The other day I heard a tattooist say, “Art isn’t subjective — only people who can’t draw believe that.” And honestly, it made my skin crawl. Because that’s not confidence — that’s ego dressed up as authority. It’s the voice of someone who believes there’s only one right way to make art, and—conveniently—it’s theirs. That’s the monoculture talking.
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Because that’s what happens when we stop looking outside our own feed. When our inspiration comes from the same five tattoo pages, the same top 10 influencers, the same narrow definition of “good work.” We start mistaking popularity for truth.
We start believing the lie that art can be ranked, scored, or proven. That’s not mastery. That’s insecurity pretending to be taste. If that artist took a breath and looked at the history of painting, music, or even graffiti, they’d see that art has always been subjective. Always shifting. Always changing shape depending on who’s holding the brush. From jazz to punk to abstract expressionism — every new movement started with someone being told, “You’re doing it wrong.”
And yet, those were the voices that changed everything. That’s why I’m talking about monoculture. Because this belief — that art has to fit a single standard — has been strangling tattooing for years.
Alright, I know. You’ve read the headline and you’re thinking — “What the fuck is a monoculture, Paul?”
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In modern life, monoculture means a world where one dominant culture rules everything. Where the same ideas, aesthetics, and opinions loop endlessly through our feeds — flattening local traditions, softening the edges, muting the weird. It’s what happens when marketing becomes culture, and individuality gets repackaged as lifestyle. Put simply (because I’m a tattooist, like you, and I barely get that definition myself): when we all see the same shit over and over again, we start to believe that good is good and bad is bad because everyone else says so. But those values aren’t really ours. They’re manufactured. They’re the algorithm’s opinions, sold back to us as truth. Fall in line, or fall out of sight.
But the monoculture is dying. And good riddance.
Tattooing isn’t safe anymore — and thank god. The clones, the Instagram-perfect bullshit, the sterile “trends” are finally cracking. And underneath, something wild and human is crawling back through the dirt. For years, tattooing was a single song on repeat. What was once a home for mavericks and pirates became a stage for corporate branding and tattoo influencers — whatever the fuck that even means. Everyone chasing the same algorithm, the same “safe” style, the same cheap validation. We lost the humanity in the art. We lost the grit, the risk, the chaos that made tattooing dangerous and alive.
But lately, my feed’s been changing. Outliers are creeping back in — the weird ones, the loud ones, the ones that don’t care about fitting in. They’re taking tattooing back. Artists are rejecting the idea of becoming clones of clones. The insta-famous perfectionists are being shoulder-barged by hand-poke purists, neo-trad maniacs, bold-line rebels, and experimental freaks. Studios that once churned out perfect Marvel-style sleeves are rediscovering the joy of imperfection. The monoculture was a cage — but breaking out feels like stumbling into a riot: chaotic, raw, alive.
Other industries have already seen this revolution. Fashion is tearing off the fast-fashion straightjacket — with indie designers cutting and sewing their own futures. Music has escaped formulaic pop through underground scenes full of weirdos bending genres and breaking rules. Coffee addicts have turned their backs on the chains, chasing ritual and character in tiny backstreet cafes. Tattooing is next.
This is NOT a call to arms. But there’s also no such thing as a safe revolution. There’ll always be casualties and when we remove the rules, the templates and the content calendars we have to make sure that we have a better option to replace it.
Artists — make the work you want to make. Messy. Strange. Human. Break your own habits before the world breaks them for you. Studios — stop turning art into product. Clients — chase soul, not polish.Because the story matters more than the surface. The death of the monoculture isn’t a loss. It’s a liberation. It’s going to be messy, frightening and beautiful all at once.
And for the first time in a long time, tattooing might be free again.
- Make it matter.
- Make it yours.
- Make it dangerous.