DPR IAN’s tattoos include an old-school eagle, a guitar based on his father’s instrument, a chest motto, small hand marks and a crow across his shoulders. In GQ Korea’s tattoo tour, Christian Yu explains several of them in his own words.
Other pieces hold a specific memory, including a tattoo from Peru’s Inca Forest. Some marks in photos are hard to identify, so the details below stick to what he or a named interview has confirmed.
DPR IAN’s old-school eagle and early arm ink
In the GQ Korea tour, Yu calls the eagle old-school and says he got it in his early twenties. He also remembers how much it hurt and bled. The footage shows it among a larger field of arm ink, but he doesn’t attach a larger story to it.
DPR IAN’s guitar tattoo
The guitar came from a photograph of his father’s instrument. His father is a guitarist, and Yu asked for the guitar to be copied. He says the tattoo doesn’t have strings because the artist didn’t get that far.
In the GQ frame, the tattoo sits among other arm pieces. The story is specific: it’s his father’s actual guitar, not just a general music symbol.
DPR IAN’s chest motto and hand ink
The script across his chest reads “Be There, Be Down, Be You.” He describes it as a motto during the tattoo tour.
The tour also shows small marks and lettering across his hands. Rolling Stone Australia singles out “Burn” on the left. Yu says the word connects to feeling as if he were burning, going too high and then crashing back down.
DPR IAN’s protector crow
The crow sits at the center of his upper back, with its wings reaching over his shoulders. Yu says the wings represent a protector. He credits tattooist Pado with the work.
The shoulder-spanning placement gives the wings room to extend across his upper back.
DPR IAN’s other documented arm tattoos
Yu says he got a tattoo in Peru’s Inca Forest from a villager using a needle. He remembers the pain around the bone, describes a line that became dots, and says the session lasted roughly twelve hours.
The story differs from the studio work he credits to Pado. The GQ footage shows several marks close together on his arm, but the available reporting doesn’t identify every one.
Why the darker visual world fits the collection
Rolling Stone Australia connects Yu’s creative work to MITO, a character he developed to process his struggles with bipolar disorder and turn them into art. That context helps explain the darker themes in his work; it doesn’t mean every tattoo is an album symbol.
What to borrow from this visual language
His collection moves between traditional imagery, lettering and personal references. The tattoos don’t have to match for the stories to sit together.
If you’re planning a tattoo for someone or a memory, start with a real object or image attached to it. Choose a placement that gives it room, then tell the artist which detail matters. Use the idea as a starting point, not a design to copy.