Tiger Ink and Folk Art Reborn: GATA Meets Apro Lee
With a style that draws heavily from Josean era folk art, comic book illustrations and the poetic absurdity of everyday life, Korean artist Apro Lee has quietly managed to carve out a unique space for himself in the global tattoo scene. Famed for his experimental take on the tiger motif, Lee has breathed new life into this historical symbol, infusing it with a contemporary sensibility that balances bizarre, surrealist humour with minimalistic abstraction.
Though widely recognised in the international tattoo community, Lee has always lived life on his own terms, preferring solitude over excessive clout chasing and socialising. He’s a creator first and foremost. A pensive inventor who puts his craft before anything else. His approach almost monastic in style, letting the drawings and designs take centre stage.
Balancing cultural tradition with a personal and experimental visual language, Lee refuses to be satisfied with his work. With each passing year, he pushes himself into new avenues of creative expression, most recently focusing on his ink painting and more abstract pieces.
GATA was lucky enough to sit down and talk with artist. Touching on his roots in Korean visual culture, the steady evolution of tiger motifs, the strange responsibility of tattooing another body, and why at heart he still feels like the young kid who simply wants to draw.
GATA: Hello Apro! Thank you very much for speaking with us. Some of our readers may already be familiar with your work, but could you briefly introduce yourself? How did your journey into the world of tattoos and art begin?
Apro: Hello, I’m Apro Lee, someone who draws pictures. Nice to meet you. As far as I remember, I started drawing when I was about five or six years old. When I was young, my dream was to become either a cartoonist or a painter. However, I didn’t study at all. I barely managed to get into high school and never went to university. Naturally, I never received any proper art education.
At that time, it was very difficult to make a living as a cartoonist or painter, especially without graduating from an art school. I first encountered tattoos while I was in the military. Until then I didn’t really know about the diversity of tattoos. One day I saw a tattoo portrait of Kurt Cobain from Nirvana in a news story, and it was a fresh shock to me.
That was the first time I realised that the profession of a tattooist even existed. Since I had always liked drawing comics and sketching since childhood, and I trusted the skill in my hands, I simply thought: maybe I could make a living doing this. That’s how I started.
GATA: Is Apro your artist/work name? Does it have a special meaning?
Apro: It’s my artist name. Apro is actually Korean. The original word is ap-euro (앞으로), which means “forward” or “moving ahead,” but I wrote it as “Apro” based on how it sounds. In truth, it doesn’t have a big meaning.
However, something interesting happened. Two of my former clients had children and thought the name “Apro” sounded cool, so they gave their children the same name as me. Because of that, even though I originally chose it without much meaning, I now feel that I can’t tarnish the name, so I try to live and work even harder.
GATA: Was there a legendary tattoo artist or someone who inspired you and led you to start tattooing?
Apro: As I mentioned earlier, I didn’t even know about tattoos until I became an adult, so there isn’t any particular tattooist whom I especially admire or who influenced me strongly.
However, at the same time, the work of every tattooist, whether they had more or less experience than me, has inspired me. In particular, the art, life, work, and philosophy of two of the few friends I have in the tattoo scene, Pietro Sedda and Jun Matsui, give me a lot to think about.
GATA: I’d like to talk a little about the tiger motif that often appears in your work. Tigers are a symbol with special meaning throughout Korea. Do they also have a personal meaning for you?
Apro: Yes. The tiger is one of the most representative symbols in Korea. It carries the spirit of the nation and is deeply rooted in Korean history and culture.
Interestingly, when I was young I mainly drew people. That was probably because of the influence of comic books. I had never particularly liked drawing animals. (Although when I was five or six years old I once drew a lion in kindergarten and won a silver prize.)
Anyway, when I had been tattooing for about five or six years, I was living in New Zealand. While talking about tattoos with other artists there, I became bothered by the fact that there was no such thing as a “Korean tattoo.” I began thinking that it would be great if a “Korean style” could exist as its own category in the tattoo scene.
So I started experimenting with minhwa (Korean folk painting). I designed a tiger from folk painting with a bit of my own interpretation. At first my colleagues said they wanted to get it tattooed, so I did it for them. After that, little by little, more clients began asking for tiger tattoos.
Now the tiger and I have become inseparable. I’m even considering whether I should build a tiger shrine. Only joking.
GATA: The tiger motif appears often in minhwa and is an image that many people are familiar with. How did you transform this traditional image into something that feels uniquely yours?
Apro: I’m still trying to create my own tiger. I will probably never be completely satisfied. However, during that process, every year a tiger with slightly different details is born. When I look at the tigers I made about ten years ago, they feel childish because I focused too much on their humorous side. The ones from the middle period feel too serious. The recent tigers seem to exist somewhere between humour and dignity.
In a way, it’s like my own life: when I was young, then becoming an adult and taking myself too seriously for a while, trying to look cool, and later finding a more natural style that comes from maturity and ease. I feel like the tiger and I are growing older together.
GATA: Is there a particular period in Korean art history that has influenced your work?
