It’s Bringing Peace, Don’t Let it Get Away!


And here we have yet another submission from Mark Gibson of Monki Do Studio in Belper, Derbyshire, England, who has been on one hell of a roll lately. Does anybody know what the source material for this is, if any exists? I’ve been looking into it, but apparently the FBI doesn’t appreciate it when you repeatedly search Google for “nailed kid.” Who knew?

See more in Mark Gibson Tattoo Mini Portfolio (Tattoo Artist Portfolios)

Full Coverage: Links From All Over (Feb. 20, 2009)


[CNBC] Scandal rocked the worlds of sports, print media and soft-core pornography this week when it was revealed that Sports Illustrated digitally removed IndyCar racer Danica Patrick‘s lower-back tattoo from her photos in this year’s Swimsuit Issue. (The chilling photographic evidence is above.) When made aware of this startling injustice, Patrick’s camp issued the following response:

“Danica is aware of the edits and is comfortable with the final photos.”

What sort of high-level coercion are these Sports Illustrated fat-cats using to elicit this sort of timid, fearful response? The publication outright refused to comment on the subject, for at least a day, until CNBC’s Darren Rovell was able to squeeze the following explanation from an SI spokesperson:

“The Swimsuit Issue emphasizes natural beauty […] The freckles are left on and, in this case, the tattoos came off.”

Oh. Well, that makes sense. When you look at it that way, actually, this is a fairly historic move for the Swimsuit Issue. Indeed, the magazine’s photo editors also went ahead and Photoshopped all of the models’ breasts back to their original sizes, used only natural light, and limited their airbrushing to erasing offensive tattoos like Patrick’s. The issue has thus far sold seven copies.

[Citizens Voice] So you may have heard about the case of this cretin, this fool, Holly Crawford of Sweet Valley, Pennsylvania, who was arrested for selling what she called “Gothic Kittens.” These are just like regular kittens, except this dildo had pierced their ears, the napes of their necks, and cut off their tails and pierced the remaining nubs, and then attempted to make a business of selling these to … who the hell would buy these? Anyway, the case is going to court now, Crawford is facing criminal charges and, as such, more details are emerging:

“This was tying a rubber band around a cat’s tail so tight that it falls off,” said Deputy District Attorney David Pedri. “She caused the cats pain. She did this to sell them to make money.”

Crawford’s defense attorney, Demetrius Fannick, argued state law “goes on and on” about specific acts of animal cruelty, but nothing about piercing cats and docking their tails.

Prosecutors said a part of the cruelty included Crawford tying rubber bands around the tails of the cats so they would fall off. She’d then pierce the nub.

“There’s nothing in the statute that expressly says you can’t pierce your cat’s ears or necks, or even crop their tails,” Fannick said. “It’s a case that you will be for or against as an animal owner. Let the legislature say you can’t pierce or tattoo your animal, and it will be different.”

Magisterial District Judge Paul Hadzick said the case was a gray area in the law and predicted it might one day cause for a clarification in the law. At the very least, he said it’s a case that should be decided by a jury or a higher judge.

“I don’t think that the decision is for me to be made here,” Hadzick said.

While it’s probably true that this is fundamentally not all that different from pet owners who clip their pets’ ears and tails, this just seems particularly idiotic to me for some reason — probably the winning combination of animal abuse with the hoary old “piercings are goth!” chestnut.

[Scripps News] Good news, tattoo artists, the recession is over! For you, at least! The anecdotal evidence is in and has decisively shown that people would rather get tattooed than eat or give their children medicine.

“My question is ‘What recession’?” said Kate Hellenbrand, a tattoo artist for the past 38 years. “Every day, new clients are being born. The media promotes the industry. There are ads everywhere and sports heroes, rock n’ roll stars and models all have tattoos.”

