Wow.  I guess I spoke too soon.  Yesterday I wrote about the lack of rights for tattoo artists in South Korea, where tattooing is for the most part, illegal.  I compared the rights that tattooists in the USA have – proven by California tattooist Johnny Anderson’s court victory in which the court ruled that Anderson’s First Amendment rights were violated when city officials in Hermosa Beach refused to allow him to open a tattoo studio there – to the rights that are absent in South Korea.  What I didn’t realise is that only two years ago, tattoos were all but illegal in the American state of South Carolina.  Wow.  That was quite shocking to me.  I guess I sort of took for granted the idea that tattoos are always legal in North America.

Oh well.  The good news is that tattoos have been legal in South Carolina for the past two years and that as of this past Tuesday, South Carolina can add one more tattoo studio to its roster of places to get tattooed.  Tattooists Jordan Cobb and Justin Pitts will officially open Branded Tattoos Inc. in West Union this November, thanks to the West Union City Council’s vote to grant the duo a business license.  This makes Branded Tattoos Inc. the first tattoo studio in Oconee County.

It was something of a close call as the City Council appeared to be deadlocked on its decision, but council member Sharon Zimmerman, whose original vote had been against the opening of Branded Tattoos, changed her mind and decided to allow the tattoo studio to exist.  The vote then went 3-1 in favour of Cobb and Pitts opening their studio.

It’s great to hear about things like this, especially coming from a place that at one point didn’t allow tattoos at all.  I think that something like this just goes to show that the old laws that restrict tattoo artists from performing their art form don’t last forever and that the more time passes and the more people get educated about what tattooing is really all about, the more things start to change for the better.  Best of luck to Jordan and Justin and Branded Tattoos Inc.

With the recent court ruling which found that California tattoo artist Johnny Anderson’s First Amendment rights were violated when he was prevented from opening a tattoo studio in Hermosa Beach, it’s easy to forget that many people around the world don’t have access to the luxury of similar rights.  Being a tattoo artist in South Korea, for example, the problem isn’t where you can or can’t open a tattoo studio, it’s that you can’t be a tattoo artist – at all.

Much has been said in the past about the laws that attempt to keep South Korea tattoo free.  In short, they don’t work.  The Korean Tattoo Association estimates that there are 22,000 illegal tattoo artists nation wide.  Unlike other countries where “illegal tattoo artist” means that the artist in question is a scratcher, in Korea any kind of tattoo artist is illegal.  The only people in Korea who are legally permitted to tattoo are doctors, which obviously doesn’t happen very often and is completely, 100% ridiculous.

“South Korean law still labels men with large and obvious tattoos as unfit for the military, reasoning that they cause “abomination among fellow soldiers.” Scores of tattoo artists have been arrested for providing would-be military conscripts a loophole to avoid the draft.

As a result, the tattoo industry lurks underground. Most parlors have unmarked fronts to avoid detection by police, who have raided the shops to confiscate tattoo machines and fine proprietors as much as $10,000.”

Despite these strict laws against tattooing, things are slowly beginning to change.  There has recently been some rethinking of the concept of tattoos and the images associated with them.  Like neighbouring Japan, a country that also carries a somewhat archaic point of view toward tattoos by associating them with gangsters and organised crime, Korean youth seem to be the tattoo industry’s saviour.  A new found interest amongst the younger generations as well as amongst Korean celebrities has begun to slowly remove the concept of troublemaker from its previous associations with tattoos.

Still, there’s a lot of work to be done.  Tattoo artists in Korea literally live in the shadows, forced underground in unmarked studios, not unlike the speakeasies of the American Prohibition era.  It most certainly is time for Korea to take another look at the laws that prohibit its artists from being free to make their living honestly and legally.  I know that I’m not alone in hoping that such a time comes sooner rather than later.

“I have tattooed long enough to realize that technique and not content is the most important element of tattooing.”

– Marcus Kuhn

The above quote barely scratches the surface of the sort of wisdom that tattooist Marcus Kuhn seems to have up his sleeve.  Not that I’m trying to kiss anyone’s ass, it’s just that the more I read about this particularly and notoriously fastidious Portland, Maine tattoo artist, the more I see that Kuhn sees his art as it needs to be in order to first and foremost satisfy himself. That’s not to say that Marcus Kuhn doesn’t care about his customers, I think it’s more of a case that Marcus Kuhn cares so much for his customers that he’s as hard as he can be on himself before he actually takes the time to put his art on someone’s body.

