Or Kantor: Hopeless Lover, Tattoos Like No Other

A Parallel Planets piece by Unknown

Parallel Planets presents Or Kantor

in Hopeless Lover, Tattoos Like No Other

Story and Interview by Erin Emocling

Mentioned: the mystical and the mythological, collecting garbage, and affinity with cats

* * *

I think it's fair enough if I declare that I'm a decent person just because I'm not flamboyantly into sadomasochistic stuff. But there's something about getting inked that is so undeniably pleasurable. I'm also not a tattoo expert. But I have this manifesto, or a crazy thought, of having my entire right arm tattooed before I turn 30 years old.

Time's ticking like a rabid hyena but I'm still far behind my goal because, presently, I only have two. I'm serious about it, though, so every time I feel "the itch," I always search for new designs and inspirations, hoping that soon enough, I can get tattooed again. I've collected a lot and the only thing that's keeping from having them on my skin is the lack of, well, tattoo money.

I think I know that I've learned from the best when someone who's dear to me and tattooed all over shared his two cents to me that, "Good tattoos aren't cheap; Cheap tattoos aren't good." It's a common saying but to hear it from someone who cares for you, I suppose the best route is to take my time and find a good artists, and probably also think more than twice.

One time, as I was frantically looking for new tattoo designs, I came across Or Kantor's page and I immediately wanted to have one of his designs on my inner wrist: it was an image of a man and woman French kissing against a stitched red heart, with black blood crawling down their eyes and a dagger right through the both of their skulls (see left photo below). It looked perfect.

tattoo designs by Or Kantor

And then I saw his other designs and, naturally, I became confused and fell in love even more.

I decided to invite Or for a feature on Parallel Planets because his style is very prominent. Malingering. I haven't seen his works in flesh but every time I see his designs, something about them tell me, even at one look, that hey—this was done by that tattoo guy from Israel.

So just imagine how giddy I was when he replied yes to my invitation.

Most people’s tattoos have actual, based-on-real-events meanings. Some people just have it for fun, as a way of living life, or as a permanent jewelry. Other people have tattoos even on the tiniest, most hush-hush surface area of their skin. While the others, one piece may already more than enough.

I don’t know most people, or some, or other people, but all I know is that anyone with a tattoo has made a irreversible connection to their inner selves. They have something that no one could take away from them, ‘til death do him or her rot.

Including myself.

To Or, tattoos cover all of these aspects because this branch of art is a part of his being, if not his entirety. As much as I’d like to spoil the good stuff he talked about in our Q & A, I’ll let him do the talking later on. All I can say, after reading his answers, is that I admire him more because he’s an artist who knows how to start from scratch: a quality that's innate to a lot of creative, successful people.

Asked about how many tattoos Or already has, his only answer was, “I have no idea!” I guess that’s what happens when you’re too happy to care about how much you’ve been spending your life as a human canvas.

I don’t know how because Israel’s a faraway land but I’m still dying to get one of Or’s tattoo designs. Maybe I’m the one who’s hopeless here. Ha-ha.

tattoo designs by Or Kantor

Read on to my interview with Or Kantor and learn more about how he immersed himself to the culture that defines his life now, how he worked his way from becoming the studio's helper to being the tattoo artist that he currently is, and how plans on continuing his craft.

* * *

Parallel Planets: Tell something about Or Kantor as a tattoo artist and before you became one.

Or Kantor: "My Name is Or Kantor, I am 27, and I live at the bottom of the Mediterranean Sea, that is Israel. I am a tattoo artist and I have been tattooing for the past seven years.

My profession, a tattoo artist, is how I like to define myself. I always try to bring out as much as I can of my own personal world into the world of tattoos.

As I see it, being a tattoo artist is more than just an art but a handcraft and a way for people to connect with one another, to create a unique sort of bond between people. I felt like this before I even got into the tattoo world, when I was a young boy decorating and painting surfboards at the local factory."

tattoo design by Or Kantor

tattoo designs by Or Kantor

tattoo designs by Or Kantor

Parallel Planets: When/How did your inclination with tattoos begin?

Or Kantor: "My way into the world of tattoos started  at a very young age when all of my older friends who I surfed with  started to get tattooed. At the time I was too young to get tattooed myself but it didn’t stop me from going to the studio to watch the whole process that intrigued me so much.

I think I was fourteen years old back then, and even then I had already started drawing quite a bit, and I had always tried to copy the designs of the tattoos that all my friends got.

When one of the tattoo artists I would come to watch at work saw my sketches and drawings that I carried around everywhere with me, he offered me a little help. He gave me a few tips and taught me how to draw things correctly.

Time passed and I had already gotten tattoos of my own, and I carried on drawing whenever I could and by that point it was clear to me that art is the most important thing to me and the need to create never stopped burning inside me and it drove me to keep painting and drawing.

