Rodrigo Avilés is an incredibly dedicated and talented artist from Melipilla, Chile. We've had the privilege of having his work in a few of our shows, and I'm delighted to present his process–he's been very generous with sharing his work methods–and his Beautiful Forever Interview!

Avilés's first design concept of a tattoo design for Beautiful Forever, "a drawing symbolizing bad luck in love/gambling":

His second concept involved a bird and a Latin phrase. He like this idea, but he wanted to make it more detailed and specific to a particular type of bird.

He did some research of bird species with the colors used in the second concept and settled on the American Robin. He sketched the new birds based on his research and added a little memento mori design with a bird skull.

The final designs!

His tattoos are available in the Light Grey Shop here.
What inspired the work you have in the exhibition? Specifically, why did you choose the subjects you chose?

I used birds in my images for the exhibition because lately I've been very inspired by ornithology books, those with engravings illustrating the different species (The Birds of America from John James Audubon came to my mind, for example). I like birds for their symbolic meaning, and because of their varied shapes and colors. I like classic Latin phrases because I feel that they have a sort of timeless wisdom–pretty fitting for something inked for the rest of your life.

Talk about the medium you used to make your piece.

I worked digitally on this one. The piece was drawn in a Japanese software called Paint Tool SAI. I like this software for its quality to create line-art and because the menu is pretty simple (compared to Photoshop). The drawing was later colored in Photoshop. Aside from digital, ink on paper is my favorite medium, sadly I didn't have time to make this piece with ink. Usually ink is pretty trial and error for me, so I went the secure route.

Do you listen to anything while you’re working? What have you been listening to lately?

Yeah, I love to listen to music while I work, and I like music from very different styles. Some albums that I've been listening lately: The Lions - This Generation (reggae, 2013); various Bill Evans albums: Portaits of Jazz (1959); Explorations (1961); Death From Above 1979 - You're a Woman, I'm a Machine; (rock, dance-punk); Naomi and Goro (a Japanese Bossa Nova duet); many of Doo Wop and Motown 50-60 classics; and a lot of Cumbia, a popular tropical rhythm here in South America. As you can see, I listen to music almost the entire day, hahaha.

Do you have any tattoos? Tell us about them!

I don't have any tattoos! I'm the typical "I want to get a tattoo" guy, hahaha. I tried to design one for myself but I'm very picky with what I want to wear on my skin for the rest of my life. That bring us to the next question:

Whether you have a tattoo or not, it’s *possible* you have considered a tattoo you would like to have. What would that dream tattoo be?

My idea is a tattoo of two images, on opposite sides of my body (arms or chest, not sure): one with a banner that says "ARS LONGA" and an allegory to the virtues of the Art, and the other that says "VITA BREVIS" with a representation of Death, and earthy pleasures. "Ars Longa, Vita Brevis" is a Latin phrase that means mastering a craft takes a lot of time, almost your entire life. Also it can mean that truly, works of art live longer than their creators. I also want to show my dichotomy between the desire to enjoy life, and the discipline and time spent working.

For more of Avilés's work, you can check out his site or follow his blog! He also keeps a sketch Tumblr!