I’m very happy to present this many years overdue interview with John Joyce of Scarab Body Arts. It’s a long read, but worth it — I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I did. Click through to read it now, and come on back here to comment.
Continuing this discussion of mainstreaming, I’m in 7/11 this morning and they have a new energy drink called “Inked”. It’s got a faux-tribal border, a “rock” font, and a neo-Japanese wave in the middle, and the flavor is called “Razzle Dazzle” — could there be a more embarrassing name? It’s as if they’re making fun of you for buying it. I’m reminded of the scene in Family Guy where Lois is running for mayor, and realizes that just by saying “9-11″ and “Jesus” and “terrorists” Giuliani-style, all of a suddenly the crowd starts cheering and buys whatever she’s saying… What, are tattoo fans so gullible that they’ll buy an energy drink just because it says “cool razzle dazzle tatties” on it?*
* Yes, I bought it. It tastes like a sort of watered down “Tahiti Treat”.
I thought that given some of the recent debate about mainstreaming and so on that this might be a good opportunity to post an interview with queer/leather/biker outlaw tattoo artist Jacki Randall. Click through for the interview, come on back to comment.
You may have seen this shot on the cover, but I liked this work (from Dayaks in Mexico City) so much that I wanted to feature it here as well — the blackwork with what I assume is whitework on top just looks amazing (although I may be mistaken and it could be cutting over blackwork).
Speaking of Gauge at Golden Eagle Tattoo in Santa Barbara, they also sent in these shots of a webbed toe piercing. It’s really quite remarkable to me just how many have been posted. With these being common, I wonder why I’ve only seen one semi-permanent behind-the-knuckle hand piercing (ie. a “crucifixion” piercing that travels from the palm to the back of the hand, through the sweet spot right behind the knuckle), done about fifteen years ago by Mark Pantalone if I remember right (does anyone have the issue of, I think, In The Flesh magazine that featured it?)…
I’m a little worried about the bottom hole in this S-shaped 12ga industrial, but in general I very much like the placement. It was done by Savannah Walker at Freaky’s Tattoo and Body Piercing in Glendale, Colorado. Whenever I interview piercers, almost every one says that their favorite piercings to do are “ear projects”… After the break are a couple more nice (but not over-the-top) industrials, these ones by the aptly-named Gauge at Golden Eagle Tattoo in Santa Barbara, California.
Newwound has just opened up a studio of his own, Third Eye Tattoo in Melbourne, Australia, and recently did a DIY cutting on himself of the classic BME logo — this took him four hours to do. There’s a finished photo after the break. Because of all the curves and linework, it can’t have been an easy piece to do DIY with good consistency — from his post on it:
I nearly passed out a couple of times — I’ve never actually passed out… It hurt a wee bit, and I all most didn’t finish it. I was shaking for the last hour or so, but still, I think I did good… Some lines aren’t finished I’ve only really just noticed and a few dodgey bits, but hey. I learnt a lot like — what a four hour session is like, and tight curves are hard and need to be done kinda slowly, the inside for your leg really really hurts, and I’m in control. I’m pretty sure the bigger part of me was telling me to not do it, do it smaller, do two sessions and please stop.
This gorgeous piece on Kannas is freehand by Denise De La Cerda (concept by Eric Lownestein), with a floral species specific to hummingbirds.
I’ve seen so many kids tattooing their friends and family, either directly, or even just having their drawings applied that I almost think I need to dedicate a section to it. Brett and Mike went on weekend trip, and Brett got a tattoo from a diminutive source… He writes,
“My friends Bob and Joy Roughton were at the show — I used to work with Bob down in Newport Beach and in Pico Rivera for a while. I was at their wedding, and have known their son Kai since his birth. I knew Kai had tattooed his name on Bob about two years ago, but when I got to the show on Friday I found out he was preparing to tattoo his uncle Al. I joked around with him about what his hourly rate was and all that stuff, and was really impressed with his maturity. I started honestly considering getting tattooed by him. Of my friends that I’ve made since being in California, the Roughtons/Garcias have been a few of the dearest. We don’t see each other often because they moved up to Oregon, but I would definitely put them on my list of trustworthy family. I just didn’t have a clue what I would get tattooed by Kai if I did let him do it.
As the weekend progressed I met some nice folks from Hayward, CA that work at a shop called Black Wing. They were all a lot of fun to hang out with, and for a while our whole booth took turns playing with their children Lili and Jens. They had a big bag of prehistoric animals and I kept thinking about how the sabertooth cats actually resembled a werewolf head I used to draw as a small child. By the end of the weekend I decided that was the image Kai would tattoo. It was a lot of fun, and his parents did as much as they could to not stifle Kai’s natural ability. That is of course a very kind way of saying my tattoo is extremely shaky and looks like a character from the squiggle-vision cartoon Dr. Katz. But come on people, do you think I expected a six year old to tattoo clean lines with a machine that weighs almost as much as him? Hahaha. I had Kai sign the piece and paid him for his work — I had found out that back home someone broke into their car and stole his video games, and thought maybe this would help replace one or two. Lots of people got video and photos and I entered the piece in Tattoo of the Day context just so Kai could get a little recognition and feel special. He’s a really awesome kid — so much so that the promoters made a special ‘Best tattoo by an artist under twelve’ category which of course he won, being the only one present that fit the criteria.”
I like Mike’s facial stripe as well!
When I was in high school (I think I graduated in ’91 to put it into context… I’m getting old!), these were my favorite movies:
On account of the last two, I was quite pleased to see this tribute to Nekromantik by Bud at Evil or Sacred Tattoo in Los Angeles. I know that only a few people will probably appreciate this piece because the movie is somewhat obscure… The wearer tells me they’re planning a second Nekromantik-themed tattoo soon as well.