In fact, everything about Kuhn’s work ethic comes off as completely straight-forward and refreshingly uncomplicated, right down to the name of his tattoo studio itself: Just Good Tattoos.  Perhaps this is a result of Kuhn’s past, which courted the fast paced, superficial LA lifestyle, working as a scenic artist in film and television and getting more than a little mixed up in drugs.  By the mid 1980’s Marcus Kuhn was tattooing, but getting dangerously deep into heroin and paying a price for it.  He spent two years in prison and emerged a changed man with a plan, a man who wanted a second chance at life and wasn’t going to stop until he got it.

“You can keep chasing this carrot to be the top tattoo artist forever and you’ll never catch it.  There’ll always be someone better than you.“

Fast forward to present day and Marcus Kuhn is a tattoo artist who cares about the work he does and the work he does for his clients.  He’s very much a practitioner of the K.I.S.S. rule (Keep It Simple, Stupid) and keeps his tattoo work traditional in both Americana and Japanese.  He’s not a tattoo artist who wants to make a big deal about incorporating massive amounts of flare into his work, he simply wants to do good work and that is exactly what he does.  Marcus Kuhn is talented and straight forward and I don’t think it’s unfair to assume that any tattoo artist who follows those guidelines keeps a long list of loyal customers and a strong reputation as the real deal.

I think it’s time to celebrate.  I mean it.  Crack open a few brews, or if you don’t drink or are too young to drink, get some grape juice or something – hell you might even want to get a new tattoo, because in all honesty, I think that the rights of and respect for tattoo artists have just taken a huge leap as of this Thursday.

A few months back I wrote about tattooist Johnny Anderson, who was prevented from opening a tattoo studio in Hermosa Beach, California.  City officials there had said that Hermosa Beach does not permit tattoo studios within the city limits.  Anderson took the matter to court, saying that his First Amendment rights were being violated by not allowing him to open his tattoo shop where he wanted to.  On Thursday, the ruling was entirely in his favour.

‘”Tattooing is a process like writing words down or drawing a picture, except that it is performed on a person’s skin,” the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco said Thursday in striking down an anti-tattoo parlor law from the Los Angeles suburb of Hermosa Beach.

“A form of speech does not lose First Amendment protection based on the kind of surface it is applied to,” said Judge Jay Bybee, writing for a unanimous panel of three Republican appointees.

He described tattooing as “one of the oldest forms of human expression” and “one of the world’s most universally practiced forms of artwork.”‘

Honestly, I couldn’t be happier about this.  What a huge boost of confidence to tattoo artists everywhere, and what a great day for the entire industry.  The more that the law stands on the side of tattoo culture, the more it will be an art form that is removed from the fringes of society and seen as a legitimate career, art form and method of self expression.  So raise your glasses in a toast to Johnny Anderson and in celebration of justice served.  Have a great weekend, everyone.

If you happen to pay attention to things like buzz and hype when it comes to tattoos and the tattoo “scene”, then you probably already know that literary tattoos are now being touted as a current and rapidly rising tattoo trend.  I personally hate the concept of trends and I have literary tattoos (done long ago, fyi), so the idea of having my tattoos confused with any sort of hot new trend doesn’t particularly excite me.

Regardless, I still like seeing literary tattoos and they do interest me a great deal.  Perhaps literary tattoos interest you as well.  If that’s the case, then you might want to buy, borrow or just kind of casually leaf through your local bookstore’s copy of the new book out on October 11th from Harper Perrenial called The Word Made Flesh: Literary Tattoos from Bookworms Worldwide.   The Word Made Flesh is a coffee table book (sadly it doesn’t actually turn into a coffee table), which contains 100 colour photographs of tattoos inspired by or taken directly from the writings and characters of famous authors.  The book was compiled and created by Eva Talmadge and Justin Taylor.

Sound interesting?  Well if it does, head over to the book’s website where you can watch a three minute and forty-seven second trailer about the book.  When did books start having trailers?  And trailers over three minutes long, at that?  Anyway,  I should also mention that if you live in New York or have plans to be there on October 20th, you’re more than welcome to head over to the book’s launch party at the powerHouse Arena.

I feel like since this post is about things of a literary nature that I should sign off with some sort of clever, literary type quote.  But I won’t, so there.

I don’t know what possesses people to get Star Wars tattoos.  Honestly, I’m not trying to be a jerk here or anything like that, I’m just being honest.  And you know what?  I’m pretty sure that everyone out there who has a Star Wars tattoo couldn’t care less that I don’t get the entire concept of getting one.  Fine with me.

I  don’t want to come off as one of those tattoos-are-just-a-giant-fad assholes because I’d prefer to give people the benefit of the doubt.  I can see beyond the idea of a tattoo being more than a fashion statement – in fact I don’t think that tattoos are a fashion statement at all.  I also believe that if you are getting a tattoo as a fashion statement, then you deserve to be one of those whiners who regrets it five years down the road and tells anyone who’ll give you three seconds of their time not to ever consider getting one.

