Style

Trash Polka

Trash Polka was created by German artists Simone Pfaff and Volko Merschky of Buena Vista Tattoo Club in Würzburg, Germany. The style is strictly black and red: realistic imagery — faces, hands, crows, symbols, clocks — collides with abstract brushstrokes, splatter, smears, and graphic design elements in a way that looks simultaneously chaotic and precise. Unlike other tattoo styles that evolved organically, Trash Polka was invented as a defined style by two specific artists. Worldwide, it remains closely associated with its German origins, and the finest practitioners have studied it deeply.