80 Trash Polka Tattoos, Designs and Ideas | All you need to know about Trash Polka Tattoo Style

Aug 4, 2023

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What is Trash Polka Tattoo Style?

Trash Polka tattoos are famous for their clean, classy, beautiful abstract designs. The tattoo style is fairly new and it is a complex combination of contemporary art, photography, graphic design, typography, nature, lettering and calligraphic elements mainly in black and red ink.

Who Invented Trash Polka?

Trash Polka tattoo style was created by Simone Pfaff and Volker Merschky from Germany. They are both musicians and artists. They established Buena Vista Tattoo club in 1998. Simone and Volker wanted to break all rules of tattooing and use the entire human body as a living canvas to bring things together by combining different styles. They wanted to create a tattoo style that represents their music and art by meshing realism with trash. Like everything in life, impermanence is the theme for Trash Polka tattoos.

If you want to get a true Trash Polka tattoo then you cannot just get it from anybody but Simone and Volker.

Here are some Trash Polka tattoos by Simone and Volker.

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Image Source: Trash Polka Official

One of the coolest things about Trash Polka tattoos is the way you can combine elements that really has nothing to do with each other but together they create a story. You have your natural elements and your chaotic elements and you’re able to collage them all together and turn your body into a piece of art. The design flows from one body part to another so freely and poses like music just like Polka. That is why the style is so rare and hard to do.

Trash Polka has a certain energy that almost reflects the German language. it’s very beautiful but very brash. There will be a line that cut the total section off but the negative element becomes part the tattoo. Open skin can be just as much part of the art as solid black.

In Trash Polka style you definitely see a lot of lettering. It is very graphic and heavy. Certain quotes or phrases really punch out and give a specific meaning to the tattoo. Colors used to construct Trash Polka tattoo is usually minimalist. Punches of red or blue and a lot of softer tones are used to contrast the dark black and heavy shadings.

Trash Polka tattoos blend nicely with the entire body. The boldness of the tattoo is designed to see from across the room. If you are looking to get a bold tattoo that tells a story then Trash Polka will definitely give you that wow factor.

Here are some Trash Polka Tattoos by various tattoo artists: