If you ask me, tattooing the name of your significant other on to your body gets too much flack.  Yeah, yeah, yeah…I’ve heard the grumbling about such a thing being taboo; that any relationship in which one person has the other’s tattooed on them is doomed to fail; about it being stupid to do something like this given the all too high divorce rate and likelihood of a breakup.  You know what I have to say about that?  Fuck it.

I mean, really, there’s no such thing as jinxing a relationship with a tattoo. Relationships fail because two people weren’t compatible and not because one person got the other person’s name tattooed on to them years earlier.  Sure it’s a risk, but everything in life is a risk and doesn’t it strike you as more than a little boring to only do the things in life that have zero risk attached to them?  It sure does to me.

That’s why as slightly cheesy as this story is, I like it.  See, Joe Wittenberg of San Diego, California decided to take a different approach to asking his girlfriend Rachel Streeter to marry him.  Wittenberg, who has been tattooing for nine years, tattooed the words “Rachel, will you marry me?” on to his lower leg, then knelt down on one knee and rolled up his pant leg, exposing the question to his girl.  Nice, right?  Hey, whatever your opinion of Wittenberg and his marriage proposal tattoo is, you have to give him full marks for originality.

Incidentally, the news article doesn’t say anything about the “- of course!” tattoo beneath the marriage proposal on Wittenberg’s leg, but I’m guessing that after she said yes and got her engagement ring, Streeter was also asked to ink her answer on to her fiance.

It’s crazy that the tattoo world isn’t given the credit that it deserves as being a hotbed of artistic activity.  Even now with tattoos rising in popularity amongst the mainstream, I still feel that the actual recognition of a tattoo artist as exactly that – an artist – is all too often overlooked.  Amongst the masses, tattoo artists are still too regularly viewed as those guys (or girls) who will put that rad tattoo that you want on your body.  Case closed, have a nice a day.  Maybe I’m a tattoo snob, but seeing tattoo artists as artists and not just as people who can perform a task is the main reason why I’m totally picky about where I get tattooed.  It’s not enough simply to find a nearby tattoo shop and get tattooed, finding a talented artist is number one in the priorities department when I get tattooed. 

What’s more, it isn’t just the mainstream that has dragged its collective feet on the issue of giving tattoo artists their due props.  The artworld itself has in many cases ignored the influence, ability and creativity of the tattoo world for quite some time as well.  If anyone is to have even a basic conversation about art, there can be no leaving a particular type of artist out on the margins.  Tattoo artists create, therefore they are real artists and their work is art. 

Which leads me to my point: I’m glad to see that Le Pied de Biche (“The Crowbar”), a new art gallery in Paris, France is using their inaugaral exhibition as an opportunity to let people know that yes, tattoo artists are real artists.  The exhibition, “Art, Ink and Rock and Roll” will display the work of tattoo artists Easy Sasha, Navette and Nicoz Balboaz and is on now through June 2.

“Tattoo used to have violent associations because historically it was a way of marking a marginal life, from sailing to prison,” Ms. Khalil said. “But today, there is a new generation of tattooists who define themselves as artists before anything. That’s what I want to defend and represent.”

I couldn’t agree more.

Most tattoo artists, whether they like to admit it or not, have one or maybe two styles of tattoos that they specialize in and excel at.  There certainly is nothing wrong with that and if you can find a tatoo artist who does two styles of tattoos very well, then I think it’s safe to assume that such an artist is quite skilled.  I myself am always wary of any tattoo artist who claims to be proficient at all types of tattoo styles because there are just so very few (if any) artists who can do it all.  Being capable of doing all tattoo styles and being capable of doing all tattoo styles well are two very different things.

Fip Buchanan is one tattoo artist who can do a whole handful of tattoo styles very well.  I look through a lot of portfolios in any given day and it’s very rare that I find an artist who can do excellent portraiture work, excellent Japanese stuff, gorgeous black and grey, very good classic American/traditional and still pull off really nice random stuff like giant Pez dispensers, flamingos and sewing machines.  You’ve got to respect an artist like Fip, whose tattoo roots stretch back to the days of being the co-founder of San Diego’s downright sick tattoo studio Avalon Tattoo as well as opening Avalon Tattoo 2.

Fip has been tattooing since 1979 and yes, that’s a long time to have been tattooing for.  No wonder his stuff is so good.  So all you tattoo artists just starting off out there, take note: don’t even bother trying to say that you can do it all unless you can come remotely close to an artist like Fip’s level of ability.  Take your time, pay your dues and maybe one day you’ll be lucky enough to be even half as versatile as Fip Buchanan is.

