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Pop Culture
May 23, 2008, 12:02PM

Think Before You Ink

Jamie Swindle

There's nothing wrong with getting a tattoo, but this author begs you to please not be so generic about it. They are permament pieces of art, after all, and it should mean something special if it's displayed on your body for the rest of your life.

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"My problem with the explosion of body art appearing on the streets is the multitude of pretty atrocious ink that I've been seeing lately.

I have to ask: Is it really "cool" to get a random hibiscus on your shoulder blade, a nonsensical tribal pattern wrapped around your arm or a misshapen cartoon character on your butt?

What happened to having real meaning behind your pieces rather than just a drunken spur-of-the-moment idea while in Mexico on spring break?

There's no way that I can knock going under the needle for personal artistic expression in general because I happen to have a rather large piece in between my shoulder blades myself.

However, not to toot my own horn or anything, but I think that the main difference between my body art and the majority of tattoos that I've seen around town is the obvious thought and care that I took in its design and application.

READ MORE

 

        Tat2_medium

Vin Diesel shows us how to be completely boring in our tattoo selection.

       Tat1_medium

Of course not everyone has to go to such extremes of original expressiveness.

 

 

 
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Discussion
  • Missing sm

    Christian

    commented

    I have a tat--a tiny but multi-colored parrot--on my left arm. It was quality work, done during college. It was, uh, a mistake.

    Responses to this comment
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    BillyIdolFan

    commented

    the only people that should have tattoos are: sailors, prisoners, bikers, veterans, and maori tribesmen. its basically a fake way for alot of people to look tough.

    Responses to this comment
  • Missing sm

    Iris

    commented

    This woman I knew some years ago wrote an essay about her tattoos. Her thesis was that tattooing your body was a way of "claiming it," "making it your own," she said. My question was and is, who do you imagine it belongs to? Curating your body with art, advertisement, joke or entertainment, or even "meaningful" symbols (must you translate yourself into a compact image for other to grasp you? If it is for yourself, why must it be on your body, and not say, in a drawer, where you might readily gaze upon the thing alone and with due gravity.), suggests the exact opposite of "making your body your own," "claiming your body," it suggests that your body is a public space, which you are leasing, perhaps with the best of intentions, to other artists. And further, that you view your body as less than personal actually, but as a venue, with a public in mind. All that aside, get a fake tattoo if you have any sense. What idiot really believes a phase will last a lifetime? But, I must correct myself, for many idiots, this proves, a phase does last a lifetime. Fools.

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    Sourpuss

    commented

    "Body art" (what a dumb term) is for losers.

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