Inked Talk

April 24, 2009 marks the opening of the Philadelphia Independence Seaport Museum’s tattoo exhibit: Skin and Bones - Tattoos in the Life of the American Sailor. The exhibit takes an educational and entertaining look at the beliefs and traditions that inspired maritime tattoos.

The exhibit will feature tattooing tools, both traditional and modern, tattoo flash and tattoo artwork, tattoo artifacts, and even a recreation of an old-fashioned tattoo parlor.  The exhibit will appeal to tattoo aficionados, of course, but it also aims to provide some insight into the often misunderstood inked culture by explaining the importance of tattoos in the context of maritime tradition, folklore and mythology.

In addition to the limited run exhibit, the museum will feature two screenings of the film Hori Smoku Sailor Jerry, examining the life of Norman “Sailor Jerry” Collins, the man most associated with American naval tattoos.

The exhibit runs through January 3, 2010.

Sanskrit is one of the oldest langauges in the world, and Sanskrit tattoos have enjoyed a recent surge in popularity not unlike Kanji and Chinese character tattoos have enjoyed for years.  Celebrity interest in Sanskrit tattoos has been on the rise,with Gillian Anderson, Tommy Lee and Jessica Alba all sporting Sanskrit ink. Singer Rihanna recently made tattoo headlines by getting a Sanskrit tattoo that she intended to say “forgiveness, honesty, suppression and control.” Recently, however, a Sanskrit expert has remarked that the tattoo was spelled incorrectly.

Some Hindus and other Sanskrit specialists have used this unfortunate misspelling urge tattoo artists to learn more about Sanskrit before tattooing the language on a client.  Hindu statesman Raja Zed has issued a statement calling for the creation of a basic curriculum that would serve to introduce tattoo artists to basic Sanskrit language concepts, the script, and even the philosophy behind the Sanskrit.  Zed has even offered to provide the resources necessary for a serious study of the language.

Tattoos featuring Chinese or Japanese characters have been popular long enough in America to become nearly as trite as the tramp stamp.  Some recent news articles have been reporting that a similar trend is emerging in China, where English language tattoos are enjoying a new surge in popularity.

While tattoos have been a part of Chinese culture for millenia, tattoo parlors have been mostly taboo under the Communist regime. Nevertheless, tattoo parlors have been popping up in China in recent years, and although their legality may be questionable they are slowly finding their place in modern China. Even though tattoos still bear the stigma of criminal association, more and more younger people are becoming interested in tattoos because many of their favorite Western sports and celebrity figures are tattooed.

What is most surprising of all is the latest trend that Chinese tattoo artists are reporting.  Tattoo parlors are seeing more and more clients seeking tattoos in the English language.  Not surprisingly, it is the younger crowd that seeks the English language and Western-influenced tattoos, while older clients prefer to stick to traditional themes like tigers and dragons.

The attraction to English language tattoos is easy to understand.  In the Western world, a good Kanji tattoo has an air of the exotic.  To the Eastern world, an English language tattoo can present the same mystique.

Below: From McClatchyDC.com: “Ting Ting shows off the tattoo on the back of her cousin, Zhang Hui, who used English lettering to spell out the name of an ex-girlfriend.”

I am of the belief that most tattoos are pretty good. Not excellent, not awful. Not outstanding, not terrible. They are middle of the road. Even though I love my ink, at least one of my tattoos falls into that category. Good, but not really memorable.

Some tattoos are memorable because they are truly great. They make are the “hell yeah!” tattoos that make you want to run out and get some new ink yourself. Dan Hazelton’s Spiderman piece comes to mind for the sheer artistic value. Other tattoos are memorable for just the opposite reason: they are so awful that you seriously question the sanity of anyone who would want it. The famous “Mr. Cool Ice“is the obvious example of the big “WTF” award.

Sometimes, however, a tattoo provokes an entirely different emotion, a confusing emotion: a reaction of “is that cool? Or is that awful?” Can a tattoo be both cool and awful at the same time?

Inked Talk Readers: I present, for your consideration, the Pac Man head tattoo:

Is this awesome? Or is this horrible?  I can’t decide.

I love Pac Man. The execution is great - Ms. Pac is appropriately pixelated, and even the cherries bear just the right amount of white-pixel shine to make them look like they came straight out of 1983.

But around the hairline? She shaved her head for this. Readers, I am at a loss. I love Pac Man, I love tattoos, the art is great, but the execution, or the placement…I don’t know.  I’d love more information about this tattoo, too - I’d love to see how it looks healed and who the artist is so I can properly credit this.

