If it were not for his very modern looking glasses, I might be doing my best right now to convince you that Peter Csirmaz got his piercings in the late 1800s or something. Unfortunately I’m just not that good at photoshopping… Zoom in if you can’t tell by the pixels.
Most of the facial tattoos that I see these days are geometric or some type of neotribal or art tattooing. I do also see some bright colourful biomech — you know, the stuff with big heavy outlines, extraterrestrial psychedelia, and graffiti-like saturation — but Bec’s stands out from the crowd because it’s black and white (to be clear, it’s not just the photo — the tattoo itself is beautifully grey-shaded) and still very feminine. Waves of HR Giger alien machinery weaving through her skin, across the side of her head and on her neck. Love it. You can find her at Cherry’s Tattoos in Hornchurch, UK. As always, click to zoom.
On account of being dropped on my head as a baby I’ve never trusted my ability to recognize faces, but the combination of Bec’s tattoo and facial structure is really reminding me of the facial implant on Star Trek’s Seven of Nine… Are you with me on this or am I living in my own fantasy world again?
One of the very first cover images that BME had was a crudely Photoshopped picture of businesspeople with piercings and tattoos. As an amusing aside before I get into this entry’s meat, a funny anecdote — after posting this I got a very angry call from a well known piercer accusing me of making fun of him or insulting him in some way because he felt I had knocked off his backpiece in my editing of this picture. I think he get even angrier when I told him that it was pure coincidence, that I’d just tried to draw a generic cliché of a tribal tattoo. It really was just a random drawing with no inspiration being drawn from him, but the whole time I was keeping my fingers crossed that he wouldn’t notice that I had in fact used his ear, I think scanned from one of Fakir’s beautiful Body Play magazines. It’s also funny what garbage passed for acceptable Photoshopping at the time
Anyway, when this was posted, probably something like 1995 or 1996, most people were sort of like, “ha ha, tattoos and piercings on business people — we all know that will never happen!”
But of course the world did change, more than any of us could have expected. More than any of us could have hoped for. This morning I heard from my friend Matthew, who has worked in IT (networking to be specific) for years. He says, “I have always felt right at home with my facial tattoos, stretched earlobes, and other enhancements. The modified professional is nowhere more at home than working in network engineering, development, systems administration and product testing here on the West Coast — specifically, here in Seattle.”
He adds that he was watching a Cisco (a huge multinational megacorporation, part of the Dow Jones Industrial Average) infomercial, and actor they chose to portray the “confident young ‘IT person’” is sleeved. That image that was aiming for the “dreaming big” future those long 17 years ago has really come true, at least in part. Yes, there are areas where we still have a way to go, but there are also areas where we succeeded years ago. Either way, things have gotten so much better, and they’re still getting better. We live in a world where it’s increasingly safe for a person to express themselves without risking their livelihood.
This reminds me — as some of you know, we’re currently making a push to repair some of the issues with BME, as well as adding new features. Something Rachel has wanted to do since I first met her, and gets mentioned practically weekly, is a database that keeps track of what employers are mod-friendly (and which are not). This has a prominent spot on my to-do list, and I think this is an excellent time to add it. It’s a useful feature for BME to have, not just for people looking for work, but also for consumers — I know that I would rather give my money to a company that I know tolerates personal freedom of expression among its employees.
I wanted to share with you a remarkable conversation I had with a friend of mine who works as a nurse in a hospital. She also has a magnetic implant in her fingertip, and the ability to sense electromagnetic fields that comes with it. This may be the best example I’ve heard to date of the real-world value of magnetic vision, illustrating that it’s not “just a neat trick”.
Jennifer: Hey Shannon, I have a question for you about the magnet in my finger. It has been there for months. I am pretty used to the odd sensations that come with it. As you know, I’m a nurse and everyday since I got my magnet I have turned on nebulizer machines for my patients. I usually get a small “vibration” (for lack of a better word) around all electrical appliances. But, yesterday, I turned on one (that I have turned on multiple times since getting my magnet) that made the magnet “vibrate” so hard I thought it was going to fly right out of my finger in pieces. You could actually see my finger moving. It startled me a little. Naturally, I jerked my hand back. The machine was working fine, like always, and my finger was fine. The magnet still worked and felt as if it was in one piece still. So, I put my hand back towards the machine. It did it again. This is the only time it has ever done that. So, now I am curious to know, is there a possibility I am sensing a “short” in the wiring or some malfunction with the machine that has yet to become obvious to anyone without a magnet in their finger? None of the other machines (which are all identical) do it, and that particular machine has never done it in the past. I know nothing about electronics and mechanics, but this seems odd to me. I would feel horrible if I left this machine in my patients room for them to use if something were wrong with it, but since the only thing I could tell my boss is “It makes my finger feel funny” I left it there until I could try to find out if there is a possible problem or if I am just overreacting. Any information would be really appreciated.
Shannon: Yes, it’s completely possible that you’re sensing a short. Or perhaps a problem with the transformer… SOMETHING is causing a more powerful EM “bubble” to form. If you’re sure that one machine is significantly different from others that should be identical, then I think it’s safe to say that something is definitely wrong with it… Try moving your finger around the device to try and feel where the EM field is coming from — it will likely either be the engine or the transformer. Personally I would explain the issue to whoever is responsible or in charge.
Jennifer: I work tonight and will remove the machine the moment I get there. I will have to let you know what maintenance says about it. I will probably show them your message if that is ok. I could never explain it that well. I just had a gnawing in my stomach that something was wrong with it since it had never done that before. Thanks for the help and advice. I will keep you updated.
Shannon: Cool — keep me in the loop. It’s quite fascinating. I’m dying to hear what maintenance finds out.
