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04/21/2008
Tattoo News Review

Photo and article on Ta Moko revival by Paul Watson.

The tattoo news was afflicted with crazy people this week. When Kerouac said, "The only people for me are the mad ones...", I wonder if he took into consideration people like ...

The Volkswagon tattoo billboard guy.

The college kid who gets a bar logo tattoo on his butt for free beer.

Or even Fat Von D.

Burn, burn, burn... The roman candles of flaming stupidity are spectacles, but fireworks only get fleeting notice. Likewise, joke or kitsch tattoos may get a quick giggle, but won't induce laughter for a lifetime. To wit, a no-entry butt tattoo flashed on Brit TV works as a one-time performance. The brand of idiocy is permanent. I wouldn't shag him.

What is timeless is beauty. Artful custom tattoos will, indeed, fade and wrinkle but the feeling of adorning oneself like a venerated temple -- treating your body as something worthy of a masterpiece rather than a punchline -- is eternal.

Thankfully, the news also looked at tattoos with soul.

The best example would be the LA Times article on the revival of Ta Moko, the ancient tattoo arts of the Maori in New Zealand. It's a brilliant read that not just offers a little history but also discusses how the Maori are fighting, using modern copyright laws, to protect their ancestral designs from appropriation like say on Hello Kitty dolls. There's also a great quote from Maori tattoo artist Mark Kopua:

"I learned very quickly that moko was therapy for people. If you ail inside, and you get taken to a grandparent for advice, the elders are involved in your healing. This is very similar to that." [Thanks, Shawn!]

In the US & Canada, two tattoo artists were profiled in the news this week for raising tattooing to a fine art:

In fact, that's pretty much the headline of this article on Archangel Tattoo in Nashville, TN. I checked out their MySpace page and found some particularly good portraiture from their tattooer Louie Lopez.

The Vancouver Province profiled Thomas Lockhart, 30-year tattoo veteran and co-conspirator of the fabulous Vanishing Tattoo and Online Tattoo Museum. He tells the journal, "I really do love my job and there is still a degree of magic to it. I enjoy the interaction with my customers, regaling them with stories of exotic lands and strange tattooing practices, and creating masterpieces on them." You can hear those stories yourself when National Geographic puts out the Vanishing Tattoo documentary series.

The magic and artistry is lost on many though, and visible tattoos can still hinder getting or keeping a job. I had a recent experience where I was dressed very conservatively while at work (a corporate law firm), but kept the small tattoo on my hand uncovered. I've been there a while and proved my worth for many years now, so the tattoo is no biggie -- except when meeting people in the office for the first time. In a discussion with a new colleague, who simply could not take her eyes off my hand and had a pursed-lipped look of dire constipation, I was reminded of the biases that still exist.

A further case in point: tattoo studios being lumped in with pawn shops and bails bondsman in yet another zoning ban.

A bunch of fun stuff popped up in the headlines as well. Check these quick and dirty links:

Now this type of madman I like: Behold the tattooed Sweeney Todd..[Thanks, Laurence!]

Mommy Has a Tattoo is mentioned in the news again as the preferred reading choice for kids over a new plastic surgery book to explain mommy's new boobies.

Secret Lord of the Rings tattoos revealed! Again.

Jason Ackerman is customizing Vince Neil's Ducati. [Via TattooNow.com.]

Gotta love the Linux tattoo nerd. Bet he can kick that Zune tattoo guy's ass.

A tattoo tribute to mom is really behind the Big Tattoo Wine guys.

And there was also convention coverage for the following shows: Shreveport-Bossier Tattoo Convention in Louisiana (with a photo slideshow); The 29th Annual National Tattoo Association Tattoo Convention in Reno, NV; and some photos from the Moscow Tattoo Expo (although mostly of body painting). Our own convention coverage from the weekend's Philly show is coming up this week.