The air in Wimberley, Texas, carries a different weight than it does in the smog-choked canyons of Los Angeles or the fog draped streets of Berkeley. Here, on a ten acre wildlife preserve dubbed the Tattoo Ranch, the atmosphere is thick with the scent of palo santo and the low, steady vibration of a tattoo machine that sounds less like a tool and more like a mantra. Dillon Forte moves through this space with the kind of deliberate, grounded presence that suggests he knows something the rest of us have forgotten. At 39 years old, he has traded the frantic, ego-driven hustle of the global art hubs for a glass pyramid in the Texas Hill Country, a structure he helped build by hand, positioned on a precise latitudinal line that aligns with the Great Pyramid of Giza.
Forte is not merely a tattoo artist, though his designation as a SKINGRAPHICA Global Top 100 honouree with the prestigious GRAPHICA status would suggest he is one of the finest technicians currently walking the earth. To his collectors, many of whom fly across oceans and time zones to reach this remote ranch, he is a narrator of the soul, a man who decodes the "source code" of the universe and inks it into the mortality of the skin.
"Tattooing isn't about rushing to the end result. It's about consistency, control, and letting the work develop the right way. The journey and the repetition are what really build the skill."
The Audacity of the First Line
The journey to the Global Top 100 didn't begin in a studio or high-end gallery. It began with the raw, unpolished grit of Northern California in the early 2000s. Every great artist has a "day zero," and for Forte, it involved a healthy dose of teenage audacity and a Spaulding & Rogers tattoo kit he had managed to get his hands on. There was no YouTube to provide a digital safety net and no Instagram to curate a vision of what was possible. There was only the machine, the ink, and his own left leg.
"I was actually tattooing my own leg," Forte recalls, reflecting on the nerves of those first sessions. "I had no real understanding of how the equipment or process was supposed to work. I basically just figured it out as I went." That trial-by-fire introduction taught him more about the physical response of skin and the mechanical nuances of his tools than any textbook ever could. He moved on to friends and family, but the path was already set. He was obsessed with the idea of the body as a single, cohesive canvas, a philosophy that would later define his career.
To transition from a DIY enthusiast to a master of the craft, Forte knew he had to pay his dues. He landed a formal apprenticeship under Mark Freitas at the legendary Telegraph Tattoo in Berkeley. This was the "old school grind," a world of respecting the equipment and understanding the technical rigors of the trade. But while the other guys in the shop were focused on the bold lines and shaded gradients of traditional American imagery, Forte was elsewhere. He was filling sketchbooks with the Flower of Life, the golden ratio, and the complex mandalas of sacred geometry. He wasn't looking for art that would look cool for a season, he was looking for a language that was timeless.
The Year the World Noticed
There is a moment in every elite career where the work stops being a way to pay the bills and starts being the reason you wake up in the morning. For Forte, that pivot happened around 2012. He had been working relentlessly, honing a style that many in the industry didn't quite understand yet. Suddenly, the momentum shifted. His books weren't just full, they were booked so far in advance that it became clear he had stepped into a different stratosphere.
It was during this era that he found himself tattooing Kat Von D, developing a tetrahedral kite design that served as a public validation of his unique vision. "It was one of those moments that made everything feel very real," he says. "It's not really something you choose as much as something that finds you. It becomes part of your life and just continues to grow from there."
As his reputation grew, so did the profile of his clientele. He famously travelled to Morocco to tattoo Chris Hemsworth while the actor was filming Men in Black: International. The design, a trippy, fine-line piece on Hemsworth's forearm, was based on a drawing by the actor's daughter. He has since inked Usher's head in an elaborate geometric display and created a "cosmic intelligence" sleeve for Imagine Dragons bassist Ben McKee, which stretches from the shoulder to the fingertips.
Yet, despite the celebrity status, Forte remains intensely focused on the human connection behind the ink. "I don't just 'put my art on people,'" he explains. "I like to listen to them and give them the tattoo that they want. I'm a narrator of their stories." His sessions are deeply collaborative, often involving clients sharing stories of alien encounters, near-death experiences, and profound religious revelations. He views the process as a form of meditation, a shared flow state that requires an incredible amount of focus and presence.
