Ok, so maybe it’s not the “final” countdown, but this negative space tattoo cutting Brian Decker did recently does evoke the old movie countdown graphic.
As for the number 72? Well, I did some looking into information about the number 72, and I found a lot more than I expected. The most common interpretation comes from Hebrew, which is that 72 is the number that represents the name of god, or at least the shortened version from the 216 character name. But this is just the starting point.
The number 72 appears in the mythos of numerous cultures all over the world. Islam and Christianity both have occurrences where 72 is a significant number, both to Jesus and Muhammad. In Tarot, Babylonian-Mesopotamian Numerology, Satanism, and Taoism, 72 pops up again and again as a number of importance. A lot of the times number refers to a set grouping, either in terms of two groups of 36, or a single unit of 72. If you’re really curious about the specifics, this wiki article has a good breakdown of the details.
As for what significance it played for the person in the picture, I honestly don’t know. Yet it certainly is significant to them. Of course after I spent some time looking into meanings, someone will come along and point out that it’s probably the year he was born.
Update: The owner of the arm is none other than IAM: Nilrem. In addition to Brian’s scar, the tattoo was done by Corey Ferguson, both of whom Nilrem found through BME. As for the meaning of the tattoo: the 72 represents his life expectancy. Check the comments below for the specifics, as well as his IAM page to see how it’s healing up.
As for Mr. Decker. He’s been uploading a lot of new images to his BME gallery, so it’s worth a visit to check out what he’s been up to.
BME/News and Modblog highlight only a small fraction of what
Brutal!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thanks for the feature !
In person when people ask about 72, I try to dodge explaining or play it cool so I dont have to talk about death. But since you put so much time into research Rob… Its my life expectancy
I used this chart as my source, based on being an America, white, male, born in 1985
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0005148.html
Thanks to Corey Ferguson for the Dotwork Tattoo and Brian Decker for the Scarification
(Both artists I found, using modblog)
(Theres a follow up on my IAM with white ink rubbing)
@Nilrym: I updated the post to include your info.
super neat and sharp as a pin (fnar fnar, chortle) 🙂 love it!
So beautifully executed and clean.. very good work Mr Decker, very good work!