We had the good fortune of connecting with Enrico Grosso and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Enrico, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
It was out of sheer passion for my craft and and the desire to do something that was unique. I wanted to work for something I truly believed in, something that felt like a glue between my interests, all the things I have been interested in my life and my own roots, and I wanted to work on my own and be independent, to have complete control of every choice made, and wanted to create something that felt honest, sincere.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
My artwork is heavily rooted in the previously mentioned images that created the language that can be called western traditional tattooing and my admiration of some of its past and contemporary pioneers.
Everyone says that I have a super recognizable style and it’s challenging for me to see what they see in it, as everyone’s gaze is so different. I think if something sets me apart was the byproduct of my trying to be like my peers and almost wanting to copy them, failing in the process and finding myself in recognizing the failure of that approach. It is a little like I can’t help but being myself even if I try so hard to do what others do.
As a European born person born in Italy, the thing I am the most proud of was to have a Visa to work here in the USA, it’s the official recognition of what I have done in the past, and the opportunity to work among the very same artists who inspired me to start this journey in the first place.
I learned a lot of lessons, and the main takeaway of them all is a quiet confidence in what I do that I gained and a bigger ability of being patient in playing the long game, which in this industry means having long term clients who allow you to build work of larger scale that requires a lot of time, pain, money and ultimately complete trust in the outcome.
All I want the world to know is that what I do is the apex of my personal lived history, everything I know in this business comes from honest knowledge passed down to me personally, every trick every image, which in a world of hyper connectivity, seem to me a truly honest and unique foundation and roots.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I would not be here without what was done by a few key pioneers of modern tattooing, I could digress and talk about about the first recognized professional artists from the early 1900s and how they were the foundation of it all, but I would rather jump straight to what the people at Spider Murphy’s Tattoo in San Raphael California were doing in the early 2000s, the years I really got into tattooing, as customer first and then as an aspiring artist. As a shop they released a book of all the painted tattoo images, which was all heavily inspired by the so called western traditional style, but it had its on spin to it, a mix of the past, with classic themes from early tattoo catalogues, mixed with the local Bay Area heritage, to be more specific the influence of Ed Hardy’s and Dan Higg’s art.
Stuart Cripwell’s pages of that book really hit me. I later ended up getting in touch with him via myspace and eventually got tattooed by him then first time he came back to work in London.
Shoutouts to my Mother who never stopped telling me to never stop drawing, since when I was a baby, that’s all I was doing!

Website: https://www.henrybig.com

Instagram: @bighenry

Image Credits
Enrico Grosso
the picture of me is by Joseph Rayo

Nominate Someone: ShoutoutHTX is built on recommendations and shoutouts from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you or someone you know deserves recognition please let us know here.