You know, when I sit down to write these blog posts I’m always hoping to find anything and everything impressive that relates to tattoos to report on.  As much as I want to bring that news to the people who visit this blog, sometimes there’s tattoo news that just isn’t impressive, but horrible.  Crazy stuff goes on in the world and when tattoos are involved in something crazy but newsworthy, even though it doesn’t showcase tattoos in a positive light, I have to get the story out there.  So I’m sorry if you’ve come to the site today wanting to read something impressive or good, but I need to talk about something that happened where not only was a human being mistreated, but in which tattooing was misused for harmful and demeaning purposes.

After being told that he would no longer be bullied if he permitted a tattoo to be placed on his buttocks by the boys who regularly harrassed him, a 14-year-old Concord, New Hampshire high school freshman underwent an illegal tattoo in the basement of the home of one of the bullies.  The young victim was also originally promised a tattoo of a celtic cross on his arm if he went along with the plan to have his buttocks tattooed.  The tattoo of the celtic cross never materialized, but the tattoo on the victim’s buttocks did.

Donald Wyman, 20, Travis Johnston, 18, Blake VanNest, 18, Ryan Fisk, 19 and an unnamed 15-year-old suspect have been arrested and four of the suspects now face criminal charges.  The tattoo on the victim’s buttocks read “Poop Dick” and included an image of a penis.  The victim had already been bullied to such an extent by these people that he suffered from pretty severe self-esteem issues.  He also suffered from a learning disability.  The boy will now require surgery to have the tattoo removed.  You can read the rest of the story here.

This just turns my stomach.  The fact that bullying can exist to such a degree where someone is dehumanized by a tattoo is a very sad and sorry situation.  There are a number of things that the sickos who did this to this kid should be charged with and I also think that something like this should bring to light the issue of having stricter regulations on tattoo equipment.  Someone who is not a tattoo artist should never have a tattoo gun in their possession.  Yet it’s easy as hell to get your hands on one at any time.  We need better laws that treat tattoo equipment as equipment strictly reserved for professionally trained artists.  I’m not trying to say that doing this would eliminate bullying, but if something like this could have been prevented by laws that make tattoo equipment difficult to obtain for non-licensed professionals, well then there would be at least one 14-year-old kid out there right now who isn’t scarred – mentally and physically – for life.

Daytona Beach, Florida has a reputation for a lot of things.  I don’t think that I really have to expand on that statement as pretty much everyone knows what sorts of things Daytona Beach is famous for.  If you don’t know about Daytona Beach, well then I suggest that you take a trip to Wikipedia or a college frat house somewhere in order to find out.  However, what I didn’t know about Daytona Beach is that there are no tattoo shops there.  Well okay, technically that’s not true: there is one tattoo shop in Daytona Beach, called Daytona Tattoo Design Company.

At Daytona Tattoo Design Company, customers can walk in, check out the portfolios of the various artists who work there, sit down and discuss what tattoo works best for them with any of the artists, decide what they want and then pay for it, but – get this – they CAN’T GET TATTOOED THERE!!  No such luck.  Instead of being able to get tattooed at Daytona Tattoo Design Company, after paying for their tattoos customers are then asked to either hop aboard the provided courtesy van or drive themselves to another shop which is located in nearby Volusia County.  Once there, they will be able to get their desired tattoo.

I don’t know about you, but to me that set up is absolutely insane.  But don’t blame the folks at Daytona Tattoo Design Company, they’re just obeying the laws of Daytona Beach.  Apparently, the town that has the reputation for all things party draws the line at getting tattoos.  That’s right; headshops, sex shops, liquor stores – all of these things are apparently just fine and dandy, but tattoos are strictly forbidden.

And just incase you haven’t heard enough stupidity, here’s some more for you: city officials in Daytona Beach are considering lifting the ban on tattoo shops within the city limits, by allowing shops to open on Indian Lake Road, a heavy industrial area which is five miles from the city centre.  Yes, it’s a fine place for a tattoo shop, where the only traffic comes from those visiting the area’s five-star attractions: a prison, a behavioural hospital and a shooting range.  I am not making this up.  Furthermore, even for this shitty deal to go through, the city council will require a “super majority” to vote in favour of it all.

Are you kidding me?  Well, the vote took place as of Wednesday night, but I’ve yet to hear the results.  I’m sure the entire Daytona Beach tattoo community is waiting with baited breath to hear the final decision of the city council morons in charge.  What a joke.

