became an underground representative of the so-called "outsider art" or art brut.

Fig. 10. Don’t Play with Your Food No Matter How Much It Asks (web.archive.org)

Fig. 11. Headlights (web.archive.org)

Fig. 12. Get Lucky (web.archive.org)

Fig. 13. Carnation (web.archive.org)

Fig. 14. Candy Crush (web.archive.org)

Fig. 15. Sentenced kids by Henry Darger (shopify.com)

Fig. 16. Illustration by Henry Darger (wealthmanagement.com)

The Protector of Children

There are a couple of facts about Darger: his mother died when he was four years old, and his disabled father wasn't able to care for him, so the future artist was sent to the orphanage. Due to inappropriate behavior, he soon became a patient of the Illinois Asylum. According to John MacGregor, the reason for hospitalization was "self-abuse," which meant masturbation. The asylum practiced child labor and severe punishments. Later, time at the asylum would inspire Darger's 15,145-page book In the Realms of the Unreal, featuring several hundred illustrations: watercolors and collages. The story takes place on another planet where kids rebel against child slavery. Together with his friend William Schloeder, Darger also founded a "Children's Protective Society" that would put neglected and abused children up for adoption to loving families. Just like Darger's illustrations, the vivid works of Tina Lugo are overloaded with details. Moreover, the watercolors of Darger often depict violence towards little rebels. The nightmarish vibe of his legacy speaks to Tina no less than the Japanese ero guro art.

Fig. 17. The battle by Henry Darger (pinterest.com)

Fig. 18. Work by Tina Lugo (laspirale.org)

In the extended Premium edition you can find more about the taboo-breaking aspects of her art, the influence of shunga art and many additional images of her bold erotica.

Click HERE for the amazing and absurd erotism of Fièvres Nocturnes by Toshio Saeki

Sources: www.tinalugo.com (archived version); tinalugotattoos.com; instagram.com/tina_lugo13/; Interview with Tina Lugo (thepinksnout.com/2015/07/14/tina-lugo-interview/)