If you’ve ever wondered what the The Black Alien Project does for a job? It seems that we now know for sure - he is a tattoo artist. Well he was.
For the last few weeks he has been showing off some of his inkings, and they definitely divided opinion. Some loved his unique style, others thought they were atrocious.
As the criticism increased he stayed indignant, posting: "To all the tattoo artists who threaten me who insult me, tell yourself well you are not going to stop the way I see art, my way of expressing myself, don't forget that I am used to living in criticism. I will impose my own style my own creation and my own way of seeing art
"I will defend my art, my way of expressing myself, as well as my project forever as a warrior of the galaxy."
Being a tattoo artist or body modifier is a pretty good profession for someone covered in tats, piercings, implants and lacking most of their facial features - but the work the Black Alien was doing couldn’t be further away from his menacing look.
During his trip to Mexico he shared pictures and videos of himself inking very colourful and abstract designs on willing customers - all with a typical Gallic flair. He’s compared himself to an artist with a paintbrush, denying he needs to plan or sketch anything out before being let loose on someone's flesh with a needle.
On December 12 he posted: "I work my art without any stencil or felt-tip pen, like this painter in front of his painting who sends these brushstrokes only with his own imagination."
Mixing up “trash” and “abstract” styles, Black Alien has been inking all sorts of brash designs on to people’s skin. And despite months of doing push-ups on three fingers to prepare for the double digit amputation, photos show that he is using his “normal” hand to hold the tattoo gun.
But his work and attitude came under fire from the tattooing community and he hit back in a series of Instagram stories in December 2021.
He wrote: "I'm not used to putting myself forward, but with the rate of criticism I get, I want to tell you a lot of people, you are not able to do a hundredth of what I do, apart from laughing and criticising behind your small phone screen you are only good at that, you need criticism to feel like you exist, no creation on your part just destruction.
“I’m sure I’m the man who criticised the most in the world, my project criticises him a lot. At the moment I want to do a very particular style of tattoo to criticise you, everything I do and point fingers and criticise. Far too many negative people in this world, learn to understand instead of always belittling.”
His pleas for kindness went unheard and the vicious comments kept coming thick and fast. Some of the feedback on his social posts about his tattooing were really harsh, including comparing his designs to scribbles drawn by small children.
And it seems like the backlash got to him, as on December 13 he removed all traces of his tattoo artistry and posted an apology about not taking the craft as seriously as it deserves.
It read: "I admit, I wanted to go too fast with what I wanted to do in the tattoo, I got shot by a lot of people, but you are right, you are absolutely right. I cannot allow me to show myself like that, without experience, without practice and without pure technique... I have a name to enforce so now I am going back to ZERO, I'm going to study, practice, and perfect the style I want to do really, without disrespecting this artistic environment, cordially."
One thing is for sure, if Anthony Loffredo never does a tattoo again, there are gonna be a few limbs across South America that are worth of being hung in a gallery!
