Petri Aspvik
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Posts posted by Petri Aspvik
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I have to add (relating to the bad/good tattoos) that of course it is easier for me, a customer, to take such a lofty stance when compared to you tattoo artists, who have to do (and WANT to do) good tattoos. It is different and I understand it :)
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Do you think the designs immediately spark something internal in us, as part of a collective unconscious, or do you think people just automatically associate them with something primal and primitive and therefore more significant?
Fuck! I wrote a long ass reply then pushed the wrong button!
Well.
It depends on the person. I see us humans as primal beings, so I can associate any tattoo style to something "deeper". But it is the most prominent when we are dealing with blackwork.
I think it maybe in someways makes us look more inward as you also pointed. Because the desings themself are in a way closer to us, as a philosophical thing where you can create the meaning based on your own self and also as a physical thing, where the image it self is about enhancing the bodys curviture. It uses the body maybe more than other styles where the image itself conveys something (ship, monkey, crack addict). They have a set visual meaning. Like words. Car, tattoo of a car. When blackwork can work -maybe even more than other styles- with the human figure and do just that with out having a set image. But of course blackwork/trbal tattoos HAVE meanings, but as I said, it can be easier to make the tattoo alive yourself than get a image that is alive allready.
So, it depends.
Relating to this. To me, even a bad tattoo is a good one if the person likes it. That is why I rarely take part in discussions about visualy or techinically bad tattoos. Because there is the person behind the tattoo. I try to look past the image and see the whole spectrum.
Of course a bad tattoo is a bad tattoo. I just try not be snobish in a way. Tattooing is about more than just the images. Is about the people wearing them.
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Great reply Patrick! About the "borrowing". It's funny. For me it is also about the fact that the designs are so simplistic that I am actually more able to be myself (this is in thinking and in thought) when the design just IS. I don't have to think about the deeper connection (like the Rory and Leo backpieces represent whales tale and that has a meaning. If I remember correctly) because it just enhances my body. It's the same reason I want to get the Ensō circle tattooed on me, because it represents nothing but the moment. Breathing in, breathing out. And here is the kicker. At the same time I sort of CREATE my own deep tribal desing, or what ever you want to call it. I give the tattooing life. As did all the old tribes and such.
Modern Primitives
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OK. Due to the Jonathan Shaw topic (here) I thought I will get some conversation going on about blackwork. I will just call everything that has spawned from Tribal style work blackwork. My favorites are Jun Matsui (3 pic), Thomas Hopeer (4 pic) and the likes. Too many to name. Marisa Kakoulas has a great info piece in the article relating to her book Black Tattoo Art: Modern Expressions of the Tribal.
I will quote it here.
It was inspired by Ed Hardy's TattooTime premier issue entitled New Tribalism. In it, the legendary Cliff Raven said one of my favorite quotes:"The perfect tattoo -- the one I believe we are all struggling toward -- is the one that turned the jackass into the zebra."
Raven, one of the pioneers of the fine art tattoo movement, wrote that after 20 years of tattooing, he found "decorative art" was the tattoo style that best fit the human canvas. He explained that creating two-dimensional elaborations on a three-dimensional object is akin to "pin striping an auto as opposed to copying Frazetta paintings onto the sides of vans." It was a bold statement, but one perfectly suited to the tattoo movement it trumpeted.
He called this style "Pre-Technological Tattooing." Hardy called it "New Tribalism." Most have used the term "Neo-tribal" to define the tattooing of Leo Zulueta, one of the first contemporary tattooists to fully dedicate his body of work to interpreting the arts of indigenous cultures (also featured in Black Tattoo Art).
More recently, many tattooists have been defining their portfolios as "Blackwork," taking their tribal interpretations even farther but still adhering to the decorative arts tenets. Indeed, there is a rainbow of terms to describe this monochromatic art form.
For this book, we kept it simple with the title "Black Tattoo Art: Modern Expressions of the Tribal" to encompass the various designs and aesthetics that have sprung from the Neo-Tribal movement; a movement which took root in the late sixties, flourished in the eighties and nineties, and pollenized the beautiful offshoots of today.
The title is deceptively simple, however, because what really is "modern black" tattoo art?
It's not a book on traditional tribal tattooing. There is a chapter that looks at a few artists today reviving their ancestral tattoo arts, but this is a very small part of this monster volume.
It is a book that looks at how today's tattooists have taken the tenets of tribal arts -- the soulfulness and harmony with the body -- and applied it in contemporary, imaginative ways.
Needles and Sins Tattoo Blog | Black Tattoo Art Book Release
I really love the part where mister Raven said
after 20 years of tattooing, he found "decorative art" was the tattoo style that best fit the human canvas. He explained that creating two-dimensional elaborations on a three-dimensional object is akin to "pin striping an auto as opposed to copying Frazetta paintings onto the sides of vans."And I think that is what really draws me to this style aswell. How a great black work backpiece for example makes the human seem like something else. A myth perhaps. Some type of otherworldly hero. And it doesn't just have to link the wearer to something old. Like for example the Leo Zulueta backpiece (1 pic, Rory is the one in the right) on Rory Keating conveys a feeling similar to Queequeg from Moby Dick (Queequeg - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia) when for example the one by Volker (2 pic) is a futuristic anti goverment operative who bears the mark of the resistance. It's his armor of choise. But both have a strong romantic feel to them. The chosen ones.
It fits (when done right) the wearer perfectly. Perhaps better than any other style of tattooing.
Do you agree or disagree?
edit. The title should be Blackwork, not black work
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OK. Thanks for the input Deb! :) And Donn, Hawk and others
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Interesting. Do you guys not like his work because what kinda guy he is or doesnt it just work? I dont know anything about his personality, but his abstract work looks great to me.
