BIG POPA ARTS

Can you introduce yourself and tell us a little about who you are?
My name is Enrik Popaj, I’m a 24-year-old black and grey tattoo artist at Bamboo Tattoo Studio in Toronto Ontario as @bigpopa.arts. Been introduced to tattooing for three years and professionally tattooing for two. I left the highlands of Albania 5 years ago looking for something different, now I can proudly say that I have.

What inspired your interest in tattoos? Did you see a lot of tattoos growing up, or was it something that came into your life a little bit later?
I was introduced to the world of tattooing in a very random, and some would say backward way. Growing up I was always fascinated by them, and I’d always tell my family that when I grow up, I’ll get fully tattooed, but until recent years I never saw myself as a tattoo artist, I always wanted to go forward with painting. That is something that I still want to do but I’m so in love with tattooing that I can’t see myself not being affiliated with it. My relationship with tattooing starts within the first years of coming to Canada. With the help of my brother Fabjan, I managed to come here. Here I am just turned 19 at the time, in school for business, in a strange land with no friends, a culture way different from the one I grew up with. The only people I knew were my relatives Edi and Nardi, whom I came to know only here in Canada. For a while, they and their wives Bruna and Tia Dora sheltered me, fed me and later on my sister Klaudia, and gave us a stepping stone into the living system of North America. The first two years were a fight for survival, working any job to push through, paying for our schools, and living in a small basement. After this long I found myself at a crossroads, hadn’t painted anything, and was getting ready to leave the country and go back to where I came from, it was then that my brother-in-law Valentin planted the idea of tattooing on my head. I said fuck it, dropped out of college, and as someone who doesn’t know anything about it, got into a “tattooing school”. To no surprise, I didn’t learn much from it since they’re all scams, but what I got from it was priceless. It was there that I first touched a tattoo machine, and the moment that needle touched the skin I knew, that was it, the rest is history. And I also met a bunch of good people there.

What was your journey like becoming a tattoo artist? Did you start with an apprenticeship? My tattoo journey was a bit rocky, I didn’t follow a regular apprenticeship and that was met with a bit of resistance from my seniors, you could say I started running before I could learn how to walk. But somehow that worked for me, within a short time, with hard work and the lending hand of my mentor and friend Camacho I proved myself to be worthy of respect among them. I attribute a lot of who I am today to Bamboo Tattoo Studio and its owner Todd, who gave me the right environment to grind and grow, being surrounded by such amazing artists I had no other choice but to strive to catch up to them. From the “tattoo school” to Bamboo it was almost a year, within that year I didn’t tattoo much, only myself, friends, and family, it was also lockdown so pretty bad time to start, when they removed the restrictions first thing I did was apply to work at bamboo, and when I didn’t hear from them I went again, and again, and again until they had no choice but take me in, no was not an option.

How did you develop your tattoo style? Did you work in other styles before specializing in black-and-grey realism?
From the start I wanted to do black and grey realism, I’ve tried a little bit of everything, but my main focus was developing my style which is an ongoing thing, I think that’s a never-ending job because as an artist you always strive for improvement, there is always room to get better and be better both in your artistry and personality.

What are some surprising challenges that come with working in black-and-grey realism?
I’d say every tattoo is a challenge on its own, finding ideas and designs that fit in with the client’s persona, physical shape, and skin tone. In the beginning, I would do any tattoo but as I get deeper in, I strive to tend to my clients in a way that represents both their core personality and mine as an artist.

How would you describe the tattoo scene in Toronto currently?
The tattoo scene in Toronto is very saturated, there is a lot of good talent in this city and it’s growing every day, it most certainly makes you want to stay on your toes and that’s a really good thing, I don’t see any other way to get to the top, competition doesn’t frighten me, it inspires me. As per the clients, they’re amazing, they trust me to do what I do, and I make sure they don’t regret that decision.

Where do you draw much of your artistic inspiration from?
As for inspiration I’m lucky to say that I live in a day and age where inspiration is everywhere, there are amazing artists all over the world with new ideas and there is an immense amount of knowledge to be taken from each, and I have taken, there are tattoos that I’ve done that were inspired by designs I got on the internet, of course, changed and repurposed to my intentions. For me, there is one specific person that has been and still is my point of reference. I get to work next to her every day, I don’t think she’d want me to mention her, but she knows, as a rival in the past and as a friend in the present I always saw her work with admiration and strived to overcome it, the latter is still work in progress.

What are some of your favorite designs and motifs to tattoo?
My favorite designs as of right now are portraits, but as I said before I’m always looking for more.

Are there any designs or motifs that you wish you never had to do again?
The tattoos I never wish to do again are the small stuff, they’re detrimental as a beginner but I’d rather put my talent to work on bigger projects, I started it with a run, and I intend to keep it that way.

What’s the secret to capturing such dynamic and evocative facial expressions?
I think the secret to capturing any emotion stays with the clarity of that emotion, black and grey realism relies a lot on real-life imagery, so I think it’s important to have a clear idea of what you want your piece to express and find the appropriate imagery for that, then of course put your artistic touch and photoshopping skills to bend and twist them to your image. The technique will only go so far, what will separate you from the rest is what you do when you go back to the drawing board, that is the artistry.

Do you see yourself changing your tattoo style? If you could pick a different style to work in, which would you choose?
If I ever changed my tattoo style it would be towards Japanese neotraditional work, not for any deep reason, I think it relies entirely on the fact that they look fucking awesome.

Where do you see your art going in the future? Do you work in any mediums other than tattooing?
In the future I see myself doing both painting and tattooing, per now I’m focusing all my time and energy on achieving everything that I want to achieve from this form of art, I don’t want there to be any “what ifs” when it comes to art, I know what I’m interested at and I know where I want to go, I’ll give it my all to go there.

What would you say has been one of the most gratifying experiences of your tattoo career so far?
In my short career, I’ve had many gratifying experiences. The one experience that never fails to make me feel fulfilled is the smile on my clients’ faces when they see what I created for them, it fuels me.

What would you be doing if you weren’t a tattoo artist?
I won’t stop tattooing until I achieve all there is to it, I entered this industry with hunger in my stomach, and I have to say it will take a lot to satisfy it, this is just my beginning. I take the advantage of being published in your magazine to thank both my mother Liza and uncle Rrok Kokaj for everything that they did for me, I want them to know that I will always strive to make them proud and achieve greatness.