So I guess it’s because I don’t believe that tattoos are fashion statements or should ever be fashion statements that Star Wars tattoos in particular kind of irk me.  It’s not an anti-Star Wars thing either.  I grew up on the first three Star Wars films.  If I lift my head up from my computer monitor and stare straight ahead, I have a clear view of the Star Wars trilogy DVDs on my DVD shelf.  I paid actual money to see the three Star Wars prequel stinkers in the theatre.  But when it comes to tattoos, I just can’t really ever see the need for Star Wars themed tattoos.

What got me thinking about this is this tattoo and the interview with the guy who got it.  Is it logical for me to think that this tattoo is crap?  Is it mean?  Am I a total jerk?  Perhaps, and I’m certainly not out to make any enemies.  It’s just that these kind of tattoos really rub me the wrong way.  Why?  I don’t think I even know.  It just seems ridiculous to dislike other people’s tattoos so much.  It’s not hurting me if this guy wants the death star and a tie fighter so why does it bug me so much?  Do we all have specific types of tattoos that we can’t stand to see, or am I just too picky?

Whatever the case, I think maybe it has something to do with tattoos like these being the sort of tattoos that just scream for attention and make people think that tattooing is all about catching people’s eyes and making them love you.  A death star/tie fighter tattoo in the ear seems to be more of a stunt than anything else.  I guess that’s what bugs me the most.  That and the fact that it’s a Star Wars tattoo.

It just so happens that I’m a bit of a video game fan.  I know that I’ve kind of spoke at length on the Tattoo Blog about how great I think that it would be if there were such a thing as a really good, interactive tattoo video game.  Well, unfortunately there isn’t a really great tattoo video game out there just yet, but I continue to have a feeling that it won’t be much longer before we do have a mature and challenging game on one of the major game consoles.

In the meantime however, if you are desperate to play something that allows you to virtually exist in the tattoo world, you might want to consider giving Tattoo City a try.  Tattoo City is an online game that requires no download and which has grown to 2.6 million monthly active users in the past month alone.  So take note, major video game manufacturers out there – people are hungry for tattoo video games.

Anyway, I’ve read up a little on Tattoo City and though it doesn’t get very technical and the graphics are certainly far from what you could call realistic, the game itself gets a thumbs up for taking the concept of building up your own tattoo studio in a virtual world.  You start the game with next to nothing and have to work your way up to the big time, just like in real life.  It’s not something that I’m completely interested in playing, but it obviously doesn’t have any trouble attracting those who are interested in playing.  Not only that, but the fact that this game exists is encouraging for those of us who are eagerly awaiting the arrival of a heavy duty, real to life tattoo game with amazing graphics.

Have at it, my fellow video game geeks.

It’s good to know that there are guys like Danny Knight in the tattoo game.  In any industry, the people with the most heart and the most passion for their work are the true stars, whether they are appearing on a highly popular reality TV series or working at some tiny studio somewhere in obscurity.  Caring about and loving the work that you do transcends all the other bullshit that so often gets in the way.

Danny Knight doesn’t appear on any highly popular reality TV series, but the tattoo machines that he builds have.  For quite some time, his very own brand of machines were used by some of the guys on the Discovery Channel’s tattoo series Miami Ink.  Since 1998, Knight has been building tattoo machines and though it initially started out as a hobby and something of a fun challenge, it has now taken off into a second full time career next to tattooing.

Knight owns and operates Cast Iron Tattoos in Orlando, Florida where he specializes in traditional American and Japanese styles, though in truth, he likes to do it all.  Not only that, but he’s actually very adept at doing it all, which is pretty damn important if you ask me.

Despite having a tattoo shop, a machine shop, a family and some dogs, Danny Knight has also set up his own tattoo convention called The Tried and True Tattoo Expo.  Tried and True was made out of a desire to keep things well…tried and true.  The concept of the expo came to life when Knight decided that with the rising popularity of the tattoo scene, that too many tattoo expos and conventions were being put on by promoters who didn’t really care about the industry and who were essentially just trying to cash in on something that really meant nothing to them.

And hey, seeing that people like Danny Knight are actually still out there, staying true to the world that they love is so much more than a comfort, it’s a genuine inspiration to anyone who cares about the tattoo industry.

Japan is a giant big ball of contradictions.  That statement in itself might seem entirely vague and a little presumptuous, but speaking as someone who lived there for 3 years, I stand by my belief that though beautiful and magical in so many ways, the world that the Japanese inhabit has more than its fair share of brain boggling contradictions.

