Checkmate

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A few months back Jen posted a picture that got more than a few mouths watering.  Well it turns out the young man in that image, IAM: Arseniy Andersson is so much more than a pretty face.  While we all appreciate his modelling pictures, back at home in St. Petersburg, Russia he is also known for being a piercer and performance artist.  I’m not entirely sure of the story behind these images, but from what I can tell Arseniy threw the hooks for what appears to be some form of photo/video shoot.

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Of course the question is, was the chessboard part of the shoot, or was it just something being used to kill time?  Photos of suspensions always seem to capture such fantastic moments.  I suppose when you know the subject isn’t going to be going anywhere, the photographer can really set themselves up for a beautiful picture.  So while it may be a couple suspended tandem over a stream, or a good looking guy playing chess while in an abandoned warehouse, the opportunity for an interesting image is always present.

Keep on reading to see a closeup of the man playing black.

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If you want to check out more great images of people suspending, head on over to the suspension galleries and check them out.

While you do that, here’s a question to ponder:  If you could do any activity while suspending, what would it be?

The beauty of stolen moments

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I’ve been pretty busy and with a new school year upon us, things are only going to get more hectic.  I’d love to be able to post to ModBlog more often but I don’t have the time to devote to writing up some great entries right now.  That said, as I was moderating photos this afternoon, I happened upon this one and couldn’t resist.

I love the juxtaposition between the hard steel hooks in his back and the tenderness of the moment this couple is sharing.  The photos were submitted by John_Wayne_Harlyquin and I’m not sure if he’s the guy in the photos or the person who took them but I’m glad he decided to share this with BME.  This photo, for me, is such a true representation of BME with giant hooks piercing through flesh and a couple about to kiss.  The normalcy we experience when we’re together makes me forget that the rest of the world doesn’t look at body modification the way that we do.

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The rest of the set of photos that were submitted can be found here.

I hope you all enjoy this long weekend and the last bit of real freedom for awhile for those of you heading back to classes next week.

The Inner Eye

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I always like to save something special for my last post of the week, and I think you won’t be disappointed with what I found for you today.

First and foremost, I want to give you a little background on the man who inspired this piece.  You may or may not have heard the name Alex Grey before, although you probably have seen some of his work.  As one of the most distinctive artists in the past 50 years, his work explores spirituality through visionary art, a form of psychedelic art.  I’m definitely not an expert in art theory, so I won’t try to explain his works in-depth, but what I can tell you is that his art has a profound effect on the majority of people who see it.  For many people the first time they might have seen some of his work was on the album art for Tool’s Lateralus album.  Since then Alex has worked with the band, in addition to his own works, and has produced not only album art, but also set designs for their live shows and even created the visuals for this video.  One of Alex’s major works, The Sacred Mirrors, has been turned into a gallery exhibit known as the Chapel of the Sacred Mirrors.  A film was made about the gallery, and features interviews with Alex as he explains his paintings.

Of course with his art focusing on spiritual transformation, he easily became a natural inspiration for modification artists.  Gabriel Cece, from Studio Evolve Tattoo in Virginia Beach, VA, recently created this piece that is an interpretation of Alex’s work.

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The art of modification is strongly linked to a transformative spirituality, where the individual regardless of the personal reasoning behind it, transforms their body on a physical level to achieve some internal satisfaction.  This piece in particular speaks volumes towards this transformation, as the eyes placed on the transparent hands show the inner self looking out on the world.  The spirituality of self is viewing the outside world, and is changing the external self to reflect the thoughts and feelings of the inside.

I think I should stop myself there, as I could probably go on for hours about the beauty of this piece of art.  With the new gallery system on BME, you’re able to leave a comment directly on the page of the image, so if you wish to share your thoughts on this with Gabriel, head over to the religious and mythological tattoo gallery and leave a comment.

Bird of Paradise

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The myth of the bird of paradise stems from an old Sufi fable about the Huma bird.  It is said that the bird is always in flight, never coming to rest, and is often believed to not even possess legs.  Tales of the Huma bird can be traced throughout various cultures, and in all cases the bird is seen as a good omen, bringing wealth, prosperity, and good health.  Stories go on to describe the bird as having both male and female attributes, while others link it directly to the myth of the phoenix.  The meaning of course can shift depending on the culture, yet themes of eternal life and renewal tend to be the strongest.