The Search for Source Code
Forte's ambition has never been contained by the four walls of a studio. He possesses an explorer's heart that has led him to perform what he calls "artistic interventions" in the most remote and symbolic spots on the map. He is the man who performed the highest tattoo in history in the thin, freezing air of the Himalayas at Mount Everest Base Camp, then pivoted to the Maldives to perform the lowest tattoo beneath the surface of the Indian Ocean.
He has tattooed on sailboats in Indonesia, above the ruins of Machu Picchu in Peru, and even inside the King's chamber of the Great Pyramid of Giza. To a casual observer, these might look like stunts, but for Forte, they are pilgrimages. He is seeking the patterns that connect different spiritual traditions and rituals, seeing how sacred geometry manifests in ancient temples, architecture, and traditional art.
"I've tattooed at the base of Mount Everest and inside the Great Pyramid. It's about seeking the patterns that exist across every culture and finding the source code of art that connects us all."
By embedding himself in these environments, he ensures his work is rooted in something much deeper than a modern trend. He believes that mathematics holds the key to understanding the world around and within us, and that by using these universal principles, he can create designs that resonate on a deeper, universal level. This obsession with the "building blocks of the universe" is what makes a Dillon Forte piece instantly recognisable. It isn't just a tattoo, it is a piece of reality decoded and reconstructed on the human form.
The Sacrifice of Excellence
Reaching the top 1% of the global rankings requires a level of obsession that often necessitates personal sacrifice. For Forte, that sacrifice was his first love, skateboarding. Growing up in California, he lived for the ramps. But as his career reached a level of international acclaim, he had to make a hard, professional choice. He realised that his wrists, hands, and arms were his lifeblood.
"I love skating, but at this point I don't take major physical risks," he admits with a laugh. "I need my wrists, hands, and arms in top shape so I can work and pay the bills." This grounded pragmatism is a hallmark of his approach. He tattoos six days a week, a level of dedication that justifies his GRAPHICA designation. This status is not just an award, it is a recognition of his technical mastery and his commitment to the craft.
To maintain this level of excellence, Forte has developed a strict protocol. He never tattoos for longer than eight hours in a single session, often advising clients to book multiple days in a row. This ensures that both the artist and the client remain in a state of focus and presence. "Tattooing can be a form of meditation," he says. "It takes an incredible amount of focus, and you have to respect that process."
The Mortality of the Canvas
There is a beautiful, almost tragic irony at the heart of Forte's work. He spends hundreds of hours creating masterpieces that are destined to age, wrinkle, and eventually cease to exist. Unlike a painting that might hang in a museum for centuries, his art is mortal.
Forte doesn't fight this reality, he embraces it. "It actually makes the work more meaningful," he reflects. "Tattooing is a living medium. The skin changes, the person changes, and the tattoo becomes part of that whole journey. I try to design things in a way that will age well and still feel powerful years down the road, but I also accept that nothing is permanent."
That impermanence is what drives his passion for photography, the final medium used to capture and immortalize the tattoos at their absolute peak. It is also what led him to create Forte Tattoo Tech, a line of eco-friendly, biodegradable tattoo supplies. He felt a sense of guilt about the plastic waste generated by modern sterility practices and decided to innovate, creating products from sugar cane, hemp, and bamboo to ensure that while the tattoos may be mortal, the impact on the earth is minimized.
"Infinite Love is the only truth, everything else is illusion."
The Next Horizon
As the sun sets over the Texas Hill Country, casting long shadows across the metal and glass pyramid of the Tattoo Ranch, Forte is already thinking about the next boundary. He talks about the possibility of tattooing in space with the same casual tone someone might use to discuss a weekend trip to Austin. He isn't interested in staying on top of a ranking for the sake of status, he is interested in the constant pursuit of innovation and exploration.
He wants to be remembered as someone who pushed the boundaries of what people think tattooing can be, someone who took an ancient ritual and made it feel entirely new. He has mapped out a new way of seeing the world, one perfect, geometric line at a time. For his family, his friends, and the global community of collectors who wear his work, Dillon Forte is more than an artist. He is a reminder that there is a pattern to everything, if we are only willing to slow down and look.
In the quiet of the Wimberley ranch, between the ley lines of Giza and Teotihuacan, the machine continues its steady hum. The narrator is at work, and he is just getting started.
Bookings · Austin, Texas
Enquiries
For availability and booking enquiries, visit Dillon's website or reach out on Instagram. Appointments are by reservation only.
Portfolio
Selected Works by Dillon Forte
© Dillon Forte, 2026
