More Human Than Human
Original tattoos and artwork created through conversation, instinct, and collaboration.
The world can generate endless images.
I create something different.
Every piece begins with a person, a story, an energy, or even an idea that cannot quite be explained yet. You bring your experiences. I bring my vision. Somewhere between the two, the artwork appears.
No formula.
No recycled composition.
No identical result twice.
Created between humans.
Art Without a Single Medium
Derek Entenmann, known internationally as UberDerek, has spent nearly two decades creating original artwork across skin, canvas and physical objects — a practice that feels active rather than fixed, carrying traces of movement, history and reconstruction.
Two Decades, Two Mediums.
Since 2008, Derek has worked internationally as both a tattoo artist and visual artist, creating thousands of custom projects across Europe and the United States.
His career has included tattoo conventions, international guest work, years of travel, exhibitions, private commissions and a residency aboard Virgin Voyages with Squid Ink.
His tattoo work has received Best of Show at the DC Tattoo Expo, multiple Best of Day awards and First Place New School at the Stockholm Tattoo Festival, and is sponsored by World Famous Ink, Hustle Butter Deluxe and Cheyenne.
Today, his work moves between tattooing, painting, sculpture, print, apparel and public-facing art projects through Hive Tattoo Studio in Salzburg and Hive Art Gallery in Berchtesgaden.
Featured In.
A profile on Derek's path from Philadelphia to Salzburg and his connection between tattooing and fine art.
Read article →Studio feature in the German tattoo magazine's yearbook, covering Derek's avant-garde style.
Read article →An artist profile covering Derek's avant-garde style and international influences.
Read article →Official artist profile with one of the largest tattoo convention producers in the US.
View profile →Further coverage of the same tattoo cruise in the German rock and metal magazine.
Read article →Art Is More Than an Image
We are entering a world where almost anything can be generated instantly.
Beautiful images. Strange images. Perfect images. Millions of them.
But art was never valuable simply because an image existed.
Art carries intention.
It carries the hand, decisions, accidents, conversations, memories, contradictions, and personality of the people who created it.
My tattoos are not produced from a fixed menu of designs. They emerge through collaboration.
Your story. My vision. One piece that could not exist without both of us.
The Art Exists Between Us
You do not need to arrive with a finished tattoo design.
Bring an emotion. A memory. A symbol. A contradiction. A collection of references. A vague idea you cannot yet describe.
I listen for what is underneath it.
Then I translate that into my own visual language: abstract movement, sketchwork, geometry, blackwork, painterly marks, fragmentation, color, and controlled chaos.
The final piece should feel unmistakably mine.
But it should also feel impossible without you.
I Am Not Competing With a Machine
AI is another tool in a world already overflowing with tools.
That is not the interesting part.
The interesting question is what becomes more valuable when images become unlimited.
I believe the answer is perspective.
Original thought. Human instinct. Personal connection. The courage to create something unpredictable.
A machine can generate an image.
It cannot live your life, sit across from you, interpret what you are trying to say, and make creative decisions in the room with you.
It Cannot Generate Our Tattoo.
Original Artwork for the Body
A tattoo should work from across the room and reward attention up close.
Every project begins with a conversation about the person, the idea and the part of the body it will inhabit. The composition is then developed around movement, anatomy and the way the tattoo will age over time.
The goal is not to copy an image or reproduce a trend. It is to create a complete piece of artwork that belongs naturally to the person wearing it.
For large projects, the body is treated as a whole composition rather than a collection of disconnected images. Sleeves, back pieces and multi-session work are planned for flow, readability and long-term impact.
One Visual Language. No Repeats.
My work combines abstract art, geometric structure, blackwork, sketch energy, painterly gestures, and unexpected composition.
I do not aim to reproduce a reference exactly.
I use references as fragments of a larger conversation, then build something new around the body, the person, and the moment.
Work for Walls, Rooms and Collections
The paintings and sculptures extend the same visual language beyond the body.
Layers of drawing, paint, graphic structure and found visual references are built into surfaces that carry movement, tension and history. Some works are immediate and energetic. Others reveal themselves slowly through buried marks, interruptions and fragments.
Original works, limited editions, sculptural pieces and selected objects are available through UberDerek and Hive Art Gallery.
Meet Me Somewhere in the World
I work from Salzburg and travel internationally for selected tattoo conventions, guest spots, exhibitions, and private projects.
Appointments at conventions are limited and best suited to bold one-day pieces, larger project starts, and work that fits my visual language.
Stockholm, Sweden
Stockholm Ink Bash
Münchenbryggeriet
Berlin, Germany
34th Tattoo Convention Berlin
Arena Berlin
Palma de Mallorca, Spain
Mallorca Tattoo Convention
Palma Arena
Washington, D.C. Area, USA
15th Annual DC Tattoo Expo
Choose the city. Bring the beginning of an idea. We will create the rest together.
The Work Begins Before the Surface
Every project begins by understanding what the work needs to become.
For a tattoo, that means considering the person, the body, the placement and the life the artwork will enter.
For a painting, sculpture or commission, it means understanding the space, scale, atmosphere and relationship the work will have with its surroundings.
The initial idea is developed through drawing, research, collage, composition and experimentation. Structure is built, interrupted and refined until the piece develops its own internal rhythm.
The result should feel intentional without feeling overcontrolled.
Conversation
Research
Composition
Construction
Refinement
Final Work
Commissions and Collaborations
Selected commissions are available for private collectors, businesses, hospitality spaces, interior projects and creative collaborations.
These may include original paintings, sculptural works, customized objects, murals, installations, limited editions or artwork developed for a particular space.
Each commission begins with a discussion of scale, setting, budget and intent.
Your Tattoo Does Not Exist Yet
Not in my portfolio.
Not in a prompt.
Not on somebody else.
It begins when we talk.
Fine art gallery: @hivegallery.art