what's your words worth?

six years of silence.
that's a whole lot of water under the bridge.
i write this in response, as a rejoinder to, or a conversation with an old friend.

there was a time, a time when i felt high and mighty as a tattooer. a time when i would cluck my teeth and shake my head and take down names and wish to somehow have the "right side of the law" come down on tattooers who were not legal with the state... the ones who were not "sanctioned" ... the ones who had no license... the ones who weren't inspected... the outsiders... the outlaws...  and now? well. fuck the state.

tattooing is real.
real tattoos exist outside of the current state of tattooing. the ones done by pasty art fags who don't know your name or even want to know your name, they want you to know their name... they want the world to know their name. the divas. the pop stars. there's magic in the stars but it's not the right kind of magic. tattooing has become so passé. the cultural norm. and with it's meteoric rise, with every granny in town decking themselves out with butterflies and cancer ribbons, and every wanna-be bad boy and girl donning knuckle busters and neck tattoos; it's old hat.

a scratcher is a scratcher is a scratcher is a scratcher.

and as long as you pay your fees to the state, you can be a sanctioned scratcher.
i've worked in states where tattooing is highly regulated and where tattooing is not regulated at all. in tuscon, arizona, the only requirement for tattooing was: it must occur in a shop with a business license. i.e., bugger all, the bureaucrats have to get their due.
shops in tucson were every bit as clean as shops in kentucky. a dirty shop will be a dirty shop. doesn't matter if the health department inspects... not until health inspectors for tattoo shops are those who have also been "sanctioned" tattoers. i've walked into regulated AND unregulated shops that have dozens of dirty tubes sitting in an ultrasonic clustered there, for god knows how long. waiting just waiting for someone to give a shit. good practice does not allow for tubes from different clients to be in the same ultrasonic bath, but who cares? i care... but i am only one tattooer.
i've walked into regulated and unregulated shops that have non-working autoclaves, or no solid record of spore testing... inks on the artist's station, instead of packed away from all those lovely little molecules of overspray... the blood bits that go airborne while a needle pummels the epidermal layer god knows how many hundreds of times a minute. the list of infractions is endless.
i suggest those of you who don't tattoo, you should get to know your artist, watch their safe practices. if you are shopping for a shop, ask to see spore test records, ask for a tour of their clean out room. ask to see pictures of healed tattoos, forget those hot pressed brand spanking new tattoos that usually populate portfolios... pay attention to the solid tattoos you see on folks around town. if you admire the work, ask about the artist's name and where to find them. the same goes for shit tattoos. know who you don't want sinking ink into you. save yourself some painful lessons that way.

a conscientous tattoer will always be a conscientious tattooer... and an underground outlaw tattooer has a long and solid history of tattooers behind him that is every bit as much a party to the tradition of tattooing as the self-important wanna be rockstar in the highest end "art" shop of every city in the world. not every tattooer can be a kat von dee or a niko hurtado... and that's okay. and not every outlaw, unsanctioned, state evading tattooer is a scratcher. there's a long long history of the self-taught tattooist; jeff gogue is the first one who pops readily to mind. a scratcher isn't just someone who tattoos beyond the sanctioned or hoity-toity world of tattoo "starlets".
the scratcher is someone who has no idea how to sink a needle into that sweet spot below the epidermis and pull a line under proper tension... is unaware, or doesn't give a damn about blood borne pathogens or cross contamination, or sterilization.

my friend and mentor gill montie once told me "even a dog can be taught how to tattoo... the only thing that really counts is the experience of getting tattooed. if it's a good experience, they'll love that tattoo- doesn't matter what it looks like."
and he's right. i've seen tons of shit tattoos... and most of them are worn with pride...
so:
for all you tattooers out there talking shit about peoples' tattoos, because it makes you feel better about yourself in your smug world of self importance... know that you aren't making a shit lick of difference in the long run. all tattoos, good, bad and indifferent become food for worms in the end.

an interesting project:

i have been enlisted to design a tattoo for a client which has proven to be quite interesting, in that, at first glance, it is a banal textual piece:

the 23rd psalm of the bible ... what lifts this tattoo out of the pedestrian, is the client's request to have the piece written in arabic.

said client brought in an "arabic" translation, she had found on-line. i summarily ordered a book on the arabic alphabet, in order to be able to transcribe the work with a limited understanding of what i was doing, to the objection of the shop owner -telling me i should just do what the client brought in, it was after all her responsibility. after i transcribed the text in a spiral shape, i felt i had a problem. there were no diacritical marks that serve to turn the arabic consonants into phonemes with vowel sounds.

i called around and took the piece into an arabic food store to ask for verification. the owner (an arabic emigre) looked at it, clucked his teeth and said, "this is NOT arabic, it's FARSI [persian]! i can not read this!"

so i was off on a trek ... first, to find an arabic translation of the bible (not a single copy in the tucson az library system). however, the librarian was very accommodating, and produced (through his vast librarian's resources) yet another on-line translation for me.

i trotted this translation around to a couple of other arabic emigres (who run other local businesses) for verification, and was informed by them that only one of the verses made sense!

i think it's important to note that these emigres were muslim, and therefore, unfamiliar with the old testament verse.

if you've ever translated a piece of poetry with an on-line translator, you can probably imagine how ludicrous this translation must have been!

side note: beware of taking any translation you google to your tattooer.

beware of any tattooer that will google or use a google translation to tattoo your skin!!!

i spent the course of a week trying to obtain a viable translation of the 23rd psalm and two and half months before accomplishing my end goal.

