Interview with Raoul Goetze - Palm Black Tattoo Studio
artist ritual also met Raoul Goetze on its tour across South Africa, the founder and manager of the Palm Black Tattoo Studio, and interviewed him. Very interesting - it´s about the story of the Palm Black Tattoo Studio, about inspirations, about the charity project "Waves for Change" and about his future plans. artist ritual sais thank you very much!
artist ritual: Good afternoon Raoul. Thank you so much for meeting with us today. We would like you to introduce yourself if you don’t mind.
Raoul Goetze: Good afternoon, my name is Raoul Goetze. I am a tattoo artist and the owner of Palm Black Tattoo Company.
artist ritual: Thank you. Did you have any key experience where you thought: now I want to dive into tattooing?
Raoul Goetze: I studied for quite a while, first design, then sound engineering and eventually multimedia design. While studying multimedia design, I was helping with designs for tattoo convention posters for a local shop in Cape Town, which meant I spent a lot of time in the shop. At that time, I was playing in bands and I had a few tattoos anyways, so there was a definite interest in tattoos but spending so much time in the shop, seeing how it works etc., I guess one thing led to the other for me to not only be interested in getting tattoos but making tattoos too.
artist ritual: I also see you have further modern art here. Are these your own prints or are they created by other artists?
Raoul Goetze: A lot of them are our prints and, a lot are from other artists, especially tattoo artists – they do original artwork and they make prints that are sold to people. There is a lot of original artwork on here as well from oil paintings to mixed media etc. Some antique art, Japanese art, block prints etc. There is a lot going on. I think it keeps everyone in a good space being surrounded by art whether it´s tattoo art or not.
artist ritual: Nice, we can hear the music in the background so we can see the music coming through (trying to correlate the current visual with the audible influences). From what do you draw your creative strength? Is it your love for the work?
Raoul Goetze: Of course. That´s essentially why I am doing this. Well, where I draw my creative strength, I try to keep it balanced it between – whether it is painting, surfing, organizing events, tattooing, drawing, going out to nature beeing outdoors. I think keeping it balanced makes you and keeps you excited about what you do every day.
artist ritual: I have seen that you support the fundraising project "Waves For Change". What is it about?
Raoul Goetze: Yeah, we did a little fundraiser the one year. I think it was last year. We all surf, that´s how we were drawn to the programme. “Waves for Change” offer a surf therapy program and teach kids how to surf etc. So, we did a fundraiser and all the proceeds were given to wave the change.
artist ritual: What are your next steps and your plans for the future?
Raoul Goetze: Just try and keep doing what I´m doing without forcing anything, let Palm Black grow even further from what it has become. Without adding unnecessary pressure and letting something grow naturally into itself, it can be so much more powerful. I always have too many plans and never seem to have enough hours in a day, we’ll have to see what surfaces and what is kept for later.
artist ritual: Thank you very much Raoul for your time and this interesting interview
Raoul Goetze: Thank you, it was a pleasure.
