Trash Polka style tattoos are very bold and eye-catching and are becoming popular among tattoo collectors. What exactly is “Trash Polka?” The term “Trash Polka” goes way back to 1859 when an upbeat classical piece of music was created by Johann Straus II called, the Tritsch Tratsch Polka. The tattoo artists who came up with the phrase were inspired by the influence of this particular piece of music and created a tattoo style to express it. Volko Merschky and Simone Pfaff were these tattoo artists. They own Buena Vista Tattoo Club in Würzburg, Germany. “A fusion of realism and trash; nature and the abstract; technology and humanity, past, present and future; opposites that they are trying to urge into a creative dance to harmony and rhythm in tune with the body.” is how Volko describes Trash Polka. The full version of this style is “Realistic Trash Polka, which has been shortened to it’s more common name, “Trash Polka.” Trash Polka is characterized by a bold, painterly strokes and fauvist splatters and other patterns, realistic elements from nature or machine as well as portraits, and done mainly in black and red inks. It is an eye-catching, bold style, and becoming very popular among tattoo collectors.
Image credit: Benjamin Wright