The 2009 Singapore Tattoo Show kicks off this weekend, January 9 - 11 at the Singapore Expo.  Showcasing tattoo artists and industry experts from around the world, this convention is the first of its kind in Singapore, and thought to be among the largest tattoo conventions in Asia.

Convention highlights include guest artists Chris Garver of Miami Ink, horror master Paul Booth of Last Rights Tattoo in New York, and Bob Tyrell of Night Gallery in Detroit.  While the guest lineup sounds like a typical large American tattoo convention, it is anything but that.  Thailand’s Reverend Ar Jahn Tong, one of the most respected Thai Buddhist Elders in Asia,  is making a special appearance to educate conventiongoers on the spiritual aspects of tattooing.

Of course, typical tattoo-convention fare will abound: tattoo contests, trade seminars, and live tattooing are all a part of the show.  This convention should prove to be anything but typical, as vistors will also be treated to world-renowned Lion Dance and Dragon Dance performances.

Convention organizers hope that the convention will help change perceptions about tattooing in Singapore by highlighting the tremendous amount of skill and artistry involved in tattooing.

“The tattoo show is an event that we know will draw different and varied visitors, keen to be educated, experience the art and be entertained. Some enthusiasts travel around the world to take part in tattoo shows, it is a time in which this art is experienced on one’s own skin and, it is difficult not to be affected by the unique atmosphere that makes tattoos a very familiar and easy form of body art for everybody’” said Kirby Lian from Utopia Studio, the Official Event Partner who is also the show’s inspirational mentor.

To learn more, visit the 2009 Singapore Tattoo Show’s Official Site:

Tattoos and blogs are two things that have gained incredible popularity in recent years, so it is no wonder that the number of blogs about tattoos has increased exponentially.  A few tattoo blogs truly stand out as quality reads, and of those the first that comes to mind is Under the Gun Tattoos’ Myspace blog.  Under the Gun Tattoos is a studio in New Brighton, PA, and like many tattoo shops it has used Myspace as a promotional and networking tool as well as a gallery of tattoo art, studio photos, and more.  What sets Under the Gun Tattoos apart from the literally thousands of other tattoo shops with a Myspace page is the quality of Under the Gun’s blog.  Blog topics range from truly deep subjects, such as art appreciation generally and the ethics of tattooing (should an artist refuse to tattoo something, such as a swastika or white power slogan, that goes against his personal beliefs? ) to practical issues such as tattoo price considerations.  The pieces are always well written, informative, often humorous, and the only possible complaint one could have is that the blogs are sadly infrequent.

Tattoo enthusiasts of all kinds would do themselves a favor to subscribe to this blog.  I’d even go so far as to say it is worth setting up a Myspace account for.  Kudos to Under the Gun for doing such excellent work, and I look forward to reading your next piece.

Data:

Under the Gun Tattoos

1105 3rd Avenue, New Brighton, PA 15066

724.847.1592

Myspace Page

The Smoking Gun website has long been a fun website for finding celebrity mug shots, wacky police reports, interesting court pleadings and obnoxious riders and requirements for famous musicians. More recently TSG has been providing its readers with things like the weekly mugshot roundups featuring everything from ironic arrestee t-shirts, booked hotties, and some of the most screwed up individuals known to civilization.

Today’s Smoking Gun really delivers though, and in a tattoo-related way. Today’s Smoking Gun feature is a before and after picture of a man with some extreme facial tattoos. The first mugshot is from 2003. Michael Campbell of Colorado sports just a few face tats and a very dazed look in the early photo. His latest booking from just six weeks ago reveals a totally different look. Campbell’s entire face has been tattooed almost completely, with a particularly jarring expanse of black across his forehead, topped by a pentacle.

Other notable features of this incredible facial work is the Celtic knotwork running down the left and right sides of his face. While most of his original facial tattoos have been obscured, a doglike creature from the original photo remains on his chest. The tip of his nose has been tattooed black, with receding scale-like lines ascending towards the bridge of his nose. My personal favorite touch, however, is what appears to be a big polka-dotted bowtie tattooed across the front of his neck.

The article accompanying the photos is brief, but it notes that Campbell has spent a good deal of the years between his two mugshots in custody, so either he has found a very prolific jailhouse tattoo artist, or he is one dedicated man when he’s out of jail.

Ready for the photos?

The original Smoking Gun post can be found here.