Apro: The folk paintings of the Joseon dynasty are probably the biggest theme in my work. But like most artists, I also gain inspiration from artworks all over the world. Fortunately, I’ve had the opportunity to travel and live in many countries for long periods, which allowed me to experience many cultures and forms of art. I’m not an academic person, so I don’t try to remember everything systematically, but I believe that all the art I have seen influences me and unconsciously appears in my work.
When I tattoo, I work in a way very similar to minhwa painting. But when I create paintings rather than tattoos, I try not to limit myself to folk painting or traditional East Asian painting. I also use various media in my paintings, such as acrylic paint and oil pastels. The style I’m currently focusing on lies somewhere between figurative and abstract.
GATA: Traditionally, Korea has had an attitude toward tattoos similar to China. Tattoos were sometimes associated with marking criminals, and many people believed they were a violation of Confucian filial piety because they damaged the body given by one’s parents. Was there ever a historical period when tattoos were considered art?
Apro: If the question is about the Joseon dynasty, then the answer is no. There are occasional records of something like “love tattoos,” where lovers carved each other’s names into their arms. But these were discovered and caused quite a scandal, so they must have been rare. As far as I know, there are no records of tattoos being considered art during the Joseon period.
GATA: In the i-D documentary you mentioned that in Korea it is illegal to perform tattoos without a medical licence. Is that still the case? Has public perception of your profession changed since then?
Apro: I’m not completely certain, but as far as I know it is still illegal without a medical licence. However, the government is currently working on legislation regarding tattoos, so I expect it may become legal in a few years.
GATA: In a previous interview you mentioned that you feel somewhat “isolated” from both the Korean and international tattoo scenes. Is there a particular reason for that?
Apro: You could call it voluntary isolation. There isn’t any big reason. I’ve never been someone who easily socialises with many people or meets new people easily. I’m interested in many different fields, so if possible I prefer interacting and having conversations with artists from various disciplines. Also, I genuinely enjoy being alone. I’m quite happy and busy even when I’m by myself, so I don’t enjoy unnecessary or repetitive gatherings or meetings.
GATA: In addition to tattooing, you’re also a painter. When did you start painting? Was it before your career as a tattoo artist?
Apro: It might sound strange, but in my heart I’ve always just been someone who draws. As I said earlier, my childhood dream was to become a cartoonist or painter. Drawing has been part of my daily life since before I can even remember, so it’s hard to call it a “career.” I’ve also occasionally experimented with painting, sculpture, and different tools along the way, but since those weren’t done professionally, it’s difficult to call them a career either. Still, I think I can say that I’ve spent at least as much time drawing as most working artists who loved drawing from childhood and dreamed of becoming painters.
GATA: Compared with tattooing, do you have different goals or things you want to express through your art?
Apro: I try not to mix the titles of tattooist and painter. In other artistic fields, I want to be seen and recognised simply as an artist of that field.
GATA: When you work on paintings, where do you find inspiration? Books, ideas, concepts, films?
Apro: One of the greatest advantages of being an artist is that inspiration can come from every part of daily life.
Even sitting on the sofa all day drinking whisky while watching films or documentaries can provide plenty of stimulation and inspiration. Someone’s philosophy, books, films, dramas, music, the works of past masters and contemporary masters, their aesthetics and philosophy, everything I see and hear becomes inspiration and motivation.
I watch a lot of films in particular. Film is a comprehensive art form. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that it contains every kind of art within it.
GATA: If you could tattoo anyone in the world, living or dead, who would it be, and why?
Apro: Honestly, no one comes to mind. Tattoos can be done lightly, or they can carry very serious meaning. But inevitably, a relationship forms between the tattooist and the person receiving the tattoo. No matter how close or distant they were before, someone who receives a tattoo will never forget the person who tattooed them. The tattooist might forget over time because they work with many people, but knowing that someone will remember you forever is both wonderful and strangely heavy with responsibility. Sorry if that answer is too serious.
If anything, I would like to give a “friendship tattoo” to all the leaders of the world. I wish they would stop fighting.
GATA: Do you have any upcoming projects or goals? In an interview a few years ago you said you didn’t like setting big goals. Do you still feel the same way?
Apro: I still don’t make immediate plans. When I started painting seriously a few years ago, my goal was ten years. My goal is that in ten years I will be able to work as a full-time artist. I also briefly studied ceramics so that I could expand my work into different mediums—making everyday objects like bowls, sculptures, or amulets from clay. If I become a full-time artist, I think I will pursue that as well. So I’m moving slowly with long-term goals of ten or twenty years.
At the same time, my immediate goal is preparing for an exhibition, so I’m very busy these days. I need to paint many large and small works, and every day I think about what and how I should paint. However, I don’t belong to any gallery, and no one has proposed an exhibition yet, so there is no exhibition schedule. Still, I’m very busy preparing for one. I’m not sure if that makes sense.
GATA: Finally, if there is a message you would like to convey through your work, what would it be
Apro: I hope that the tiger brings good energy to everyone.