Mark Wosgereau

Denmark is known for a handful of cultural exports—including vikings, the Nymphomaniac film series, Hans Christian Anderson, Carslberg beer, and Victoria’s Secret angel Josephine Skriver. However, when it comes to the tattoo industry, the country’s biggest artistic icon is Mark Wosgerau. The black-and-grey tattooer has gained international success for his incredible surrealistic tattoos and enchanting realism faces. His bold and bulletproof black-and-grey has quite literally taken over Instagram and there is no stopping this Scandinavian superstar from achieving world domination. However, we wanted to find out what really goes on behind those impressive back pieces and epic foam wipedowns. How could a tattooer with virtually no apprenticeship experience rise to the very top of Denmark’s growing tattoo industry? Which tattoo convention does he continue to return to year after year? Why he abandoned color for a strict black-and-grey body of work? What separates Mark Wosegerau from the other amazing tattoo artists out there? We’ve got the answers to all of these questions and more. Keep on reading to learn a thing or two about one of the leading Scandinavian tattooers of our time.

- Devon Preston

How did you get into tattooing?

Tattooing was something I kinda fell upon, I never realized I would become an artist. I was working as a chef at that time, trying to reach a higher level on the food scene of Denmark. I loved being a chef due to the high creativity allowed inside the frames of cooking, but I was searching for something else, something new and something more. I started to get heavily tattooed at the age of 19. I did around 70 percent of my skin in less than two years, and got highly addicted to everything around the scene of tattooing.

What was your first shop experience like?

Actually, my first shop experience was unlike most, I guess. My first shop experience was opening up my own studio. I never did an apprenticeship. I am self-taught all the way, but my passion drove me to entering the higher levels. Losing my artistic ego and accepting failure, as well as being enlightened in a way so that I understand my failures, allowed me to dive into every little aspect of tattooing.

What conventions are you planning to attend this year?

At the moment, I only attend one convention a year, which is the Evergreen Tattoo Convention in Eugene, Oregon, hosted by my good friend Joshua Carlton. Joshua flew me in to teach at the Evergreen Seminars in Los Angeles, and somehow we gained a special connection. Joshua is a legend in the tattoo Industry, and he owns my utmost respect—that is why I travel across the world to show him my support.

What brought you to work in blackand-grey?