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by Pat Fish It may begin when a little boy sees an older man's skin art and decides, however subconsciously, that when he is a man he'll have tattoos too. Or a woman wants a bit of personal jewelry that cannot be lost or stolen, that represents a secret she can choose to share. The wearer incorporates the purchase into their identity and then continues on. They aren't just Buying Art, they are Being Art. The work speaks for itself. As the tattooed individual goes through life they have the opportunity to explain their motivations and attraction for this medium of expression. In the old days, military men could enthrall their listeners with tales of foreign ports of call, pointing to their souvenir tattoos that mapped a personal geography of achievement. No matter how extensive a collection may develop, the chronology and memories are always a link to the good times of the past. In a less enlightened age, it may well have happened that tattoos "appeared" the morning after a drunken evening. And the clueless wearer could use that excuse for the rest of their life to explain away what might otherwise be an unjustifiable example of their own bad taste in art. Nowadays it is more likely that the wearer of a tattoo did at least a little shopping around for image and artist, and will take more responsibility for their decision to commit to this ink for life. Some may get a "traditional" image that reminds them of someone they once admired. Others will copy the one worn by a flavor-of-the-month rockstar whose name they will forget when trying to explain the image years later to their own kids. But whatever the factor that pushes the final choice, once that tattoo is on and in the skin, the real stories about it begin. For each audience, for each time and place, the motivations and circumstances surrounding the acquiring will blend subtly with all the accrued experiences in the time since. A collage of memories that add up to the experiecing of life with that tattoo. No tattoos are ever exactly identical, and those who wear them increase their peculiarity, and uniqueness, by this act of free will. By commissioning an original piece of art to be done as a one-of-a-kind just for them, the tattoo purchaser is getting individualised attention, in an art and craft, and transcending for a time the mass-produced culture into which they were born. They are choosing to exploit their abnormality potential, and externalise some clue to their internal aesthetics. Beautiful images reveal a kinship with one set of sensibilities, while evil ones may give fair warning of the unseen that lurks beneath the surface. Those who remain blanks may obsess on the pain factor, but the illustrated individuals know that it is the permanence of the artform, the fact that it will last as long as you do, that lends a great measure of its poignance and savor. There is no percentage in regret, and once a tattoo has been acquired it is something that will be lived with, explained, justified, defended, bragged about, and finally integrated into the whole being. It is the one thing that you can take with you when you die. | |||
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