As for the real birds of paradise, these beautiful animals are still alive in the world, although they are considered a threatened species due to hunting and deforestation.

Given the beauty of the birds, and the link to a myth about rebirth and transformation, it should be no wonder that this scarification piece by John Joyce looks fantastic.

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The reasons the person chose to get this piece are their own, yet something can be said to the process of the cutting and the scar that will follow.  In essence the person is becoming reborn with a new sense of being.  The skin that was removed is gone forever, yet something new and beautiful will take its place.  Like the phoenix, the person has undergone a rebirth, coming out on the other side a transformed person.

John himself is no stranger to creating brilliant pieces of art, as you can easily see in his own gallery on BME.

On the road with Steve Haworth

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A certain Mr. Crumbs let me know that the legendary Steve Haworth is hitting the road this fall, and is taking his act across the pond to a number of cities in Europe.  If you don’t know who Steve is then you owe it to yourself to find out.  As for where and when Steve will be appearing, here’s a handy list to help you with your travel plans.

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Steve will be appearing at the Primal Arts Festival in Maryland September 3-6, and doing all four of his seminars and participating in suspensions. Visit our Seminars page to register for the seminars. Contact us at [email protected] for appointments. This should be an exciting mix of the body mod world with kink and alternative lifestyles.

Steve will be doing an in-store appearance at INFINITE BODY PIERCING in Philadelphia, PA September 6-7. If you would like to make an appointment, please contact us.

Steve has finalized his European tour plans! He will be appearing at CALM Bodymodification in Stockholm Sep 10-11, Copenhagen Body Extremes Sep 13-14, BMXnet Conference in Berlin Sept 16-19, Trust Mannheim Sep 21-23, the London Tattoo Convention Sep 25, Self Sacrifice in London Sep 26-27, and Ghirigori Family studio in Oggiono, Italy Sept 29-30.

Steve will be presenting all four of his seminars at the BMXnet Conference, and at Self Sacrifice September 26-27. Visit the BMXnet page for more info and to register for BMX. More info will be posted soon on how to register for the London seminars.

Steve will be at Sanchez Ink Tattoo and Body Piercing in Fontana, CA on October 15-16. So if you’re in the LA area and have been wanting a mod from Steve, this would be a good opportunity. Please email [email protected] to make an appointment.

Modification practitioners and enthusiasts alike can benefit greatly from Steve’s seminars, so I highly recommend taking the time to go see him if you’re able to.  Also, with Steve performing some modifications near the end of his tour you have the rare opportunity to be modified by one of the finest practitioners in the world.  While Steve’s works can be seen in several galleries on BMEzine.com, a good place to start looking would be his own scarification gallery.  For those who are subscribers to the surgical areas, the implant section is always a great place to check out some of Steve’s other work.

International Logo Spotting

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A little while ago I received the following video in my inbox.  If you have the same language barrier that I have, you’ll want to skip to the 1:55 mark to see the relevant portion of the video.

This news piece was filmed in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine at a tattoo festival a couple of weeks ago.  ModBlog reader Mark sent this in along with this picture of the completed piece.

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Of course the BME Logo has found its way on to many people from all over the world, as you can see in the BME Logo tattoo gallery.  To think that it’s been over 15 years since the late Scott Fox first designed the logo, and while he may not have lived to see how widespread his image would become, his memory is still alive in the hearts of those who knew him, and I’m sure seeing his design carried all over the would makes them proud to have known him.

The Friday Follow-up

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The question that is most often asked when a scarification piece is posted is “What does it look like healed?”  So today we’re going to take a look at a scar that was featured a month ago, and see how the healing is coming along.  I realize this isn’t a fully healed scar, but it is still nice to see how it is coming along.

Here is the piece when it was still fresh:

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And now, the scar after a few weeks of healing:

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This scar, done by IAM: Eroswastika is one of many I’d like to revisit.  Ideally I’d like to make this a weekly column, so if you’ve got some before and after pictures of your scars, upload them to BME, and then drop me a line letting me know that you’ve sent them in.  Also, if you’re interested in seeing other fresh and healed scars, check out the scarification galleries.