While this may be true, it may also be a touch skewed coming from one of the most famous tattoo artists in the world, but nonetheless. The article goes on:

Sergio Reynoso of Salt Lake Tattootland was one of the few vendors who said the recession has hurt his business. Since about 80 percent of clients are Latinos, many experiencing trouble finding a job in a down construction industry, he has noticed a drop in business. He has, however, been doing a good business lately repairing or sprucing up bad tattoos done on the street by less qualified artists.

I’m not so P.C. that I’m going to act terribly offended by the implication all Latinos seem to be in the construction industry, but holy crap is this poorly written. Anyway, let’s bring it on home:

Even in Seattle — where thousands have been laid off in recent months — tattoo art is a shelter in the storm. Seattle tattoo artist April Cornell keeps quite busy.

“If you weren’t watching the news, you would not know there was a recession,” she said.

Artist Vinnie Almanza of Anchorage, Alaska, said he was booked all weekend in Salt Lake and is booked through June at his home shop. “One thing people definitely don’t have a problem spending on is their ink,” he said. “It’s like an addiction.”

There you have it: A statistically meaningless sample size that likens the impulse to get tattoo work to your common booze and drug addictions, as proof that tattooing is recession-proof. I can’t wait to read several thousand more of these articles over the next 10 months, at which point I will have to sell my computer, to eat, or more likely, to get tattooed. Best recession ever!

Don’t Bother to Get the Elevator, I’ll Just Jump Out the Window


We’ve posted a different rendering of this same shot of Al Bundy (né Ed O’Neill) and, my childhood (childlike?) devotion to Married … With Children aside, it’s interesting to see how drastically different two artists can approach the same subject matter (which I’m quite sure is this).

(Tattoo by Ray Lee at Blackletter Studio in Whittier, California.)

See more in Portrait Tattoos (Tattoos)

Not Without My BFG 9000


This murderous, ravenous hell demon was brought into the world by local sorcerer Brandon Vermillion of Fillmore Tattoo in Fillmore, California. Vermillion, as you may remember, was the centerpiece of this hilarious shitstorm, so I guess we can surmise that, at the very least, he has not gone blind in one eye, thereby allowing him to summon this wretched beast, with a scalpel.

The Bus That Couldn’t Slow Down


And so here we have action personality Chev Chelios, who has been injected with some sort of serum (or maybe implanted with a device? Who knows) that will make his organs explode or his junk fall off or something if his heart-rate falls below a certain level (it’s like Speed, except the bus is a person!), and so he let some tiger maul him on the ass for an adrenaline rush, which should keep alive for at least another 15 minutes. Next on the agenda is a date with Dominique Fisher.

(Cutting by Lucas at Pirate Piercing in Turnhout, Belgium.)

See more in Misc. Cuttings (Scarification)

Down That Hole and Back Again


Shortly after this photo was taken, Mario (pictured above) climbed a vine up to a cloud and punched the shit out of a turtle. Err, wait, this is Andres, and he says:

Mushrooms have always been seen as a way to get in contact with inner knowledge. The symbolism [of this tattoo] is to drive my inner knowledge out of my body, through my tongue and turn it into words of knowledge.

(Tattoo by Alejandro Cole at Stattoos in San Pedro, San Jose, Costa Rica.)

See more in Tongue tattoos (Tattoos)

New Article Posted! (Diego Olavarría Interview)


In 2004, Darrin Fowler started the BME Scholarship project, a community-funded program established to award one student from the BME community every year with a donor-based scholarship, based on the strength of an essay of the scholarship administrator’s and judges’ choosing. The winner of the 2005/06 scholarship was Diego Olavarría, whose winning essay can be read here.

We recently caught up with Diego and exchanged e-mails over a couple of days, discussing where his education has taken him, where to find artistic inspiration, and his take on how society interacts with body modification nowadays. (I’ll note that Diego’s last response is actually more like a short essay, but it’s fantastic. I hope we’ll be hearing from Diego again very soon.)

To participate in or donate to this year’s scholarship fund, please visit BMEScholarship.com.

To read Diego Olavarría, BME Scholarship Winner, please click here.

[Ed. note: Comments on this post have been disabled. Have at it in the forum attached to the article. Thanks.]