slayer9019

For sure. They say that the "golden ration" and certain levels of symmetry are pleasing to the human eye. When comparing work like Jondix and Hooper put out compared against the "normal" tribal stuff you can feel a big difference in the mood or idea behind it.

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Thanks gouge, didn't even know he existed! Will check it out

Thanks for the kind words, Stu.
I definitely agree that the "not just for sailors" thing is old news - in fact, that's basically what my recent articles have been about, really. I hope you don't think I'm just completely retreading old ground - in fact, I've been trying to talk about just how trodden that ground is, and trying to examine why these myths persist. I'm less repeating the assertion than examining the perception of tattooing in the media, and how these strange misconceptions have been repeated again and again since the 1890s, at least. I've been trying to analyse these old tropes, and trace them back to try and uncover where they start, because I'm as bored by them as you are. As you say, for more eloquent and informed people than I, Ed Hardy probably chief amongst them, have been pointing out that tattooing has crossed the social strata since the day Joseph Banks got tattooed fresh off the Endeavour, so what interests and frustrates me is that that (as you rightly say) banal fact is so tenacious.
I definitely don't want to be a spokesman for anything, and I really hope I don't come across that way. It would horrify me if that's the impression I give. I certainly wouldn't pretend or presume to be representative of anything except my own ideas. As you say, tattooing needs neither spokespeople nor justification, and I don't want my work to come across as doing either. If it does, I can only apologise, and promise to bear that in mind in future.
I'm simply interested in and passionate about tattooing, its history and its culture, and I'm just trying to put together knowledge from a variety of sources and put it together in a way that's accessible, interesting and novel. I'm lucky to have found myself in a position where my abilities as a researcher and writer have been able to align themselves with my passion and my love for tattooing, and all I want to do is find out as much as I can about it and share that in a sensitive, respectful way (which so often doesn't happen!).
As for coming solely from within academia, I hope that part of the strength of my writing is that I am passionate about tattooing and come, in some respects, from inside the tattoo community (whatever that might mean, of course). You've known me for a long time, so you know I'm a tattoo collector and fan before I'm an academic and historian. In fact, I became an academic because the information I went looking for about the art-form I love just wasn't there, really, and much of what I did find was so obviously wrong. Most, if not all, academic work on tattooing has been written by outsiders treating tattooing and tattooed people as just another research project, and that's why (it seems to me) that much of academic work on tattooing is so awful. I hope I can redress that balance, in my own small way.
My current project is, I hope, going to be more novel. I'm currently working on a fairly straightforward book-length history of tattooing, but one which looks at the artistic practice of tattooing rather than treating it as an anthropological freakshow. There's not been anything written like that since the 1930s, so I hope you appreciate it and think it's worth doing. I'm focussing at the moment on the period immediately after Cook's voyages returned to Europe in the 1790s - the iconic images of Western traditional tattooing were embedded by even the early decades of the 19th century, and yet (to the best of my knowledge) no-one has ever examined where they came from, and how they relate to the visual culture contexts from which they emerged. Pieces of research like that are something I hope I can bring to the table. It seems to be that there's a lot more to be learned, and a lot more to be said, about tattooing's history.
That said, I really appreciate your comments and concerns, Stu. I understand that as I'm not a tattooer, I'm always going to be on the periphery, to some extent, and I definitely understand the suspicion of and scepticism towards academics! I do want to write work and do research and conduct myself in a way that earns respect from people like yourself - serious, artistically-minded, talented, hard-working, knowledgeable and well-respected tattooers - and produce knowledge that is as of interest to those already well-versed in tattoo culture and history as those who might never have even thought about tattooing before. It's really important to me not to tread on any toes or rock any apple-carts!
As the work on my book goes forward, I'd love to sit down and talk with you and anyone else about its direction. I know you'll have a lot of really interesting things to say which can only make the finished product better.
On a final note: Mario Desa's definitely right!
Anyway, looking forward to seeing you soon.

best of craigslist: Naked on the 6 train: - m4m
best of craigslist: 911** Chevy van stolen from storage shed! REALLY PISSED!
best of craigslist: Hey Snow Nazi in Warren
best of craigslist: BJ for Bus Pass?

best of craigslist: Naked on the 6 train: - m4m
best of craigslist: 911** Chevy van stolen from storage shed! REALLY PISSED!
best of craigslist: Hey Snow Nazi in Warren
best of craigslist: BJ for Bus Pass?

I think it runs along one of my favorite sayings....
"It's not what you wanted but it's exactly what you asked for"
I have personal experience with this.

Once a week if I could. Problem is I don't want to run out of skin!

