Lokesh

There are those who are born artists, others who accomplish their dreams by earnestly toiling behind closed doors. Lokesh Verma is both.

Internationally experienced artist Lokesh (Born 12th May 1983) who has worked at places like Amsterdam, Switzerland and Paris is a veteran tattoo artist. But the journey has not been easy for him. He received immense criticism because tattooing was mostly associated with bohemians and hippies when he began his pursuit at nineteen. An MBA by qualification, he strove hard to purchase the gear, even taking up a part-time position of a DJ at a local bar.

Lokesh is a self-trained artist but he travels all across the world to work at different shops and to attend tattoo conventions. Ever since he can remember, he has been fascinated with sketching. His exceptional gift, and him treasuring it in return, brought to him audiences and prizes. At fourteen, he won the 1st prize in the Inter-Asia level painting competition in Japan, organised by Mitsubishi.

With a little help from willing and curious friends, not to mention his own physical self (he displays an almost mystifying ambigram on his left arm which is also the first tattoo he ever did); Lokesh set off to conquer the Art. Day and night of practice, search of ideas, commitment and resolve yielded their rewards. It would produce an amalgam of tattoo styles, ranging from traditional to new school and portraits. Personally, Lokesh enjoys black-and-grey shading the most. He has a studio base, Devil’z Tattooz, at Greater Kailash-1 and PVR Priya compound, Vasant vihar.

“A tattoo always has a meaning,” he muses. “It’s on your skin, after all – if you get a tattoo, you wear an attitude on your skin. To people, you are what your tattoo means.” – Lokesh Verma (The Times of India, 16^th Dec. 2007)

Possessing a brilliant dexterity, Lokesh has traced many a familiar illustration with his fingers, but this has not dissuaded him from creatively experimenting and inventing his own methods. I, as his patron, have followed his career closely, and I hold nothing but profound admiration for Lokesh. He lets his art speak for him. Lokesh has come a long way from a boy who had a dream to a man who, after realising that dream, is now one of India’s most promising young tattoo artists.

Sanober Ahmed