DAVEE KNOWS
STARRING
FREEDOM IS THE ULTIMATE FLEX.
Random facts.
I have an obsession with travel. I love espresso and classical music. Metal live shows. I eat steak like my life depends on it. I knew what I wanted to do at the age of 13. My favorite color is navy blue. I’m an aspiring minimalist. I’ve lived in 11 countries and traveled to over 66 in the last 15 years of being nomadic.
I love tattooing.
I had never been on a flight until I was 19. I’ve flown close to 2 million miles by 2026 - something like 80 laps around the planet.Home is Bali, work ethic I've learned in Japan. Hong Kong is my favorite city, with Sydney, Kyoto, and NYC close behind.
ARTIST. NOMAD.
Me in a nutshell.
I am husband, artist, nomad. I am sober. I drink coffee and coconut water. Your favourite tattooist. I have the best friends in the world.
Backstory / a passion I call my career:
Like I said - I KNEW EARLY.
I was always drawing. Found graffiti at 11 and it changed me. I wanted to create on anything - walls, trains, steel. When that wasn’t enough, I moved to skin. I’ve been doing it consistently since 2000. Weirdly, as a kid, I had tunnel vision. I just wanted to be the best I could be at what I do. I sucked at graffiti when I started, so with tattooing (my second passion) I decided to get really good at that thing.
I graduated art high school. Got accepted into art university and turned it down.
Tattooing was all I ever wanted.
I first experienced Japan and its underground tattoo scene at 25, I instantly admired Japanese work ethic & dedication - a life spent mastering one craft. NO DAYS OFF!
Over the next two decades, I spent years there studying from the best of the bests.
I has on honour to learn from great MASTERS from Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Malaysia and China too!
Between 2005–2015, I competed in over 70 tattoo conventions, where I have won multiple awards -<gold & silver tattoo medals!> from Montreal, Moscow, Hong Kong, Paris, Warsaw… all the way to New Zealand.
From 2015–2025, I stopped competing and being asked to become a judge.
I gave away medals from Krakow to Vietnam!
I’ve seen tens of thousands of tattoos - booth great and terrible. Haha.
I’ve done over 100 BACKPIECES
and Tattooed on all 7 continents.
For over 15 years I lived nomadically, creating every single day.
Skin, walls, wood - whatever it took.
One goal:
I create ART to make you feel something.
to make you feel good.
Today. I'm still addicted to travel, I never wanted to be in one place, I find great inspiration and comfort in being constantly on the move. I live in Indonesia with my wife, but I still travel at least 6 months each year.
I’m an aspiring minimalist - constantly moving with all my possessions into one check-in suitcase. Experiences over things is my mantra.
I was obese most of my life., when I got completely sober In 2018, I started getting my life together - I walk 12k+ steps daily, I eat clean, mostly unprocessed keto 90% of time. I meditate. I sleep like grandpa 9pm-5am. I follow the sun.
with all that I’ve lost over 50kg in the last 5 years. In my forties -, feel younger, stronger - better than ever!
Painting.
I am entering a new phase of my career- i want to become a full time painter. I'm planning to dedicate next 10-20 years to master the traditional arts and switch to more abstract forms which would make you feel more, rather than think. I will strive to further fulfill my dream to help and heal people who got to witness of what I do. My first solo art shows: " 100 panthers" in NYC (2012), "100 panthers" in LA (2014), "Pandemic Panthers in Katowice (2021). I took part in group exhibitions all over.
I feel great to create alone, I don't work with galleries, I don't want my art to be re-sold, I don't cooperate with brands, I don't care about being commercial artist!
On the other side, I believe, that Pyramids were built over 50.000 years ago. Antarctica is pretty, but it smells like poop. Oz had the best steak, Karuizawa is the most charming little town I have ever been to, Iceland is moon-like, you should once travel to Krakow & to historical town of Dubrovnik. Shanghai is my current second home, Costa Rica rocks.
Function.
I want my art to make you fell. I want that ( art) to heal you. I want you to spend time looking at it, both with your eyes and your heart. I dedicated all my life to create this.
This website is proof of hard work & dedication. I do not own a studio, neither a tattoo shop. That allows me to move through the world freely, as a senstive human without a need to rule anyone.
No One Rules Me
I just want one thing:
When you experience my art, when you get tattooed, when you stand in front of a painting -
I want You to feel GOOD. I want You to be happy when You look at it.
Life is simple.
We tend to overcomplicate it.
Art heals & art saves lives.
I’ll keep doing it until my last breath on this planet. I am probably making art while you reading it.
DAVEE KNOW$