KOLOR

It's a Small World: Steve Shares Some Amazing Tim Kern Handiwork

Last June (yes, you read that correctly - I've been sitting on this post a while!), I attended a book release party at Sacred Gallery in Manhattan.

While perusing the art hanging on the walls, I noticed a fellow attendee who had a lot of tattoos. To be honest, that pretty much described everyone in attendance, but what jumped out at me was a familiar-looking piece on this gentleman's leg:

photo by Janet Loder-Berthelon

What was surprising about this tattoo is that I had seen it before - just not in person. It had, however, appeared on Tattoosday, two years earlier in this post, courtesy of my friend Janet, who spotted the host on the subway and unwittingly submitted one of the few "guest spots" we have ever had.

I introduced myself and learned that the gentleman's name is Steve Prue, a very talented photographer (click through his name to see some amazing work). Needless to say, he remembered meeting Janet, and offered up to me some of his amazing work on his left sleeve:

These wonderful tattoos are the handiwork of Tim Kern of Tribulation Tattoo. The robot face (above) and what Steve called his "robo-Kali" (below) are truly phenomenal and it is almost criminal that I have been sitting on these photos for so long.

This "small world" story ended up letting us experience segments of  two "out of this world" tattoos.

Thanks to Steve for sharing them with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2012 Tattoosday.

If you are reading this on another web site other than Tattoosday, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit http://tattoosday.blogspot.com and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.

Tattoos Wallpaper

 

Tattoos Wallpaper

 

"Ladies, Ladies" Art Show at Tattoo Culture in Brooklyn Tonight!

Tonight at Tattoo Culture in Williamsburg, the second annual "Ladies, Ladies" Art Show is kicking off with a big launch event.

It was at a Tattoo Culture event several years back that I first met one of the curators of this show, Magie Serpica (who shared this tattoo).

Here's a work by one of the show's 100+ artists Itoyo Kinoshita:

Whereas last year's show was a tribute to "old school" female tattooers, this year's event has more of a New York-based slant, with an emphasis on female artists in the Big Apple. That said, I recognized, among the list of contributors, at least a dozen artists whose work has been featured on Tattoosday over the years.

I encourage you to attend if you are in NYC tonight and, at the very least, visit here to get a closer look at the Ladies, Ladies extravaganza.

This entry is ©2012 Tattoosday.

If you are reading this on another website other than Tattoosday, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit http://tattoosday.blogspot.com and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.

Shroomtastic!

Yesterday I was walking around Penn Station during lunch, as is my normal workday routine. I saw quite a few tattoos, but nothing seemed to impress. I was hoping to chance upon something a little more original than flowers, dragons and skulls.

I spotted a young woman talking to a few other people and a few of them had tattoos. I sauntered on over, figuring between them, I'd see something interesting. I wasn't disappointed.

Among the group was Mark, who shared this tattoo on the back of his calf:

Those are mushrooms. More specifically, psilocybin mushrooms, which have hallucinogenic properties.

The artist was the woman I initially spotted, a freelance "underground" tattooist from Oakland, California who gave her name as Steiner Ella.

Thanks to Mark and Steiner for sharing this cool tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2012 Tattoosday.

If you are reading this on another web site other than Tattoosday, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit http://tattoosday.blogspot.com and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.

The Great Big Banksy Post

I'd like to assume everyone knows who Banksy is, but then again, there was a point not too long ago when I didn't.
One of the nice things about this site is that it also acts as a personal timeline for me. Case in point: when I met Sarah and she shared this Banksy tattoo, I then became aware of the entity that made a name for himself (quite literally) by spray-painting graffiti around London.

How serious is this Banksy? When his documentary Exit Through the Gift Shop was nominated for an Oscar a couple years back, and he was in Los Angeles for the awards, he struck his graffiti claws into the City of Angels.

Art collectors were prepared, and within hours of his work being discovered, they had at it with jack hammers and chisels, removing the public display for private collectors, presumably at great profits.

I have since become familiar with Banksy through additional tattoo sightings (like this one) and from reading a few of the lovely books on the subject.

Last fall, I found two new books, companion volumes, that are exceptional introductions to Banksy, and also great companions to Banksy aficionados.

The two volumes, Banksy Locations & Tours Volume 1: A Collection of Graffiti Locations and Photographs in London, Englandand Banksy Locations & Tours Volume 2: A Collection of Graffiti Locations and Photographs from around the UKare great companion pieces that help one discover the work of Banksy. The author, Martin Bull, is a photographer who led walking tours of Banksy's public art in various English locales. He has taken great pains to catalog every Banksy piece, many of which have been demolished, painted over, or extricated from their original homes.

We even get GPS coordinates, so a true connoisseur can visit Banksy's ghosts.

Bull gets a little repetitive bemoaning the "theft" of the originasl and cursing those that profit from their sale. But I was able to look past that, and chalk it up to his uncompromising love of his subject.

These are not glossy tomes, but handy little guidebooks that would be worthy travel companions on any Banksy fan's pilgrimage to London.

And why am I rambling and reviewing these books here on Tattoosday?

I did mention two previous Banksy inspired posts and, it should come as no surprise, I have two more to share from 2011, as we come very close to the end of our backlog.

The first is from Natasha who I met in the now-vacant Borders bookstore on Penn Plaza. She has this piece on her arm:

One of Banksy's signature pieces is the rat, and he has multiple sequences of street art that involve rats, which are perfect vehicles for shining lights on society. This particular piece from Natasha is a "helicopter rat".

She credits Hexx, formerly at Fort Apache Tattoo Studio in Manhattan. 

Natasha told me, "I was actually surprised when I got this that more people didn't recognize it, because so many people know Banksy now." The rat using a helicopter blade to paint in a presumably inaccessible location is a classic Banksy motif.

The second Banksy piece we're appreciating today is from Taylor, whose ink has appeared previously in Tattoosday here.

Since Taylor first appeared on Tattoosday, she's had a lot of work done, but most impressive is this Banksy piece on her lower back:



This tattoo is based on this amazing Banksy piece:

When I asked Taylor why she chose this particular piece of art, she replied "The way it's raining underneath the umbrella, I feel like it's always raining on me."

She credits Angel at Puncture Tattoo Studio in Dyker Heights, Brooklyn, with inking this on her back.

Thanks to Natasha and Taylor for sharing their work with us here on Tattoosday. And, of course, thanks to Banksy for providing the inspiration.

This entry is ©2012 Tattoosday.

If you are reading this on another web site other than Tattoosday, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit http://tattoosday.blogspot.com and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.