Avicii’s tattoos weren’t a handful of flash pieces picked up between shows. Tim Bergling began with one carefully planned design, then met tattoo artist Jun Cha and built a detailed black-and-grey sleeve over two long sessions. The work brings together a Banksy-inspired image, a roaring gorilla, three bandaged women and a figure drawn from Greek sculpture.
He talked through the stories behind the ink in an iHeart tattoo interview. The first sleeve session lasted about 12 hours and the second around 18. Avicii also said he wanted to keep adding graphic, slightly strange imagery to his arm. Here’s what his comments and the photographs tell us about the designs.
The Banksy-inspired tattoo was his first
Avicii waited until his early twenties to get his first tattoo. He’d wanted one for a long time but wasn’t sure what to choose. Eventually, he worked with Jun Cha on a Banksy-inspired design for his right forearm, taking time to plan it instead of choosing something on impulse.
The choice suited his taste. Banksy’s work often turns a simple image or small visual joke into an idea that sticks. Avicii wanted a design connected to that world, shaped to fit his arm. He and Cha talked through the layout, and he waited until he felt sure before getting it done.
At first, Avicii thought this might be his only tattoo. In hindsight, that’s a telling detail: the collection grew far beyond one piece. But the Banksy-inspired design stayed on the opposite arm, separate from the later sleeve, giving his tattoos a point of contrast.
One tattoo turned into a full left arm sleeve
Six months after the Banksy piece, Avicii returned to Jun Cha and began what became his left arm sleeve. In the wide photo, the designs travel from the upper arm to the forearm, with the main images fitting closely together.
The work took two long sittings: about 12 hours for the first and around 18 for the second. Avicii said friends kept him company, while Cha stayed intensely focused on the work. This was a major project, not a quick appointment for one small symbol.
Black and grey set the tone, with realistic faces, deep shadows and theatrical expressions. The sleeve feels closer to a wall of old illustrations than a typical musician’s tattoo collection. Rather than relying on bright colour, it uses skin breaks, dark fabric and carefully shaded faces to create contrast.
The sleeve feels planned without looking rigid. Each section has its own subject, while the shading and linework make the arm read as one piece. That balance came from the conversations between Avicii and Cha before the tattooing began.
The gorilla brings the loudest energy
The most dramatic image is a roaring gorilla near the top of Avicii’s left arm. Its mouth is open, its teeth show, and the fur is shaded in fine detail. The expression hits you first, making it the part of the sleeve many people notice right away.
Avicii linked the larger design to the three wise monkeys: hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil. He’d liked the idea since childhood but didn’t want the obvious version of three ordinary monkeys on his arm.
Cha suggested another way to work with the reference. The gorilla became the focal point, with three figures below it carrying the familiar idea in a more unsettling form. That shift gave the tattoo its own character instead of making it a direct copy of a traditional symbol.
The gorilla shows how Cha’s realism can take on a surreal edge. It looks less like a straightforward animal portrait and more like a figure in a darker story. Avicii said he liked having room for strange or even evil-looking imagery, and this design captures that mood.
Three bandaged women replace the usual monkeys
Below the gorilla are three women wrapped in bandages: one covers her eyes, another her ears, and the third her mouth. The familiar pose is easy to recognise, but the detailed figures feel more human than the usual cartoon monkeys.
Avicii said Cha proposed using the women and pairing them with the gorilla. They discussed the idea and exchanged images before he decided it felt right. The extra thought kept the design from becoming too literal: the reference remains, but the final tattoo has a more serious, almost mythic mood.
In the close-up, the bandages form clear horizontal lines across the faces and bodies, helping the figures stand out within a busy sleeve. Similar wrapped shapes appear elsewhere on the arm, giving the images a visual link even when you focus on one detail.
The idea behind the tattoo is familiar, but the mood is darker than a playful proverb reference. It feels like a reminder of what people choose to ignore. That slight unease is part of what gives it such presence.
The Greek sculpture sits lower on the forearm
Lower on Avicii’s left arm is a portrait of an older man inspired by Greek mythology. He has a long beard, deep lines across his face and the stillness of a classical sculpture. After the gorilla, this image feels quieter; its detail comes through texture and shading rather than an explosive expression.
Avicii said he already admired the sculpture tattoos Cha was known for, so he came in with a sense of the style he wanted. Cha showed him several options and talked through their stories before they settled on a design that suited the arm.
The figure gives the sleeve a moment to slow down. Its expression is thoughtful rather than aggressive, offering a change of pace after the gorilla and bandaged women. That contrast keeps the full design from feeling like one long shout.
Composition mattered as much as the image itself. The sculpture had to fit the shape of the arm, sit comfortably beside the other figures and help the eye travel from shoulder to wrist.
The finished sleeve reads like one dark visual story
From a distance, Avicii’s sleeve can look like one large black-and-grey mural. Up close, separate images emerge: the gorilla, the bandaged women, the sculpture, the folds of fabric and smaller marks that connect them. The full-arm photo makes the overall composition easier to see.
His right arm provides a counterpoint. The Banksy-inspired tattoo is more graphic and playful; the left sleeve leans into classical figures and darker drama. Avicii talked about adding more Banksy-style work on the right and continuing the more gripping imagery on the left, treating the two arms as different sides of one collection.
It’s tempting to treat every tattoo as a confession, but Avicii’s own explanations were more grounded. He talked about images he remembered from childhood, artists he admired and designs that fitted the arm. Some have a clear idea behind them; others also came down to what looked right beside the rest.
That keeps the sleeve from feeling like a secret code where every line needs decoding. The Banksy piece marks his first commitment to tattoos; the gorilla and three women reshape a childhood symbol; and the sculpture reflects his interest in Cha’s work. Together, they show how the sleeve took shape over several long sessions.
When he spoke about the tattoos, the work was still evolving. Avicii was considering stranger, more graphic images for the left arm and more Banksy-inspired ideas for the right. The collection wasn’t a finished costume; it was something he was still building. The existing pieces already bring together the music, art and imagery that caught his attention.
Watch Avicii get his tattoos done
Footage from the studio gives a closer sense of the work behind the finished sleeve. The clip below shows Avicii getting tattooed and adds context to the long sessions he described.