A recently published study on tattoos in Australia has been cited by a number of authors as hard evidence of the end of Australians’ love affair with tattoos.  Specifically, the study by UMR Research that inspired these articles suggests that Australians of all ages find body art to be a “turn off.” Over 1000 Australians participated in the survey, and over 50% of those surveyed indicated that a tattoo on a member of the opposite sex makes them “less attractive.” Men were slightly more likely than women to indicate that a ink made someone less attractive, with 56% of men finding tattoos on women unattractive, while only 50% of women felt the same about ink on men. Only 7% of those surveyed indicated that body art makes its bearer more attractive. Survey participants ranged in age from 18 to 70.

For every trend, there is a sector of naysayers who say the trend is dead or dying, and others will even deny it is a trend at all.  Admittedly, few back up their opinions with a survey.  However, the articles hailing this study as the beginning of the end of the tattoo trend in Australia go much farther than the study itself suggests.  For example, the results of this survey don’t shed light on whether this is a change in Australians’ opinions of tattoos, or whether half of Australia’s population have always found tattoos unattractive.  It only tells us that now, at this time, about half of those surveyed found tattoos on the opposite sex to be unattractive. The survey as presented is an interesting collection of statistics, but it doesn’t go far to predict the future of tattooing in Australia.

Personally, I don’t expect to see any marked change in the tattoo industry based on these results. Nothing, not even the world’s current economic woes, have seemed to quash the popularity of tattooing in recent years.  If you are interested, here is one of the articles that cites the Australian study.

The Sunday after Thanksgiving is a different experience for everyone.  Some of us are recovering from a weekend spent with weird relatives.  Others are still fighting the traffic and the weather to get home after a holiday trip.  Still others are trading in their autumn decorations for the greens and reds of Christmas.  A good number of us - even those of us who ventured out on Black Friday intending to get all of our holiday shopping done early this year - are still in the process of planning out the holiday gifts for family and friends.  So what is a good gift for a tattoo enthusiast?

Subscription to a Tattoo Magazine.  Who doesn’t like browsing through the latest issue of Skin & Ink or Tattoo Savage?  The tattoo fan on your Christmas list will look forward to getting his favorite magazine delivered to his door.  If you are unfamiliar with current tattoo publications, About.com offers this great guide to help you decide which one will make the best present.

Tattoo Apparel.  The two hottest names in tattoo-inspired apparel right now are Sailor Jerry and Ed Hardy.  The Ed Hardy lines feature everything from wallets and belts to  T-shirts and even a fragrance.  The Sailor Jerry line, while not quite as extensive, does feature the famous Sailor Jerry rum.  Can you ever go wrong with rum?

Books about Tattoos.  A search for “tattoo” on Amazon.com yields results numbering in the thousands.  While not all tattoo books make good gifts, a little research and foresight can make sure that you select a good one.  Some tattoo books that are best avoided are photo books or flash books which feature little more than pictures of tattoos and tattoo designs.  While these are useful when someone is looking for a little inspiration for their new ink, as a gift these may not be ideal unless you know the person is actively looking for some new body art.  A better option may be something a little more specialized.  Does the person on your shopping list like Japanese tattoos?  Bushido, Legacies of the Japanese Tattoo is an excellent choice.  Or what about a gift for someone that you know is just looking into getting their first tattoo?  Ink: The Not Just Skin-Deep Guide to Getting a Tattoo is a wonderful resource and would be a great gift for the not-yet-inked.  There are so many books on tattoos available and in print right now that finding an excellent gift for the tattoo enthusiast is easier than ever.

Gift Certificates to a Favorite Tattoo Shop.  Many tattoo shops, such as Milwaukee favorite and friend if Inked Talk Custom Tattoo, offer gift certificates.  Tattoos are pricey, but a gift certificate doesn’t have to cover the full cost of a tattoo.   They can typically be used towards the cost of a tattoo, or even shop merchandise like t-shirts or aftercare products.  Tattoo gift certificates are a great way to get something that a tattoo enthusiast will love, and a little support for a local tattoo shop is always appreciated.

Longtime friendships are a rare and beautiful thing, and a when a group of six New Jersey women - friends since grammar school - celebrated their milestone fiftieth birthdays this year, they decided to commemorate their friendship in a unique way:  they got matching tattoos.

Sue Tobjy, who already had six tattoos, suggested the idea to her friends about a year ago.   One of the women, Darlene Tremont, had three tattoos herself and was easily convinced. The other four weren’t quite as quick to warm up to the idea.

“Can’t we all get a piece of jewelry?” Kathy Sippie countered.

