My name is Pavel Arefyev, also known as Pavel Angel for my artist name. I was born in the old Russian state of Woronesch back in 1972. My dad was an engineer and my mom worked as a teacher. I owe my parents the world for my artistic enlightment. I started with drawing on a note book during my last years in school, when I was so fascinated by writings and calligraphy. I did my first tattoo back in 1990 in the army. With tattooing, I started living my other hobby. After coming home from the army, I continued my physics studies and also dedicate myself to the art of tattoos. Back in the time in my country, there was absolutely no tattoo equipment for people to purchase, no ink, no information, no nothing. I invested a lot of time researching to gain a mass amount of knowledge in the tattoo process. The first machine I had was built by myself with a motor from a radio and a guitar string, along with Pelican water pen ink. As time went by, I was able to afford a real tattoo machine, the ink and the accessories to go with the machine. During this time in my life, I was hugely influenced by artists like Robert Hernandez, Guy Aitchison, Filip Leu, Paul Booth and a lot more, who gave me ideas of who I am as a tattoo artist today.
With academic art, I learned more about different shapes, which was why I imitate sculpts in my art. It brought me the interest of pursuing this specific kind of art. During my search of the ideal technique, I have tried out different machines, but I was never satisfied with them. In 2008, I first started working with Cheyenne tattoo machines and it was a total joy; it was easy to use and clean.
I don’t need more than one machine and it saves me a bunch of time, which is fantastic and unbelievably cool. When the Cheyenne
HAWK Thunder came out in the market, it was everything I imagine a tattoo machine to be. Then the
HAWK PEN came out, it was a new level on both technical and mechanical aspects, it wasn’t anything we’ve seen before. I trust this machine for every challenge and I feel very safe working with the machine. I would like to thank Cheyenne for their genius work and invention. Thanks a lot!