Hanging on by the seat of your pants

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It’s been a while since ModBlog featured a good old fashioned ass suspension, so when I saw the Suicide Body Art gallery had been updated with some tandem ass suspension photos I thought it would be great to share some of them with you.

UPDATE:  I just got a message from Edmund and here is what he had to say about the suspension.  Please keep in mind English isn’t his first language so there may have been some details lost in the translation.

The second boy on photos is Aleksandr. I don’t know English well, so I try to tell you about it in few words. One day I tell Aleksandr that I want make ass suspension, but hi said that hi want it too. So we decided make tandem ass suspension. It was sunny morning on 19.06.2010. We went with our friends to uninhabited bridge, and begin. When we take off, I think I regenerate. It was very funny when we began to spin. But then was one problem, after it i’ll need ride for a 5 hours=)

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To see a couple more pictures, keep on reading..

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You can check of the rest of the photos in the gallery on BMEzine.com

Other than the name Edmund, I don’t have any other information to share with you about these photos.  Which is part of the reason I keep asking everyone to fill in all the boxes when uploading an image.  I’d love to be able to share with you the names of the guys hanging, where and when it took place, all of that.  Hopefully someone recognizes the guys in the photos and can send me an e-mail so I can give proper credit.

Remember, ModBlog and BME are supported by you.  We can’t go out and take pictures of every single person’s mods on the planet, so we can only show you what’s been shared with us.  So grab your cameras, take some pictures, and send them in (with the details) so we can share with the world all these wonderful modifications and the related activities.

Co-ordinating Colours

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Do these shoes go with this purse?  Does this shirt match these jeans?  We’ve all been privy to some form of this exchange at some point in our lives.  We may have asked a question similar, or been asked it, and if neither of those, we’ve probably overheard someone ask some variation of these questions.  The fact is, the vast majority of people tend to consciously control their external appearance to a degree that they deem is aesthetically pleasing to themselves (or at least to the people they intend to appear in front of).

Sure we can laugh at people who go ridiculous lengths to “look their best”, I’m sure most people who watch Jersey Shore snicker when The Situation talks about his GTL routine, and his before-club rituals.  Yet when you think about it, going to excessive lengths to control your outward appearance is exactly what we do all the time.  Piercings, tattoos, scars, etc, are all just our versions of the Jersey Shore appearance regimes.

Take a look at these knuckle tattoos uploaded recently by OhRubie..

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On their own they look great, I’m personally a big fan that the apostrophe was included, but seeing that she’s painted her nails to match the colouring in the lettering really makes the entire piece stand out.

So have you ever done anything similar?  Co-ordinate something you’re wearing with your mods?  Maybe not with make-up, but with clothing or accessories, like changing your plug colours to match your outfit, or buying a specific colour pair of shoes to match the tattoos on your legs.

Hungry like the Wolf

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Many people credit Walt Disney as the man behind bringing animation to the masses.  Sure Walt did a lot to create an empire based on a whistling mouse, and has brought smiles to the faces of countless people all over the world, but there was always something lacking with his cartoons, they were missing a little bite.

Thankfully Tex Avery stepped up to the plate, and brought the world Bugs, Daffy, and the rest of the Looney Toons characters.  The cartoons Tex created weren’t just for kids, in fact quite a few of his works were “banned” for a while because they were deemed too risqué for some audiences.  It was these cartoons that really paved the way for many animators to see that animated movies and shorts could be targeted to a larger audience.  So while the big mouse was carving out his slice of the pie, Tex and those who came after him skipped the pie and went right for the devil’s food cake.

Cartoons didn’t need to be all flowers and rainbows, they could raunchy, violent, and sarcastic.  Is it any wonder so many people love his cartoons?

So while browsing the old school tattoo galleries I came across this take on Tex’s “Wolf” character uploaded by Thakkrad.  The leering, catcalling, oversexed cartoon character that was created as part of a re-telling of the Red Riding Hood story, appropriately named “Red Hot Riding Hood”.  The one thing I noticed though was in some of the details.  I really like how the artist took the classic Tex wolf, and infused some aspects from the works of Ed Roth (of Rat Fink fame).  The exaggerated tongue and the bold colors in the hair really work well with the iconic image of Avery’s wolf.

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Were you a Looney Toons fan, or was Mickey and company more your tastes?