during the course of the development of this piece, i was intrigued by the way it pushed the cultural boundaries, prejudices, and sensibilities of those whom i enlisted to assist me.

there were bookstore clerks who thought: the only religious text in arabic was the quran, and that all arab speaking people are muslim, etc.

there were also arab muslims, who wanted very much to be generous and help me in my quest.

they would stretch themselves a bit, give me their concentrated efforts out of kindness and then, i would watch as their body language and tone of voice digressed into a seeming uncomfortable strain having given too much of their time and energy to a christian text.

there was also the pastor,. who delivers an arabic service here in town ... it took a long, long time, but after six weeks we finally connected. we have met on more than one occasion in regards to my "calligraphic commission" and i have continued to keep my tattoos well hidden while seeking his help.

at last, i have made good progress, and the final translation to be tattooed is good, in fact, perfect!

so (two and a half months later), i am set to undertake the "calligraphic commission" on the back of a drop-dead gorgeous woman who (perhaps) just wants to carry a bit of her faith and heritage to her grave...

what i love about tattooing is it's relationship to drawing ... the pen and ink, the needle and skin ... and the fact that it is ephemeral.

there's a strange paradox involved with tattooing ...

while most consider it to be a permanent mark, it has a limitation defined by the life span of the living being that the tattoo is formed upon/within. so the perception of a tattoo as a mark of permanence is almost like a complete denial of mortality (ideologically speaking) ... while most people think of tattoos in the sense of their "permanence" ... they are, at best, totally temporal and corporeal.

the life of a tattoo is defined by that of the percipient that lives inside of the work.

tattooing is, when you get down to it, the living, breathing embodiment of impermanence.

i love this implicit contradiction, tattooing is like life -nothing, if not contradiction!

i am also infatuated with the effect that the process has with the living canvas as the piece is being executed, especially while working on larger pieces. with more time under the needle, the skin inflames, the pores open, the wound oozes ... and in the end, there is a drawing that will not wash off, it fades, grows, expands and contracts through the years ... along with its container(?), the skin, but only goes away when the percipient dies.

how beautiful is that? creating real living breathing art, no signature, just skin and ink.

november's friday the thirteenth tattoo

fire: that which transforms, burns off impurities ... provides warmth ... and lights the darkness ...

due to circumstances beyond my control, i am no longer at the shop where i was undertaking the friday the thirteenth piece.

i realize this presents a challenge to those of you who have been participating in this work ... especially for those of you who do not drive ... in an effort not to let you down, i have decided to post the design (the last of the three pictograms) here for you to print up and take to your local tattooist (choose download original size).

if you wish to present it at the shop i was at, to see if they will honor my $13 price, then do so. however, i really would prefer that you take this final piece of mine to any of several other shops in lexington to have the final ink put in ...

i will be tattooing in harrodsburg, ky ... and am willing to ink any of you who want to make the short trip over to have me do it. please call before you come, to confirm that i am in the shop!!

some trivia about this prticular 'magical' triumvirate:

the next year to contain three friday the thirteenths

is 2012

(january, april & july) ... har!

this particular pattern:

(february, march & november)

will reoccur in 2015 & 2026.

cracker jack surprise!!!

the above is a sampling of over 20 tattoos i have offered since the middle of august (or there abouts) ...

in an attempt to encourage the collecting of original tattoos, i have been drawing up a tattoo a day and sticking it on the front window of the shop [(edited)] for $100.oo.

this special is offered monday through friday until 6 p.m.

after i take them off the window, they go into a book of custom designs, and can be obtained for their market value there-after. (they start at $200 and go up from there).

the subject matter varies greatly, because just like the improv drawings, these tattoos are "found" objects: my imagination looking into the scribbling on a piece of paper to find what is there.

so in a way, coming by the shop is like opening a box of cracker jacks to see what surprise is inside! the value of these tattoos is easily $200-350 ... so it's really worth the trip to see what's being offered for the day.

i plan on only executing one tattoo for each design ... so turn off yer tv and come see what i'm cookin up!!!!!

improv drawings

   

i would like to start approaching tattoos like the above drawings ... my problem, if you follow this blog, is that i live in an area where folks seem to want run of the mill, flash tattoos. i do, after all, work in a street shop in a relatively small town in kentucky.

if anyone would be interested in collecting some work that is less like a typical tattoo, and more like the above* drawings, call me [the  shop (edited)] to schedule an appointment with me ... or if you live in the area, just come in [(edited)] to speak with me in person.

*of course, as tattoos, i would not frame the works out to the format of the paper, but would create them to flow with the body.

collectatting art

okay, so tattoos are an assertion of self-determination, as an act upon/within the body, through the body's largest organ, the skin.  

the skin is our envelop. 

we adorn ourselves, injecting ink into the dermis as a means by which to assert what we wish to inscribe forever ...  love letters, poems, billboards of hate, beauty, etc.

some of us do so impulsively, some with great consideration.

so ... tattoos are also a means of collecting art, be it 'graphic' or 'fine'.

the person who tattoos, is the artist who collaborates, with the person being tattooed.

the position of not wishing to collaborate with certain choices is not righteous or egotistical or even moralizing ... it is simply wishing to be true to one's artistic directive.  

there are plenty who will put anything on anyone.  

they are like graphic artists who do the mail circulars ... they are meeting the quota to pay the bills, regardless of who or what the advertisers are ...  

self determination and discrimination work both ways.  i think i'll stick to my guns on principal! har!