PENNY BOY · GUEST SPOT · AUSTIN, TX
Austin collects art the way it collects sound — deliberately, and with taste. When Penny Boy tours Texas around the Star of Texas Tattoo Art Revival, he takes a small handful of full backs by application: for the kind of client who treats a spine like a commission, not an impulse.
A closed selection of Penny’s award-winning full backs — see them all & in motion, or view the art gallery.
Austin has no shortage of great tattooers, but almost nobody here builds nothing but backs. Penny Boy (Massimiliano Pennella) does — full and half backs only, one obsession refined across 100+ international awards and a Best in Show. Tech salaries and no state income tax mean Texans can finally fund the years-long, multi-session piece a back actually deserves; Penny brings the specialist who does that one thing better than anyone in the room. Bold neo-traditional and black-and-grey work, built one client at a time to last decades.
Penny tours Texas around the Star of Texas window in late January and early February, and takes a small number of full backs on those guest-spot dates. He doesn't keep a permanent Austin studio, so seats go to approved applications booked ahead — apply early to hold one.
There is no price list. A full back is a large, multi-session project spanning many hours, so every quote is custom and issued only after your application is reviewed and approved — never before.
Yes. The back is the largest and most demanding canvas on the body, and it's the only thing Penny does — full and half backs, prioritised in Austin, across Texas, the wider USA and Europe.