Jewelry just didn’t have the permanence that the women felt was appropriate to commemorate such a long standing friendship. Tobjy reassured her friends that the pain of getting a tattoo is worse than going to a dentist, but not as bad as childbirth. Eventually, the women all agreed, and they decided on shooting stars. The main star in the design is symbolic the women as a group, and the smaller stars represent their personalities. Jae Conner of Electric Lotus Tattoo and Piercing in Boonton, New Jersey did the tattooing.

The women are all 1977 graduates of Wayne Hills High School in New Jersey, and they have all remained very close over the years. They take a yearly vacation together, and they meet for dinner once a month.

“We can all relate to each other,” said Tobjy. “I know more about these girls, and we know each other’s lives, our families, everything. They’re in my life forever.”

“We’re all soul mates,” declared Lori Atieh.

Today I noticed a group of Myspace pages dedicated to the eradication of what they call “tattoo discrimination.”  One page in particular was very well composed, with blogs about tattoo discrimination in the workplace, social discrimination, and general gripes about how people with tattoos are treated unfairly in society because of their ink.   The site sums up its mission statement by saying that “as tattooing has become more mainstream, we are still not finding work or we are forced to cover up our expressions of art and life. We need an end to the discrimination that we are forced to face on a daily basis.”

As a tattooed person, I don’t feel that way at all.  And I know I’m not alone in my sentiments, am I?

Every day, each one of us perceives the people we meet in different ways, and we draw conclusions about them based upon those perceptions.  We think things like “that blonde has a great body,” or “the new guy at work really needs to iron his shirt,” or “the waitress has fake fingernails.”  Those are all perceptions based entirely upon visual cues made in less than a moment, and we can and do draw conclusions about those people that we see based upon how they present themselves to the world.  Why wouldn’t tattoos be a part of that visual perception?  More importantly, don’t we as tattooed people accept that and perhaps even want it that way?

When you choose to tattoo your body, you are making a bold choice on a number of levels.  First and most immediately, you are choosing to inflict pain and stress upon your body for no medical purpose.  Second, you are choosing to incorporate a design in ink onto your body that will remain a part of your body for the rest of your life.  Third, you are making an alteration to your body that, if visible to the general public, will be a part of the perception that people form about you.  None of these things should be a surprise to anyone who has a tattoo.  We recognize them and accept them before even thinking about getting tattooed.

On a personal level, I would love to display my tattoos while I am at work.  I would love to get tattoos across my knuckles and on the backs of my hands.  However, I work in an extremely traditional profession, and I just don’t see that ever happening.  Frankly, I’m not sure I’d want to.  It would require such a shift in traditional thinking that it would be the ultimate mark of tattoos’ transition from the outside to the mainstream.  I don’t think I want that.  More importantly, I recognize that just as I have the right to tattoo my body, my employer has the right to say that I need to cover my tattoos while I am working.  I’d never suppose that my rights to get tattooed eclipse my employer’s rights to set out the terms of my employment, and if I did feel that way, I have the option of renegotiating those terms finding other work.  Forced “acceptance” of my tattoos in the workplace seems like a ridiculous option to me.

I don’t believe that most tattooed people want a hard and fast halt to tattoo “discrimination,” nor do I believe anything of the kind is possible.  Even if workplaces were forced to do away with dress codes that require tattoos to be covered up, that would just scratch the surface of the discrimination perceived by the group with the Myspace page.  I don’t want to force anyone to accept me.  Either they get me, or they don’t.  If they don’t, its their loss.

As one of America’s most well-known architechts, Frank Lloyd Wright may seem like an unlikely influence for tattoo designs.  However, the philosophy behind Wright’s “organic architecture” - the harmonious convergence of the natural and the artificial - actually goes hand in hand with the very concept of body art.  Some of Wright’s most recognizable and distinct work is found in the windows and doors designed and created in his more famous houses. While Frank Lloyd Wright tattoos aren’t exactly commonplace, there are some beautiful examples of these unique and amazing tattoos.

The Coonley Playhouse in Illinois features some of Wright’s most famous stained glass designs.  Even people with just a passing knowledge of Frank Lloyd Wright’s work are likely to recognize these famous pieces:

One tattoo enthusiast used the Coonley windows as a basis for an amazing upper arm piece, and the effect is quite stunning:

Wright’s Tree of Life design with its straight lines and strict symmetry is another very distinct and easily recognized piece:

While the design has been simplified, it is easy to see that the Tree of Life design was the inspiration for this upper back tattoo:

While it is clearly a gem among Frank Lloyd Wright enthusiasts, the Dana House in Springfield, Illinois is relatively lesser-known design among his major works.  Nevertheless, the Dana House may be the consummate Frank Lloyd Wright Prairie style showcase, featuring the trademarked organic components.  One Frank Lloyd Wright enthusiast found the door design of the Dana House to be an excellent inspiration for his calf tattoo:

Frank Lloyd Wright approached architechture in a way that allowed for complete harmony between the natural and the artificial, the wild and the manmade.  Well designed tattoos allow for a similar affinity between the flesh and the design.

