<script></script> </head> <BODY onLoad="timerONE=window.setTimeout('scrollit_r2l(20)',100);"> <title>The Leu Family's Family Iron: by Miki Vialetto</title> <center><img src="images/skull.jpg"></center> <center><h2>THE LEU FAMILY'S FAMILY IRON: by Miki Vialetto</h2></center> <center><b>Article and interview by Miki Vialetto. Appeared in TATTOO REVUE, Volume 18, No. 18, July 1995. Published by Flamingo s.r.l. - Viale Abruzzi, 87 - 20131 Milano - Italy. This article appeared in Italian, in the Italian edition, and in German, in the German edition. The following is a translation into English.</b></center><p> <font size=+2>T</font>o the serious tattoo collector & fan and to most professional tattoo artists the Leu Family is well known, a "household word" so to speak. The Leus are a family of tattoo artists who have been tattooing their way across Europe, Asia & North America for the last two decades. They have been constantly turning out some of the most excellent, exciting & innovative tattoos that I have ever seen, and I'm not telling you this for journalistic effect you can believe me. When I write innovative, I mean it.<p> For example, to my knowledge, it was Felix Leu who first came up with the idea and subsequently drew it up & tattoo it (in 1987), of the, by now famous - "twisted-look" tattoo machine - you now so commonly find in almost every tattoo flash and on many business cards and convention posters & what not (I'm referring you to Felix's work published in Chris Wroblewski's book "Skin Shows" of 1989). Filip carried on the idea and has done some of the best examples of "twisted machines" this writer has ever seen.<p> <center><img src="images/fcard.jpg"></center><p> Or take Felix Leu's "mechanical-bionic" tattoo. A full leg tattoo designed & tattooed in 1984. To my knowledge also a first. An idea subsequently taken over by others in a big way (published in Chris Wroblewski's book "Skin Fantasies" of 1985).<p> Let me refer you as well to the very distinct tattoo design style Filip Leu invented & developed for a while in the latter half of the 1980's. I'm talking here of course of the now famous psychedelic-comic-horror style of his, full of eyes, gook, geek, horns, claws, vaginas, snot, noodles & what not, executed in all the colors of the rainbow (first published as a painting (1989) by him in Chris Wroblewski's book "Skin Shows II" of 1991). Again here a tattoo style later emulated by many.<p> Further take into consideration Filip Leu's & Aia Leu's vignettes - designs first published in Chris Wroblewski's "Skin Show" of (1989) & "Skin Shows II" (of 1991). A lay-out trend for tattoo books & magazines that today is common to almost any tattoo related publication on the market.<p> The Leu Family, by the way, are very pleased that their pioneering ideas have caught on in such a big way. "We truly consider it a compliment."<p> I'm also publishing this article for you in order to put a stop to the consistent rumors that Filip Leu is not tattooing anymore. It is true, Filip Leu did take a sabbatical from tattooing, as he told me "I was working much too hard, I felt like I had been driving really, really fast for a long time, I needed to take a rest." So in the summer of 1993 Filip packed away his tattoo gear and spent 8 months in his sister Ama Leu's finca on the island of Ibiza in Spain, drawing & learning to play the guitar & bass. He had a very good musical teacher at his disposal indeed, namely his younger brother "Ajja" Salvador Felix Leu. Ajja is somewhat of a genius, mastering several instruments and composing a multitude of songs at the tender age of 17 then, with the ease, that let's say: a fish swims in water. But Ajja, there is another story to write for me altogether.<p> What I want to tell you is that Filip Leu is alive & well and tattooing even better than before (incredible as this may sound, but yes, it's true).<p> In the last 3 years Filip Leu got into drawing & painting on paper in a much bigger way than he has always done before. The series began with black and grey backpieces, done on high quality (no bleach) art paper with charcoal (a fixative is applied then to the work so it won't smear). He is currently working on full-color bodysuits utilizing a combination of watercolors, india ink, charcoal & pastels. Each piece is life size worked on a contour of a 1.90m. human frame. "I'm developing designs that will look good no matter what position you're in - sitting, bending over, lying down, running, standing still. I'm drawing them to look good both from very close up and viewed from a distance."<p> And as I am talking about art on paper & canvas here let me tell you about Filip's wife Titine Leu. Some of you may know her art work from the Leu Family's posters & Outlaw Biker Tattoo Revue. Titine dropped out of actually tattooing herself a few years ago and since is devoting her time to exclusively fine arts. She is a most amazing and original psychedelic-surrealistic-renaissance-painter (for want of a better label to describe her originality) working in most medias from charcoal, pencil & aquarelle on paper to acrylics on canvas. I hope to publish her art for you one day. Titine, by the way, is a delightful work of art herself. She looks like she just sprung out of a canvas painted by Botticelli.<p> Well I have been telling you here how much I admire the Leu Family for their individual creative power & talents and as proof of what I'm writing I'm publishing here some recent work of theirs done in Lausanne, Ibiza & San Francisco, in order for you to be able to judge for yourselves if I'm right or wrong.<p> Another thing that amazes me the Leu Family and this has nothing to do with art and tattooing at all, is that in spite of their tremendous talents and in spite of their ever-growing worldwide fame, they are, if you meet them in the flesh, polite & humble, nice people, who will treat you, no matter what position you may have in life, with the respect & courtesy we each and everyone deserve after all.<p> Filip Leu will be tattooing again in Ibiza this summer (May-Oct.). You'll also find there first Titine of course, but Felix & Loretta also, who'll be both devoting themselves to painting & drawing. The Leu Family's finca in Ibiza over the last 2 years has become a sort of workshop of tattoo art. Some of tattooing's most promising & talented young artists have met there to paint & draw and enjoyed the tremendous creative & artistic energies and vibrations of the place. To name some of the talent who stayed there, Luke Atkinson (Stuttgart), Mick Tattoo (Zurich), Hori Ryu (Tokyo), Hori Hideo (Tokyo). I'll let you in on a secret, I'll be staying there myself for a couple of weeks this summer.<p> Inquiries about purchasing or showing any of Felix & Loretta Leu's and Filip & Titine Leu's art work can be directed to: THE LEU FAMILY'S FAMILY IRON, 34 Rue Centrale, 1003 Lausanne, Switzerland.<p> <b>Miki Vialetto, 28. 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