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I was re-introduced to him via this blog post by Tomas Tomas. Fucking amazing stuff! Any more pics or stories, I would love to hear them!!
Remember this? Jonathan Shaw (NY.2000?) « Tomastomas108's Blog
Love the backpiece!
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When I was younger (like 23) I was thinking of getting a index finger tattoo of Beavis and Butt-Head. Bodies would go down near the thumb and the neck would be in the crease of the index finger, so when I would wiggle it, they would mosh! Fuck me, that is STILL a good idea :D
Of course Butt-Head would have be sideways also
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4.) Social Distortion - Somewhere Between...
Why not White Light... Or Sex, Love and Rock 'n' roll? I think Somewhere lacks the push, its to me too tamed. Althou has amazing songs.
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Only the best. And these are all albums I have listened in the last 2-3 years, so Im not going to think that what I loved 5 years ago if I havent listened to it... And all are actual albums I own, no MP3, burned cds etc.
Modern Life Is War - Witness (2005)
Timeless and mature HC album
Bruce Springsteen - Nebraska (1982), Darkness on the Edge of Town (1978), Born to Run (1975), Devils and Dust (2005), Born in the U.S.A (1984) (total 6 albums)
All of these albums are filled with perfect songs and Bruce is the best writer in all of Rock and Roll.
Spanish Bombs - S/T (EP, can't remember, maybe like 2007?)
Somewhere between Bruce and M.L.I.W. When it comes to the aura these 6 songs have more life in them than most full albums.
Tool - 10,000 Days (2007)
The most personal and touching album Maynard has made
Slayer - Reign in Blood (1986)
Fucking SLAAAAAYYYYEEEER!
Dead Can Dance - Spritchaser (1996)
Amongst rationalism you need...
Honorary mentions
Beach Boys - Pet Sounds (1966)
Down - Down II: A Bustle in Your Hedgerow (2002)
Fantômas - The Director's Cut (2001)
Social Distortion - White Light, White Heat, White Trash (1996)
Sex, Love and Rock 'n' Roll (2004)
Most likely I am forgetting something but thats life...
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Great Timmy piece!
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Thanks Petri!
Glad to see you on this board :) Though it didn't come as any suprise, hehe..
How about a blog update soon??
Been super fucking busy and I should have a quest blog coming up soon (I hope). Guess I should write something myself also. But fuck, I dont have anything to say right about now :P
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I should have checked back to this topic because I forgot the Valentines day. Good thing (or not) that I dont have a girlfriend now...
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You had Petri on THE EDGE OF HIS SEAT! Hahaa great story though dude.
Fuck yeah :D Captivating shit, man.
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What ever Chad Koeplinger does next
- MsRad, Valerie Vargas, Jake and 2 others
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5
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Welcome Iwar :)
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Yeah, Horimatsu also said that the background is as important as the images in the foreground.
I'ts all the same root, they both compliment eachother. Or should, I think
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Then what happened?!
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I cant remember who said it that if you do a banner, the letters should be INSIDE it. If not, why use the banner in the first place. As you see people make the letters go outside the banner even if they are half in there. Like they are too big for it.
Comments?
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Witness is my personal favorite. That album just hits a nerve.
Fuck it. All their albums are amazing.
Yeah. That album is perfect. And I mean perfect as in
Amazing lyrics that I can compare with out hint of sarcasm to lyrics from people such as: Bruce Springsteen, Tom Waits, Nick Cave, fucking Neil Gaiman. Anyone who can write so much in so few words is someone to admire to
The neighbor boy is home from the war.His father's pride...
It spills across the factory floor.
And Jimmy, in the paper, I saw you...
Holding that gun
And I read the interview about the 234 and the blood in the sand of an oil rich land.
While I was back home safe and clean.
John and Jimmy...
Say a prayer for us...
The passive sinners.
I bite my tongue.
I shake your hand.
Yeah, I'm still playing in that stupid band.
'Cause we all do what we gotta do, boys.
We're all doing whatever we can.
Just the perfect lenght. You just listen to it and press play again. And fuck, how many albums are there where the opening is as amazing as "The Outsiders (AKA Hell is for Heroes, Part 1)"
Fuck choruses.
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DEADRAMONES.
probably the best thing to ever come out of Iowa.
Yeah, one of the best bands ever. Heres my interview with Jeffrey when they were just starting their final tour. Its fucking long, as all my interviews
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Filip did this backpiece in 14 hours if I recall right
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Tim Commeford from Rage Against The Machine has a great backpiece.
I cant remember how old I was when I saw this the first time. Maybe like 16 or so, but I remember that back then I thought how cool the tattoos is, but for years and years I was just too... I dont know if affraid is the right word, maybe too harsh. I was just too self-conscience (sp?) and too concerned what other people would have thought (even if I act like I didnt give a fuck) if I got something so "lame, boring and normal". It was same with Traditonal Japanese and Americana.
I had to grow as a person to let myself love those styles. Fuck! I wish there would have been more sense in me (and fucking GOOD artists in here) so I could have gotten something like this in my arms (attached), rather than the shit I have now. And now I have a skin disorder that hinders A LOT my changes of getting tattooed... Fuck. This is the first time it has gotten to me really. Sorry about the rant!
About backpieces, this is weird and cool by Volker
- cltattooing, Dennis and MadeIndelible
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Black Work
in Tattoo Designs, Books and Flash
Posted
Good question Sarah. I tried to think about it but I think all the artists work that I am familiar with it are well over 30 and 40.