The evening passed, and here’s the message I got in the morning.
Jennifer: Good morning Shannon. I just got off work and wanted to update you. When I got to work last night I went right for the nebulizer to get it out of her room. It had already been changed out. Evidently it had a nasty fall a few days ago and just stopped working yesterday afternoon. So they gave her a new one. The bad one is still under warranty so it is being sent back to the company that makes them. I have emailed our maintenance supervisor to see if there is a way we can track it with the serial number. I will let you know if I find out any more about it.
Isn’t that amazing? I hope this helps to illustrate what a wonderful and amazing thing magnetic implants are, and how the insights that this “sixth sense” gives a person are very real, and off valuable and legitimite insights into the modern world. I’ll wrap up by mentioning that the picture in this entry is of one of Jennifer’s many scarifications (since the magnet is pretty much invisible and doesn’t make much of an illustration!), this one by Stu Modifies.
Rob featured Marilyn when Emilio Gonzalez (mithostattoo.com) first did her spider implant, which you can see on her forehead in these shots, but I wanted to update you with not just some new pictures but also because he’s also tattooed her eye black (just getting ready for a crime spree I assume). You’ll also notice that she’s had her ear rebuilt, with the helix pointed and the lobe removed. One of the things that I love about Marilyn is the dichotomy in her appearance — if you see her from her right, you won’t see either her implant or her tattooed eyeball, and if her hair is covering her ear you might convince yourself that she’s your average glamorous beautiful plainskin woman, but if you view her from the other side, she’s still just as glamorous and beautiful, but now heavily modified as well.
I totally love this simple blackwork bordered ear that was done by Su at Buena Vista Tattoo Club (buenavistatattooclub.com) in Germany. I don’t know what else I can say about it, because it just is what it is, and it is… great.
Back in May, Buddy Williams (of Ancient Ink in Antelope, California) had a 76 year old woman walk in off the street. She wasn’t brought in by a grandchild that she was trying to impress by being the “cool granny” — she was just another normal customer thinking about getting a piercing. She asked Buddy about his microdermals, and wondered if he could do some for her. So he did, giving her a set of them. Since then she’s come back again to add more of them. There have been some longevity issues with the microdermals, with them not lasting as well in her skin as they normally would (three have been replaced), and we agreed that’s probably due to her older skin being less elastic than that of a younger person.
Nonetheless, it’s always wonderful to see stories about how body modification is one of those things that reaches every possible demographic and is one of those pure human experiences that everyone can enjoy. It’s also got the good “moral of the story” that you should never make assumptions about the person walking in the door of your studio — maybe they’re there to yell at you for piercing their grandkid, but more likely they’re another good customer waiting to happen. And I think that the fact that I’m even making this comment is an important lesson on ageism. Should I even be noticing this at all? Shit. Now I feel guilty.
After a while corsetry pictures all start to look the same, but these pictures that Shorty of Ink and Pistons Tattoo and Slushbox Art Gallery (PiercingsbyShorty.com) created in collaboration with a body painter, hair stylist, and photographer. The photography and hair are great of course, but what really set it apart for me was the way the body paint and corset piercing intermingle and play off each other. Giving full credit where it’s due, the body paint and makeup was by Georgette Pressler of Devious Body Art (DeviousBodyart.com), the hair was by Melrose (Melrosehairdesign.com), and the photography by Tara Hauck (TaraIncPhotography.com). I think as people become more familiar with things like this, you have to present it better and better — it was the same with suspension. In the beginning, just watching a minute of simple suicide suspension was enough to really wow a crowd, but these days, it requires a sense of the theatrical and depending on the context, increasingly complex rigging. Same thing with corset projects.
Marc, better known as Little Swastika, is an avant garde tattoo artist that’s a leader in the new worlds of dotwork, geometry, “trash” tattooing, neotribal spiritualism and fine art tattooing. He has just released a limited edition book of paintings and sketches done between 2005 and 2009. It is 108 pages long, printed in a limited hand-numbered and signed edition of 108 copies, and costs 108 euro (about $140 USD). This is a must-have for any tattoo studio — it’s not flash, but it’s a wonderful design resource — or tattoo artist interested in this style as well as art collectors. You can click below to take a closer look, or visit little-swastika.com to find out how to get your own copy of this incredibly special book.
Marc’s work has been featured on ModBlog ever since I first saw his work, at the time at his earlier studio Swastika Freakshop, but while I have your attention, let me show you two recent creations. On the left, and amazingly dense and manic chestpiece that somehow mix the scrawlings of a madman with ripples and spirals and sacred geometry, and on the left, an evocative backpiece in dripping in saturated full color, with multiple layers of both scribbled block printing and Marc’s highly stylized and very recognizable red script. If you enjoy art tattooing, Marc is one of the best, creative and technically gifted.
Finally, since they have not yet been covered on ModBlog, I want to give coverage to Marc’s work with double backpieces. Marc’s art is sometimes so big and powerful that it takes more than one person to contain it, as he splashes his striking visions across friends and families. Here are three examples of multi-person tattoos that he’s performed, as well as a shot of him working on laying down a stencil on two of his latest subjects. I love all of these (even though the one in the top row does cover up a BME logo!).
Again, you can find Marc online at little-swastika.com, or click here to see a collection of ModBlog entries of his work. I just spent a few minutes going through it myself and found lots of wonderful pieces that had slipped my memory — his portfolio is beyond incredible. Have I mentioned what a fan I am? Finally you can also track him down on Facebook at facebook.com/tattoingisdeath. There are very few artists who I whole-heartedly endorse. Marc is one of them.
Ana Laco posts this all-kinds-of-win photo of Morten and Matt earning their asstronaut wings.
