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CIAS Blends Sensibilities of Tattooing, Ancient Artists in His Paintings

Carlos Mendes, who works under the name CIAS, is a painter and tattoo artist with a penchant toward ancient art history. He shared some of his recent work that blends these worlds in the show "Indelible" at Espaco Exibicionista Gallery. Mendes is based in Lisbon, Portugal.

Carlos Mendes, who works under the name CIAS, is a painter and tattoo artist with a penchant toward ancient art history. He shared some of his recent work that blends these worlds in the show “Indelible” at Espaco Exibicionista Gallery. Mendes is based in Lisbon, Portugal.

“Cias reinterprets the great works of the masters of art, pigmenting the skins of their models with all the symbolism of the stories they carry,” the gallery says. “Works by Michelangelo, Caravaggio or Bernini are covered by various styles of tattoos, from the Maori to the religious, with the intention of reinforcing the message that tattooing is an ancestral art form.”

Thanks to Dante Nuno of FIRE and ICING Cakes, Cookies, Confections for sending the artist’s work our way. Find CIAS on the web here.

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