So life took me to Australia, and that is where I started to get tattooed a bit more and the surf/tattoo culture that always goes together in Australian culture hypnotized me. There was the first time that someone other than myself wanted to use one of my designs for a tattoo for themselves. That was when I realized that a new chapter was starting in my life, and my yearning to learn how to tattoo myself grew inside me.

I never left the studio, I would arrive at 7am, wait outside the door until the shop opened, and I would make appointments just so I could see the how the artist works up close. After observing a few tattoos I had already befriended the artist, and he understood my odd and almost obsessive visits to his studio, and he decided to let me clean the studio, and in return he would share with me his experience and knowledge."

tattoo designs by Or Kantor

tattoo designs by Or Kantor

tattoo designs by Or Kantor

Parallel Planets: What defines your artistic style? What are your “trademarks”?

Or Kantor: "In the past I have always tried to find my ‘own’ style in art, which would belong only to me, I tried many different ideas and styles but I was never quite satisfied with the results. To this day I don’t think that there is anything that I can exactly say is my ‘trademark’ per say because I am always trying to find new approaches and techniques, my ‘style’ changes constantly.

For example, I used to only paint bright, extremely colourful pieces, using hyper- realism, and that is how I tried to get the ‘message’ and feeling through into my works. I think that I felt then that it was important to ‘prove’ my control or mastering of the complicated technique; and that an artist is measured by how well he can draw complicated, realistic images.

Today I understand that an artists’ skill is not measured by the amount of colour used, or an extreme discipline or control of the colour.

My pieces today are a lot more simple, they are sharp and bold and do not fit in any specific category or style of art. The idea is a lot more important to me.

I think you could say that my ‘trademark’ is my never-ending search for the next new thing that I can take out of it’s context, take it apart and put together again and in doing so, create something new that is completely and only mine."

tattoo designs by Or Kantor

tattoo design by Or Kantor

tattoo design by Or Kantor

Parallel Planets: What influences your work? Who inspires you?

Or Kantor: "The ideas for my works usually come straight from my feelings. I am a very emotional person and it is hard for me to ignore my emotions, this is visible in my work as random objects, which I make the context and meaning behind each one, based on my emotions and feelings at the time. I find it hard to stick to one source for my inspiration at once, so my figures and ideas can change drastically from piece to piece.

I am fascinated by traditional folklore imagery from all over the world and by old art that is connected with the mystical and mythological world. However, at the same time, I cant ignore the beauty in modern design and style which includes a lot of sharp lines and bold, geometric shapes. I guess you could say that when I find the perfect mix between the two, am I satisfied."

tattoo by Or Kantor

tattoo by Or Kantor

tattoo by Or Kantor

Parallel Planets: What is your mantra in life?

Or Kantor: "To stay calm… To stay in love. To never hold anger inside, it has no importance and it only brings you down in life."

Parallel Planets: Mention three of your favorite things.

Or Kantor: "Ohh hmmm. The sea. The sun. And September."

tattoo by Or Kantor

tattoo by Or Kantor

tattoo by Or Kantor

Parallel Planets: Do you have a fetish or any weird habit?

Or Kantor: "I collect garbage. I have an inexplicable desire to look for use in things that are no longer wanted or used. I feel like I have won a trophy every time I find something of value or at least something I can fix up and use again. My favorite things that I have found are old, antique lamps; my name after all does mean ‘light’ in Hebrew.

Every Wednesday people throw out their larger pieces of trash (old furniture, pieces of wood etc.) and I cant stop myself from stopping and having a good dig, to see if there is anything worth finding."

Parallel Planets: What project(s) are you currently working on?

Or Kantor: "Right now, the project I have been working on is the same project I have always been working on. The never ending search after new sources of inspiration and new ideas. Lately, I have started creating ‘green art’- that is, art that is made out of entirely recycled materials.

I collect pieces of scrap wood from carpentry shops and old paint from factories and I create new works of art. The feeling I got after making my ‘green art’ was really satisfying and it is quite economic! Its  a win/win situation, I don’t have to pay for my art materials and Mother Earth also gets taken care of!"

tattoo by Or Kantor

tattoos by Or Kantor

tattoo by Or Kantor

Parallel Planets: In this planet that we're thriving in—

What is your power animal? "I think it would have to be cat. I don’t know why but I absolutely adore them, it seems as though they see the world the right way."

Who is your alternate ego? "I don’t feel that I know myself well enough in order to know who my alter- ego would be. Having said that, if I had one, he would probably love going out till the early hours and drinking  lot for me!"

Parallel Planets: In an alternate universe where art does not exist—

What will your name be? "Lopez. I don’t know why but I love that name!"

What do you think you would be doing instead? "I think that I would still be in the ‘Arts field’ but for  music, not visual arts. I really like playing and creating music, especially jazz!"

tattoo by Or Kantor

More from Or Kantor

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