Those Lieber sailor girl acetates are damn good.
On another note about the source of references and influences, last time Lehi tattooed me I asked him if he liked Wido de Marval's tattooing (he works with Leu in Switzerland). Lehi said he'd never heard of him. I asked him whose Japanese-derivative tattooing he paid attention to. He said "No one's, really, I just look at the old Japanese stuff. That's what all these tattooers are trying to do, anyway." Reminds me of the Mike Malone letter to Keith Underwood that was published in TAM a few months ago. Malone adminished Underwood to "Look Look Look" at how Jerry executed his flash. He emphasized Jerry's formulaic approach to drawing archetypal images. Same thing as Lehi looking at Yoshitoshi, Kuniyoshi, or Horiyoshi II. I'd guess that Chris Conn's work, as distinct from someone like Jerry's as it might seem, relies on a very similar formula.
Boyer's photos make a strong argument. Guy named Jim LaPorte sold his extensive Lieber collection a couple years ago, and the pin-up sheet two photos above was $1600. A chunk of dough, yes, but a very fair price, considering the obvious influence Lieber had on Jerry, who's sheets go for three times as much. If anyone's interested in LaPorte's high-quality book of his collection, I can pass on his email. It goes for $250, I think, but it's sizeable, and fucking dope. Brooks turned my bud Kyle on to it, and we swooped on what we could and couldn't afford. Brooks got a couple great sheets. The Scott Harrison fish girl tattoo above is on SBoyer, and is flash from the Lieber sheet I went into more dumb debt for. My bud Kyle saw a picture of that Harrison/Lieber piece and said "That tattoo is perfect." Fucking strong.
Back to girls: There's tons of good girl head stuff that leans more towards the realistic, too. Sboyer just turned me on to Jose Lopez. Very impressive. My blind ass was also just made aware of how good Lenherr's girl busts are, as well. Jason Brooks does excellent girl/rose heads. I fully agree that Uzi's a very good tattooer, too.
Conn is obviously outstanding. I slid ass first into a pile of sugar when I got that Rock of Ages (pictured under the ROA thread) from him on my thigh in 2003. I was just getting my feet wet as a collector, and luckily picked up on how good he was when I flipped through his book at Temple the previous year. One thing that's impressive about his art is that it appeals to people who're new to looking at tattoo art (like me in 2002), but continues to reveal deeper layers when viewed by a more experienced eye. That's when tattooing truly becomes "art", in my opinion. The apex of this dynamic is reached when staring at a Van Gogh, Kawanabe Kyosai, Soga Shohaku, or Kano Hogai painting or print. Fuck, every time I look at the Van Gogh print on my wall at home I get tractor-beamed into some aspect of his holistic vision that I never noticed before. Hokusai, too. Hell, I can ogle Mike Malone's shit all day, as well. He was real into Soga Shohaku and Kano Hogai. Go figure.
Speaking of traditional tattooing that is true art, look at Richard Stell's tattooing. I was beyond dumb-lucky enough to get a couple tattoos from Mike Malone when he was around, and wish I had done the same with Ed Hardy and Higgs when they were tattooing. To people who dig my Malone tattoos (and covet the experience of getting tattooed by a dude like that), I say get tattooed by Stell. Eddy Deutsche is tattooing in L.A, too. He's another one who's tattooing is true art.