Last week Inked Talk featured John Paul “JP” Bertrand’s attempt at breaking Oliver Peck’s world record for the most tattoos completed in a 24-hour period.  The tattoo attempt was made yesterday, October 23, 2008, but Bertrand failed to beat Peck’s record of 415 tattoos within 24 hours.

Crowds gathered outside of Key West Ink to get a free tattoo as a part of the record attempt.  Even the rain after nightfall couldn’t keep the enthusiastic crowds away from Key West.  Participants could choose from one of four simple designs, which is what Bertrand feels kept his efforts from reaching the 416 tattoos needed to break the record.

A picture from the Key West Ink website shows the early-day crowd.

Bertrand completed 371 tattoos, which is an average of 15.5 tattoos per hour for a full 24 hour period.

“It’s hard to focus in 24 hours on four different things and make it flow fast,” Bertrand commented.  He plans to make another attempt at the record in the future, but he will feature just one tattoo design in order to streamline the process.

Whether you love or hate the Suicide Girls (warning: the SG site is NOT work safe or child safe. Take the appropriate precautions before clicking!), you have to admit that there was some genius behind the concept: the website featured tattooed and pierced semi-nude girls with alternative fashion tastes and charged people for the privilege of looking at their photos. Add some interactive forums and limited original content, and the Suicide Girls website was worth the price of admission, which was a monthly fee charged to your credit card. Admittedly, Suicide Girls was essentially just a specialized softcore porn site, but quite honestly, it was a lot of fun.

Suicide Girls enjoyed relatively limited popularity until the site and some of its girls were featured on HBO’s Real Sex. Then the Suicide Girls site exploded, and with fame and fortune came a lot of drama which ultimately cost the SG site a number of their most famous girls as well as a lot of fans.

While some of the drama has died down, there is definitely something different about the current incarnation of the Suicide Girls website. Namely, the girls. A visit to the SG site today shows not the pierced, inked and dyed beauties that made the website famous. Instead, the site features regular, plain women, women you’d see at the grocery store, on the bus, or in college classes. Women who look like the women on nearly every other soft porn site on the Internet.

What happened, Suicide Girls?

Sure, there are some tattooed beauties remaining on the site, although you wouldn’t know it by looking at the site’s main page. With a few, rare exceptions, so many of the girls on the SG site look like everyone else.  Pretty, but common.

Maybe SG’s initial success was due to the fact that it was so different, and once different become mainstream it loses its edge. As things like tattoos and piercings become mainstream, the very definition of “alternative” changes. Suicide Girls certainly has changed, but its change has been to something far less extreme and far more mainstream.

I, for one, miss the old Suicide Girls.

Six months ago, Inked Talk shared the story of James Burns, a man who was selling a spot on his body for a permanent, tattooed advertisement.  Having fallen on hard times, he hoped that some corporation would bid on his eBay auction and offer him a hefty sum to place their corporate logo on his body.

Another story of body space for sale has come to us from the UK.  This time, Adam Vollans has auctioned off space on his arm for a charity.  His grandmother, who battled emphesyma for six years before passing away earlier this year, was the inspiration for his philanthropy.  Adam raised £900 in his quest, and the tattoo space sold for £250.

The winning tattoo?  Mr. Martyn Gilleard offered the highest bid and opted to have his name, “M Gilleard” tattooed in bold English script on Vollans’ arm. It probably wasn’t quite what Vollans had in mind when he conceived his auction idea, but he went with it unflinchingly.  Understandably, some men may be uncomfortable sporting another man’s name prominently and permanently on his skin.  Vollans, however, kept a positive attitude.  “”I now have got a bloke’s name tattooed on my arm - but then again it’s better than having a lass’s name, as my girlfriend Louise would go mad.”

Tattoo artist Steve Degg of Scorpio Tattoos in Selby did the two hour tattooing session for free.

Vollans, who lived with his grandmother and watched her health deteriorate over time, thinks she would be proud of him for his unique contribution to charity.