The main drive we all have is the desire to be tattooed. Design comes in secondary, absolutely, because there are multiple choices at every turn that would suit just fine.
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The reality TV shows have been a blessing and a hindrance, I think, to a lot of tattoo artists. The reality is, reality shows aren’t real. But they do make people aware of tattooing.
Even if [the media] are going to talk about a fine art show in Paris, they still fall back on those same old phrases, which is, “You’re not going to find sailors here!”
I’ve been tattooed by members of my family and people who’ve never tattooed before, because I just want the mark. To me, the tattooing is more of a mark than an actual picture.
Not really many art professionals, or any art professionals really, have though through what this might mean for art practice and art theory. How can we think about tattooing as an art form? If we do think about it as an art form, what are the consequences of that for the ways tattooing is normally understood?