Today we’d like to introduce you to STRANGELOVE LA.
Hi STRANGELOVE, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself. Can you tell us about your story?
Strangelove began long before it had a studio. Its origins trace back to years of traveling and tattooing around the world by Adam Vu Noir, meeting artists in different countries and building connections through shared work. The idea was simple: create a place where artists from different backgrounds could come together and connect.
The name “Strangelove” came during a night in Buenos Aires, inspired by two songs with the same title that played back to back, one by Depeche Mode and the other by Mary Wells. The phrase fit like a glove.
In early 2017, a small warehouse space in Echo Park was rented for one month, bringing together a group of artists connected through travel. The chemistry was immediate, and the project continued to shift through different temporary locations whenever the opportunity appeared. In 2019, it reached its largest gathering at that point in Berlin, Germany, with artists and clients flying in from around the world to take part.
Later that year Strangelove found a permanent home in Los Angeles.
Today the studio sits on the east side of Los Angeles County inside a grand two-story space, a perfectly hidden gem. Tattooing is at the center, supported by an extraordinary art collection, and a creative studio where illustration, painting, and design all take shape. The area is rich with history and food culture, and the studio is known entirely through its work, trust, and word of mouth. No advertising necessary.
What defines Strangelove now is the same thing that defined it from the start – a home for artists of all backgrounds who are dedicated to their work. It is one of the rare places where the past, present, and future of tattooing live under the same roof.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Running a studio in Los Angeles demands patience. Costs rise constantly, the industry shifts fast, and it becomes clear that talent alone is not enough. Work ethic, consistency, character, and how artists treat the people around them matter just as much as skill. When values or intentions do not align with the room, people naturally drift out, making space for those who show up with the right mindset.
Like anything, there are people who enter the industry as opportunists, focused on attention, money, or status. Others operate from ego, self-interest, or outright narcissism. Those mindsets rarely fit in a studio with more than one person. Protecting what’s been built is essential.
What remains is a studio made up of artists who contribute in meaningful ways. There is no ego fighting for space, no tension, and no energy being drained in the wrong direction. Strangelove has seen every type of personality and every phase of growth, and it stands stronger because of it.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Adam Vu Noir (@adamvunoir)
Adam is a creative anomaly whose work connects nomadic ideas, macabre imagery, and tattoo culture into one language. His background as a multimedia artist and his years of traveling and tattooing around the world show up in everything he makes. His tattoos, books, and paintings all share the same traits: strong composition, surreal atmosphere, and a clear sense of identity. Adam treats tattooing as serious art, but never loses the grit, humor, and strangeness that make it alive. 
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Andrew Lopez (@lopez.la_)
Lopez is real LA fine line at the highest level. He carries the roots of the style – Chicano culture, neighborhood history, and the visual language of Los Angeles, and refines it into work that is clean, controlled, and modern without losing its soul. His tattoos are smooth, confident, and balanced, with detail that never turns into clutter. Andrew has been tattooing since high school and it shows in every piece. He was born to do this. From lustful women to religious iconography, Chicano heritage, death, portraiture, lettering, and anything placed in his hands, his work stays true to where the style came from and where we can only hope it will go.
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Thomas Eckeard (@thomasetattoos)
Thomas works in a style shaped by legend, fantasy, and the eeriness found in old folklore. His compositions are built on sharp shapes and expressive line work, with shading that sets the tone without overwhelming the design. From looming castles to haunting dragons, the imagery feels Lovecraftian in illustrated form. The result is work that feels like a scene from an obscure tale or myth. Nothing is rushed, nothing is loud. Thomas builds tattoos with patience and presence, letting the viewer discover the details the same way they would when turning pages of an old illustrated book filled with cosmic horror.
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Chris Conn (@sekretcity / @sekretcity96)
Chris Conn is one of the rare artists whose impact is undeniable. His drawings of women, figures, and symbols rewired how traditional and illustrative tattooing evolved. With decades of experience, his influence is woven into the work of artists across the world. When he paused tattooing to focus on painting, the art he created became fixtures in top studios and private collections. His world, Sekretcity International, is a self-contained universe built from baroque structure, Japanese influence, propaganda aesthetics, manga energy, and art nouveau curves. Within Strangelove, he is the quiet backbone, the person everyone turns to for knowledge, critique, and perspective.
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Emily Kay (@emmbums)
Emily’s work lives between East and West, pulling from Western iconography and the storytelling of Eastern folk traditions. She combines the two with a steady hand, creating tattoos that feel personal, balanced, and fully her own. Her lines are clean, her use of space deliberate, and her imagery carries a sense of care without ever feeling heavy. Her paintings hold the same voice. As a lifelong equestrian, she brings an understanding of posture, discipline, and grace into the way she creates, adding depth to even her simplest designs.
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Collin Gribbons (@grit.tattoo)
Collin brings a disciplined hand to fine line Americana. He keeps the structure and honesty of classic American tattooing but delivers it with a lighter, more technical touch. His line work is precise, his details are measured, and his designs carry an emotional weight. Themes of love, loss, longing, and isolation run through his work, giving each piece a depth that feels personal between himself and his clients. Collin makes traditional imagery feel fresh without losing its roots, and his continuous growth and attention to detail set him apart in a way that is rare in the style.
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Jeanine Hauk (@lady_hauk)
Jeanine’s work is femme driven, esoteric, and deep in symbolism. Her tattoo work mirror scenes from a film behind closed doors: curtains, candlelight, mysticism, romance, and danger. She gravitates toward femme fatales, occult hints, and delicate but loaded details. The result is work that feels intimate and slightly haunted, like you are catching a glimpse of a private moment you were meant to see.
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Arseniy Bojinov (@arseniybojinovtattoo)
Arseniy brings the mind of an illustrator and painter into tattooing, but his subject matter is his own. His work leans into the bizarre, the fetish driven, the taboo, and the surreal, often with a strong sense of kink and psychological tension. Underneath that content is serious technical control: solid drawing, confident perspective, and a clear grasp of structure. His journey from Russia to the United States was not simple, and that toughness comes through in his art. The images may be strange, violent, or sensual, but they are always composed with purpose and never feel cheap. 
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Jaded Youth (@jaded_youth_)
Jaded Youth builds tattoos that hit like striking book covers blown up to full scale. Her work is rooted in bold illustration, psychedelia, and shaped by an understanding of Japanese and Chinese artwork, but using those foundations to create something current and unmistakably hers. Heavy black, dramatic contrast, and commanding layouts define her approach. She is constantly growing and eager to push her work into even more striking and ambitious designs.
It would also be remiss not to acknowledge the crew behind the scenes who keep the studio running smoothly and sharp: our manager Calvin, along with Hector, Michael, and Cade.
Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
Risk was a part of Strangelove from the beginning. Nothing in the early years was guaranteed. Renting short term spaces, trusting people you barely knew, investing money you did not really have, and bringing artists together without knowing if any of it would connect were the decisions everything was built on. Every step forward came from saying yes to something that might not work.
Strangelove grew because of those early risks. The studio stands where it does now because chances were taken on spaces, artists, ideas, and moments that had no guaranteed outcome. That is the nature of tattooing and the nature of building anything real. If you avoid every risk, nothing meaningful ever forms.
And at the same time, nothing lasts forever, so while it does, you try to make it matter.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.strangelovela.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/strangelove.la
