Hello from Northern Ireland

[Dan S]

You've gotta be kidding me. A "street kid"? The 88 on his shirt is a known neo-Nazi symbol. I can't say for sure the hanging man in the background is Jewish but it's a good bet he is. The other one could be interpreted as just a soldier if not for the NAZI SWASTIKA around the dude's neck which he could have cropped out of the photo but didn't. I did look at his entire portfolio. There's some beautiful work there along with the Hitler portrait and the SS officer I didn't mention. If someone had a hammer & sickle or a Che tattoo I would say that person has communist/Marxist sympathies. Doesn't necessarily mean the tattoo artist is -- and I never said the man is a Nazi. But those are quite obviously Nazi symbols and they offend me personally. If you don't see that: oh well.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure I know what 88 means. And yes, the original photo was of a Russian ghetto-rat.

You miss the whole point of what I wrote. The man isn't American. He is a Russian, and has a different read on things than we do. The swastika and other symbols like it are used to shock, just as they were here in the sixties.

And racist? There aren't enough Blacks in Russia to be racist against! Who is this guy supposed to be hating on?

It offends me when I see portraits of Che, or symbols of anarchy, etc., but that's just me-I'm not going to try to smear someone online becasue I don't happen to agree with what he thinks, or the people he associates with.

Take that all the way. If this guy IS a stone-cold NS, which he isn't, but just for the sake of argument, if he was, I'd STILL get work done by him if I had the chance. I've never asked any tattooer what their views on a conflict that ended 67 years ago are, and I've never asked any tattoer if he agrees with my politics.

And I damn sure never accused anyone of being a nazi, commie, pinko, leftie, rightie, or in-between on the internet on the basis of some "I heard" or a pic.

Done with it.

[DJDeepFried]

I would also like to point out that these are tattoos that he chose to put in his online portfolio as representative of his work -- in other words, the tattoos he is most proud of. The fact that he is Russian is irrelevant as far as I'm concerned. And I'm not talking about World War II. Neo-Nazism is alive and well in the U.S. and Europe -- as is racism, antisemitism, and homophobia. Not trying to assassinate anyone's character here, but in my mind these are hate symbols. Feel free to interpret them however you will.

[David Flores]

I would just point out if people just got tattoos that look like tattoos we wouldn't be having this discussion. Photo Realism (Shakes Head).

[Dan S]

I would just point out if people just got tattoos that look like tattoos we wouldn't be having this discussion. Photo Realism (Shakes Head).

That's true. And if people would stop trying to drag politrix into everything, we could just talk about tattoos!

[Kev]

I think Ross Nagle at Allstar Tattoo in Limerick could sort you out:

Black and grey portfolio

[CercleRouge]

Ah, I was waiting for someone to come up with the "Nazi" thing.

Den is NOT a Nazi, self-proclaimed or otherwise. He IS the victim of an unrelenting smear attack by leftist fools who see any acknowledgment of history as being in some way "racist".

The images he has tattoed of German soldiers and officers have been just that...German SOLDIERS. Anyone who has humped a pack in any army in the world will tell you they have a degree of respect for another SOLDIER, no matter that they are on opposing sides. He has done no tattoos, that I am aware of, that are of so-called "war-criminals", or NS leaders or heros. The tattoos that have drawn the most fire are two copies of recruiting posters for the Wehrmacht, and a protrait of Joachin Peiper, a famous tank-commander, who was apolitical.

He has also done a good bit of work of Russian SOLDIERS, cosmonauts, and the like.

As for the racist crap, take a look at his FB page, and look at the work he posted yesterday, then go back and look for yourself at the work in his photos.

"Nazi-inspired images"... A "Nazi" was a member of the Nationalist-Socialist German Workers Party. Very few SOLDIERS were Nazis. They fought and died by the millions because that was their profession, and that's what they were ordered to do. The despicable actions of a small minority of one quarter of one branch of the armed forces of a State does not automatically make all others serving in those armed forces some type of fiends.

Let's see, if I follow that resoning, his portrait of a cosmonaut must mean he's a Commie, and his MANY portraits of African children must mean that he's Black, right?

I don't know the guy, never met him, but I've seen enough of the character-assassination by computer to know it when I see it. He does a tattoo of a German soldier in combat, he does a tattoo of a Russian kid in one of the ghettos with right-wing imagery, so he must be a Nazi.

He tattoos life. Are there right-wing youngsters in the old eastern-bloc? Oh yeah. Are there reminders of "The Greast Patriotic War" everywhere in Russia, especially in Moscow, where he lives? Hell yeah.

Again, tattooing those does not make him a racist or a Nazi. Why do people insist on parsing everything in terms of their own ethos?

Here's a nice example. I'm half-Irish. Still have plenty of family there. My Grandda left after Easter Week in '16 with a bounty on his head. I have spent many an hour here and in Ireland going round with lads from the Provos, and from the Real. I strongly agree with their desire for a unified Ireland. I strongly disagree with their, as I see it, socialist, of not outright communist, philosophy. So I shoudl call any of them, or anyonhe that tosses a dollar in the bucket on the bar a Commie, right?

And racist? There aren't enough Blacks in Russia to be racist against! Who is this guy supposed to be hating on?

I'd like to nominate the above comment for the Internet Hall Of Fame. In fact, I'd like to print it out and hang it on my wall as it's maybe the most unbelievable statement that I've ever read in my life! Bravo!

[Gregor]

Remis is the best photo real tattoo artist in Ireland . Just as a balance to all the fascist shite thats been posted ...

[Dan S]

Red Circle, I'm not even going to bother posting the many, many pieces Yakovlev has done of various Black personalities, or Russian folk-heroes, or any of the other work that belies the charges of "racism" lodged against him.

As for my statement of there not being enough Blacks in Russia to be racist against, it was, in case you can't recognize it, intended to be humorous, but is, nonetheless, true.

In general, those who cry racism the loudest and fastest are themselves the most small-minded of all.

[Gregor]

Hardly red for finding nazi imagery distasteful . I don't know if Den is a Nazi sympathiser or not , he's certainly making money out of people who are. Remis is still a better tattooist regardless

[CercleRouge]

In general, those who cry racism the loudest and fastest are themselves the most small-minded of all.

Ok ya got me, I'm a HUGE racist! Me, you and Den should have lunch after our next cross-burning!