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06/28/2007
Norman Rockwell Flash

Norman Rockwell is Americana. Like bee-hive hairdos, Mustangs, and finding Jesus while in jail, Rockwell's Saturday Evening Post cover art embodied the zeitgeist of the country, making him a beloved American icon.

One Rockwell cover that I've seen hanging in tattoo studios around the world is the The Tattooist, shown here, depicting a sailor getting the name Betty needled under six names previously scratched out. [Even Rockwell knew the curse of the lover's name tattoo.]

The East Bay Express recently wrote about the illustration and Rockwell's fascination with tattooing in an article on the exhibit of the artist's tattoo flash at Berkeley's beloved Tattoo Archive, which will run until July 31st.

[Soon the Tattoo Archive and The Paul Rogers Tattoo Research Center will be moving to downtown Winston Salem, North Carolina. More on that soon.]

Chuck Eldridge offers some very cool background info on the work and Rockwell himself on the Tattoo Archive site:

"Rockwell worked from various photographs while painting The Tattooist, which was used as The Post cover on the March 4, 1944 issue. In fact, Rockwell used photographs as an aid in doing most of his paintings. For The Tattooist, Rockwell borrowed a tattoo ...

Tattooing lost another of its great old salts. Mike "Rollo Banks" Malone died earlier this week; he took his life after being ill for some time. He will be greatly missed.

Rollo began his life in tattooing under the guidance of Sailor Jerry Collins, and later took over his mentor's Honolulu tattoo parlor after Collin's death in 1973. He told TimeOut Chicago that since then "he tattooed thousands of asses and just as many assholes for nearly 20 years before closing up shop a few years ago."

Over the years, Rollo pushed tattoo artistry further and further, and his paintings and flash can be found all over the world, from museums and galleries to the walls of small street shops. A hardbound book of his ink and watercolors entitled Bull's Eyes and Black Eyes can be found online at Ed Hardy's book store.The book also includes an intro and detailed discussion between Ed and Rollo on their tattoo history.

Rollo shared his knowledge of tattooing with many eager students, not just techniques but also the soul of the art and a little bit of street smart. One student is Keith Underwood who worked for Malone back in 1999, ...

Don Ed Hardy is offering limited edition giclee prints of two classic paintings: his Sailor Jerry Memorial, painted in the fall of 1973 five months after Sailor Jerry Collins died, and his watercolor/acrylic Virile Music, a work of automatic art, which Hardy describes as "approaching the work surface with no idea or preconception."

The prints are being sold online for $400 and $500 respectively.

The stories behind the work are as engaging as the imagery. A good read.

I'll also be keeping an eye out for Hardy's ceramics where he brings his art to Japanese porcelain.

One of the first artist profiles I wrote for Needled was on Beverly "Vyvyn" Lazonga, the female doyen of the fine art tattoo movement, which began over thirty years ago.

Vyvyn or Madame Lazonga not only pioneered the painterly style of tattoo but also advocated a spiritual connection between body art and people seeking "the divine".

It's this spiritual connection that was the focus on an SF Gate article this week on the Seattle tattoo artist.

The article includes a short slideshow of Vyvyn's tattoo work and an interesting Q&A that's well worth the read. Here's an excerpt:

What does a tattoo do that the more standard rite of passage rituals don't or can't, do you think?

I think tattooing helps push a person over the edge and opens up their sensibilities. Because the person getting a tattoo is in pain and pain is going to just naturally do that. Pain changes how we think.

As Nietzsche said, "That which does not kill me makes me stronger"?

Right. Enduring pain gives you a new awareness, gives you a tool you can use in other life experiences. I can't speak for everyone's motives or the benefits they may get from being tattooed, but ...

I'm utterly saddened to write that tattoo artist Walter Moskowitz passed away last night.

In December, I had the honor of meeting the legendary "Wally". I admit, I was nervous. What would I say to one of the Bowery Boys, "one of the last links to New York's tattoo heritage" as per Michael McCabe's New York City Tattoo: The Oral History of an Urban Art. But Walter Moskowitz was warm and welcoming and instantly made you feel at ease -- the perfect tattooer trait.

He was also a gifted story teller. Listening to him, transports you to the 50s, NYC's Lower East Side.

His father, Willy Moskowitz, emigrated from Russia and opened up a barbershop. He soon learned that he could support his family better through tattoos than cutting hair, so he had his friend Charlie Wagner, another legend, teach him the craft. Along with tattooing came the drunken shop brawls between (and with) rowdy clients, police harassment, and the general hustle to make a living during and after the Depression. Not an easy life, but a good trade.

Willy Moskowitz passed down the trade to Walter and his brother Stanley. According to the article The Kosher ...

Theo Jak and I like to fight. Not white knuckle brawling but a kind of verbal tussle where you respect what the other says but there's no way you're backin down. Theo's the old school of tattooing. US born but bred on the road, he was schooled via the street shop, not art academy, and while his portfolio is renowned and respected, he still finds the tattoo-as-fine-art thing pretentious. He longs for the old parlor mystique that tattooing once held. Not just the days before blogs and reality TV but way back before industry magazines and conventions. The days when it was truly an underground art. And so we fight.

I decided to record our last conversation at the London Tattoo Convention. It's a back and forth that's unlike any of my previous Q&As. He's definitely a personality. And, naturally, an interview with him starts off with a story. He doesn’t wait for a question:

Theo Jak: That guy we just passed by who said hello. When I just got over to Europe, in Amsterdam, I was a kid, that guy used to be a super-close friend of a guy I used to work with. He was always giving me ...

My favorite American in Paris is actually a Canadian but, to me, Sunny Buick will always be the talented tatoueuse from San Francisco's old school university. After paying some massive dues by apprenticing with the legendary Henry Goldfield, Sunny -- a long time Francophile -- followed her dream and is now painting and tattooing in Paris. And she looks fabulous in a beret!

We met up at the London Tattoo Convention and here's what we talked about:

MDM: I read a profile on you in Skin & Ink magazine years ago that your dream was to move to Paris, paint, and speak French without an American accent. And here you are now, painting and tattooing in the City of Light and I'd say your French sounds good, it puts mine to shame. So first, congrats on being a doer and not just a talker. Now, let's fill in the details. When did you move to Paris from California? Was it a big culture shock?

I first visited Paris in October 2001 and then I moved there in May 2003. It had always been a dream of mine to speak French fluently and I knew the only way to accomplish ...