I can agree with the doctor thing as well!
Also I found over in Newark, NJ (I used to live there so I go back a lot) I usually get a lot of comments by people working in the shops. Also almost every person that works at the Panera Cafe, almost always starts a conversation about my tattoo/their tattoo as they are almost always tattooed.
Probably the funniest response I got was in a Starbucks by where I work. I usually go in there in a suit, but once went there on a weekend. The guy working the counter recognized me and was blown away that suit-types can actually like metal (Cannibal Corpse shirt) and have tattoos. It was kind of funny.

I always get the same questions...
Q: Do they hurt?
A: Only when my mom sees them.
Q: Where is the worst place to get tattooed?
A: Prison
Q: Why would you go do and do that to yourself?
A: The same reason you wouldn't
thats just a few.....

ahhhh dark throne!

I think it runs along one of my favorite sayings....
"It's not what you wanted but it's exactly what you asked for"
I have personal experience with this.

I personally found a few beers and the itch is almost gone!
I very much agree on the itchier at night. That is usually the time it is INSANE. My roommate thought I was on drugs once because I burst out of my room because it itched so bad then rummaged through the freezer for frozen veggies. Freezing cold is the absolute best, greatest, wonderful thing for itchy tattoos. Trick is to cover more than the tattoo with the cold item (frozen peas are my favorite!)

Wow ice worked wonders! Thanks a lot for the tip!

Does he know that sure is misspelled on his leg?

Once a week if I could. Problem is I don't want to run out of skin!

Can anyone relate?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_GxkBDJajg4&feature=player_embedded

Once a week if I could. Problem is I don't want to run out of skin!

more images here. tumblr.com/
they look like this....

Today I held interviews for a position that I am hiring for. One of the interviewees wore Capri pants, Flip Flops and ridiculous looking shirt. She was a mess and although she could articulate how she would be a valuable employee. Unfortunately, I couldn't get over her attire and that is my reason for not considering her for the position. What's funny is that everyone else who saw her, judged her based on a piercing over her lip and the tattoos on her feet. Those things didn't bother me in the least. What I didn't like is she didn't dress appropriatly for a job interview.

I think we're all (tattooers, that is) standing on the shoulders of giants. I've often thought about putting that on my business card.
I sort of agree with your point but any 'fame' that's bought or achieved through brown-nosing will be short lived. The guys who stick to concentrating on doing the best work they can, regardless of any fame or notion of celebrity are the ones who have the respect of their peers.
Fame is pretty easy to achieve, like you said, you just show up in the right places, shake everyones hand and make sure you get your photo taken.
Gaining the respect of your peers is another matter entirely. That takes hard work, effort, some intelligence and stamina over years or decades.
I know which one I'd rather have, although I did just spend a hell of a lot of time speaking with some heavy-hitting tattooers this weekend but maybe that's different at a convention. At least I hope so.
I think there's still plenty of blood sweat and tears in tattooing, it's just outweighed by the fame hungry party-tatters, starfuckers and endless bloggers.
I guess the only thing I disagree with and I may be opening a huge can of worms I'd rather not be involved with but, I wouldn't lump Picasso with 20th century shitty conceptual art. Though I have no desire to discuss "what is Art". Pollack made the mental leap that your brush didn't have to touch the canvas. Much like Zulueta and Hardy made the leap that a tattoo design didn't have to be a recognisable object. What happened after that is the problem, not what those guys did.
At the age of 14 Picasso could draw and paint like the old masters, Rubens included. The advent of photography meant that artists were no longer commissioned to create realistic likenesses, so they worked on creating more expressive or abstract art. Personal taste or preference aside, Picasso (and other modern artists, particularly cubists and impressionists) changed the way the rest of us perceive the world, wether we like it or not.
A Sailor Jerry (or Coleman) style pinup works much the same as a Picasso line drawing: there is perfectly the right amount of lines and detail. If you add more, you spoil it but if you take even a single line away, it doesn't make sense. One of the goals of cubism is to reduce the real world into the simplest geometric shapes and sometimes to show more than one dimension or time at once. Traditional tattooing is good at that too, I think.
I'm not a fan of the look of Picasso's more abstract stuff, but I love that he existed and changed the way we could view the world. I think that most contemporary Modern Art, certainly since the 1960's is total shit.
Luckily, Art (with a capital A) becoming conceptual pushed painting back into to fulfilling it's role as a craft, which allowed 'low-brow' or counter-cultural, craft based art (like Crumb, Williams and Greg Irons) to exist. And for that, I'm surely grateful.
But I certainly agree, 100% with the statement that there is no substitute for hard work.

San Francisco mini-treasures :)
Cody Miller (Black Heart)

Iggy Vans (Idle Hand)