Tattoos are permanent.  Yup, there you go, there’s your shocker of the day right there.  Sometimes however, just sometimes, tattoos aren’t permanent.  While I’ve never undergone the laser treatments that remove a tattoo or tattoos from the skin, I’ve heard a few things about the process: 1.  It’s expensive  2.  It takes between 5 and 15 sessions before the unwanted tattoo(s) disappear and last but certainly not least, 3. It hurts like a sonofabitch.  With all that in mind, I’ve always thought that it’s just best to get a tattoo that you’re pretty positive will stand the test of time in terms of you actually wanting it on your body.

But if there’s one thing that’s been proven time and time again, it’s that people don’t like to be told what to do.  So I could go on about making sure you really want this tattoo or that tattoo for the rest of your life, but in the end, the decision is all up to you.  And because of this, a new product is finding its way on to the market called InfinitInk.

InfinitInk is for all of the people out there who think that just maybe there could be a possibility that at some point in the future they’ll want to get rid of their tattoo(s).  How does it work?  Well, according to this article, InfinitInk has created an ink that can be removed by a laser up to three times more quickly than is currently possible with traditional ink.  The company also claims to have tested their easy-off ink on over 40 people.  40 people.  Wow.  That’s…well that’s…that’s not really all that convincing.  Furthermore, it’s still not known whether the ink will actually last long enough in the skin, whether those tattooed with it want it removed or not.  Which isn’t good.

I don’t know, if you ask me – and you didn’t, but when has that ever stopped me from telling you what I think? – tattoos are permanent.  If you think you might not want one forever, don’t get one.  End of story.

Like it or not, we live in a world that is increasingly controlled by the mega-corporations and the smaller corporations alike.  Their influence is everywhere, from mainstream politics to the food we eat, to the medicine we take.  Logos of the more well known corporations have also popped up time and time again in the form of tattoos on fans of products such as Nike, Mac computers, and even Red Bull energy drinks.  I guess it’s all fine if that’s the sort of stuff that you want on your body for the rest of your life, but hey man, count me out.

Which brings me to my most recent discovery in which tattoos of corporations are taken to the next level.  More than 200 employees of the American health club chain Anytime Fitness have been tattooed with their employers logo: a purple running man.

“We bleed purple here at corporate,” said CEO Chuck Runyon.

A tattoo artist is often on hand at annual conferences to oblige employees who are feeling particularly dedicated.”

Call me paranoid or hyper-sensitive to this sort of allegiance to your employer, but stuff like this creeps the hell out of me.  Fine, you like your job, you like the people you work with, but no kid ever says: “When I grow up, I’m going to work at Anytime Fitness.”  To me a tattoo of such a place says one thing and one thing only: you belong to them.

No disrespect intended to the people out there who work at Anytime Fitness, but getting a tattoo of the corporation’s logo just ain’t right.  I could stomach a doctor getting a tattoo of the hospital where they work, or a lawyer of the firm they work for (though it still is a little weird), because those careers take a long time to work your way toward.  I’m not sure what exactly it takes to get a job at Anytime Fitness, but I’m 100% positive that it doesn’t take years of study and extremely hard work.  So what does that matter?  Well, I guess it’s the difference between a job and a career.  One becomes a doctor or a lawyer.  Those aren’t just job titles, they’re actual callings.  I can wrap my head around being dedicated to them.  But a faceless corporation?

Come on man, that’s just dumb.

I have to admit, it isn’t very often that I see or hear of a tattoo artist who lists one of their specialties as cute tattoos.  It just doesn’t really even sound like something that should come out of  tattoo artist’s mouth.  Not because it’s a particularly bad thing to say, and not because all tattoo artists need to live up to some sort of impossible definition of rough and ragged, but I mean, there is a certain level of pain and teeth gritting involved in getting tattooed and when you throw the word cute into that mix…it just doesn’t seem to fit.

Yet Lucy Hu makes “cute tattoos” work for her.  In her bio she lists her two tattoo specialties as cute tattoos and custom tattoos.  Her online portfolio even has a “Feminine” section, which contains the tattoos that I’m guessing Hu would describe as cute.  The truth of the matter is that beyond any definition of “cute” or “feminine”, these are quite simply good tattoos.  Very nice use of colour, positioning and flow with the body of her clients makes the images pop in a way that many tattoo artists who’ve been tattooing for longer than Hu still haven’t been able to master.