By this point I’m sure that most of you out there know that tattoo in Japan is fantastic but also quite taboo.  Yes, things are slowly but surely changing, but the general opinion toward tattoos and tattooed people is more than a little archaic.  Ditto for marijuana.  Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to encourage anyone to smoke pot, but it seems that in Japan when something is taboo, there are often very extreme opinions of that specific thing.  A Japanese friend once confessed to me that she believed that marijuana and heroin were one and the same thing.  It may sound bizarre, but it’s not an uncommon belief in Japan at all.  This extremity of opinion is also a part of the reality that affects those who are tattooed, as well as tattoo artists themselves.  The most common belief in Japan of tattoos is that they are a direct link to organized crime, or the Japanese mafia, known as the Yakuza.  This misunderstanding of the unknown sometimes gets a little crazy in Japan.

An example of such craziness is a new idea by the Kobe municipal office in Kobe, Japan.  This summer during a music event at a beach in Kobe’s Suma Ward, several college students were arrested for alleged marijuana possession.  Taking this as their cue to “make a safer environment for the citizens”, the municipal office is now coming up with a law that will ban tattooed people from the beach.

‘‘It is our duty to make a safer environment for the citizens,’’ said a city official as senior officials of the city and Hyogo prefectural police are set to form a special team to work out details such as ways to restrict entrance to the beach.

Suma beach saw the lowest number of visitors in 25 years this summer, with about 620,000 people in 46 days. Some citizens have told the city office that they ‘‘hesitate to go near the beach’’ amid an increase in young people with tattoos, the officials said.’

I haven’t seen something this stupid and ignorant for a long time.  Banning people with tattoos from a beach because some kids were arrested for what may or may not be marijuana possession?  Are you kidding me?  First of all, this is Japan we’re talking about.  These people who are complaining about hesitating to go near the beach because of people with tattoos?  They’re living in a dream world.  Japan has one of the lowest crime rates in the entire world.  It’s not like these fear-filled residents are dealing with ghetto beaches, as if Kobe’s Suma Ward was worse or even comparable to South Central LA or something.  Come on.  Second, I fail to remotely see where there is any link between people with tattoos, marijuana and some sort of level of crime that apparently has still not occurred, but the threat of which is alive and well in the minds of local residents.

It consistently blows my mind how a country that is so many light years ahead of the rest of the world in technology and industry, to name a couple of examples, remains so depressingly ancient with regards to attitudes towards tattoos and the reality of the people who have them.

Get a clue, Japan.

More than a decade ago, Los Angeles County adopted a rating system for restaurants in which health inspectors, after finishing their inspection, made their important decision as to what letter to hand out.  The letters A, B and C quickly became the norm, with A being the best and C being the worst.  Whatever letter the inspected restaurant was given was determined by calculating the manner in which the restaurant lived up to health and sanitation regulations in their kitchens.  Naturally there are standards – that is, any restaurant that fails its health inspection isn’t simply given a C and told to shape up.  C is the bottom of the barrel in terms of health department score, but it’s still passable in terms of staying in business.  Regardless, if you had the choice to eat your next meal at one of three restaurants, one with an A displayed in their front window, one with a B and one with a C, which one would you choose?  I sure as hell know which one I would choose.

Though this system might seem overly strict to some, the vast majority of LA County residents like it a lot.  It’s also gained in popularity over on the east coast, where New York City restaurants began adopting it this past July.

Now then, tattoos may seem to be on a completely different level than food and restaurants, but when you really think about it, they aren’t so different at all.  No matter which way you slice it, at the heart of either issue the most important thing is a sanitary environment in which clean preparation and execution are performed.  Health, safety and quality are at the forefront of what matters to a costumer as well as what should definitely matter to an artist.  This being the case, the state of Georgia’s Columbia County is currently considering a policy in which a grading system that is more or less based on the LA County and NYC restaurant models is used.

The idea is causing a great deal of debate amongst health officials and tattoo artists alike.  Some tattoo artists embrace it wholeheartedly, while others complain that it will simply create more paperwork.  If you ask me – and no one did, but when has that ever stopped me? – this is an excellent idea.  Like it or not, the tattoo industry, just like any other industry, is about keeping up.  If a tattoo studio or an artist can’t put forth the effort and prove the quality of their establishment when it counts, then I don’t feel sorry for them.  A rating system is something that should be implemented everywhere for all tattoo studios.  I mean, think about how much easier it makes it for first time tattoo costumers, who may not know much about tattoos but want to go somewhere that offers quality work and professional care.  It’s a great concept and one that I really hope to see a lot of in the future.