Tattoos are a big part of art and expressing yourself and that’s what we do every day, create, and express our mind/art, they say.
Ayleo Bowles and Mateo Bowles, better known as Ayo & Teo, are a duo of dancers and musicians from Ann Arbor, Michigan. The two, who appeared in music videos for Usher's "No Limit" and Chris Brown's "Party" and were also listed in the US Billboard Hot 100 for their song "Rolex", were recently in India for their show and couldn’t control their loves for Indian tattoo artists and hence got themselves inked.
While traveling to New Delhi in India for their show, the pop stars got inked at Swastikatattoos by Varun Mehta. They got 6 tattoos in total from the artist that includes Ayo’s 3 angel rings on his right forearm. TEO also got the same angel rings on shoulders and a text in Hindi on the left tricep meaning ‘Strength through Adversity’.
“Tattoos are a big part of art and expressing yourself and that’s what we do every day, create, and express our mind/art. We also wanted to get tattoos as reminders of where we have been, for memories, etc. We came back to America with over 20 tattoos total from India and Thailand,” Ayo & Teo tells Outlook.
The duo, who taught themselves how to dance from watching other artists like Usher, Kida, Skitzo, and Matt Chad and movies like Breakin' and Step Up, have also performed at the 2016 BET Awards and have had several music video appearances, with artists like Usher, Chris Brown, Lil Yachty, and others.
For the duo, “India has become a huge market for these creative talents because there is a big influence of international artists, especially in the younger section of society in India.” To this Mehta adds that 'The ‘millennials’ or ‘Gen Z’ however you’d like to call them, have grown up listening to these brilliant artists because social media has made access so easy and hence, they are such a rage.”