Which leads me to my next point: though some of Lucy Hu’s tattoos can be slightly hit and miss with me, when you stumble across one of her very well done tattoos, it takes you aback for a second.  According to her bio, Lu has only been tattooing professionally for six years, which means that in those six years she’s really learned a lot about what makes a tattoo artist’s work standout.  Perhaps this can be attributed to her art and design background – she studied graphic design, drawing and fashion design at the School of Graphic Arts in Guang Zhou, China, before going on to work as a fashion designer for a Hong Kong based fashion label.  She later moved to the US and since that time she has acquired a permanent spot at Alhambra, California’s My Tattoo.

Lucy will be appearing at the upcoming Hell City Tattoo Festival this May 21-23rd in Columbus, Ohio.  Look her up if you’re interested in getting a damn good (and possible cute) tattoo.

Ahhh Brooklyn…is there anywhere else like it on earth?  Actually, I’ve never been to Brooklyn in my life.  That stings, telling you people that.  I’ve been to a hell of a lot of places around this world of ours, but unfortunately NYC is not one of those.  I have dear friends there and I know that the tattoo scene is amazing, but I just haven’t managed to get there yet.  One day.  One day soon.

But not soon enough unfortunately, to capitalize on the upcoming 127th anniversary of one of New York’s most famous landmarks, the Brooklyn Bridge.  Yessir, on May 24th the bridge will have its birthday and to celebrate this, Brooklyn Tattoo is having a bit of a celebration on May 23rd.  On that day, a selection of Brooklyn Bridge tattoos will be available for $27 each.

Adam Suerte, Brooklyn native and co-owner of Brooklyn Tattoo has always loved the Brooklyn Bridge and knows that many others also share this love.  Says Suerte:

“I grew up in the shadow of the bridge … As kids, we would ride our bikes over it, I hung out on it and wrote on it when I was a teen and now it shows up in many of my paintings, graphics and illustrations. It’s even in the logo for our shop. Tourists seeing it for the first time and lifers like me know that the Brooklyn Bridge holds special meaning.”

There you have it.  If you’re a New Yorker or Brooklynite and have always loved the Brooklyn Bridge, you’ll finally have your chance on May 23rd to do something to commemorate that love – for 27 bucks!  But hey, if you’re not down with flash, you can still head over to Brooklyn Tattoo and pick up a limited edition Brooklyn Bridge T-shirt.  There’s also prints of the flash that are signed and numbered (signed by whom I’m not sure, but I’m guessing by Suerte?) for sale, although if you don’t like flash, I guess that’s really not of interest to you.  Everything is done on a first come, first serve basis on Sunday, May 23rd at Brooklyn Tattoo (99 Smith Street), from 11am-9pm.

Scratchers ruin tattooing, it’s just the plain truth.  I often think about these people who seem to have a total disregard for the dues that need to be paid in order to work your way up into the tattoo industry.  And sure, a lot of really amazing tattoo artists learned by tattooing friends or family, in living rooms and in basements through methods that can be defined as scratching.  But in some weird and perhaps hypocritical way, that’s not scratching to me.  Why?  Because the artists I’m talking about who started off doing homemade tattoos are now responsible and respected artists and business owners.  There’s a huge difference between them and the people who are content simply tattooing out of their basements with their guitar string tattoo machines for the rest of their lives.

Which brings me to my point: a tattoo artist may have learned the basics of tattooing by scratching, but it’s not a recommended way of going at it.  In fact, some established tattoo artists have even talked about having trouble initially getting apprenticeships once they had been scratching for a while because reputations can grow fast and not too many reputable shops are interested in dealing with a well known scratcher.  Which brings me to my initial point all over again: scratchers spoil everyone’s fun by casting a really dark shadow over all the legitimate and good tattoo artists out there.  Furthermore, they tend to be lazy and cut corners, using crap equipment and ignoring standard health procedures.  They’re single handedly responsible for creating an image of tattooing that has no place in this current day and age.

And that’s why I was very happy to see that public health officials in Grand Forks, North Dakota have begun cracking down on illegal tattoo operations.  Unlicensed “tattoo studios” are being sought out and shut down in order to ensure public health and safety and to safeguard the reputations of the city’s four legitimate tattoo shops.  Grand Forks may not be a huge city, but the fact that this sort of care and attention has begun on a smaller level gives me hope that it will continue to gain momentum until it becomes impossible for scratchers to do what they do at any level, big or small.