BME: Body Modification Ezine

Tattoo, Piercing, and Body Modification News, Events, and Culture

September 3, 2012

ModBlog

Changing industry ethics?

Written by

Shannon Larratt

When you first look at these tattoos, maybe the first thing you say to yourself is, “wow, I didn’t know tattoos could shift that much with age!”

But then you realize that the chestpiece is on well known tattoo artist Toni Moore (of Broad Street Studio in Bath) by Tim Kern, and the neck piece is a knock off by Marcel Daatz at Extremetattoo in Munich. I know, not a line-for-line copy, but close enough that if you didn’t look at the pieces side-by-side you could easily assume they’re the same tattoo.s I often have more permissive feelings about copying than many of my friends in the industry, because it’s my opinion that tattooing has always been an artform that is built on appropriation, but this example of tattoo plaigiarism really upset me.

The reason this piece upset me so much is that Marcel Daatz appears to be a talented and capable tattoo artist. There is no need or excuse for him to be knocking off his peers’ work and claiming it as his own. It makes me very sad, and it’s an unfortunate comment on how many of the traditional tattoo culture ethics have been lost as this industry ages. I’m used to crap artists aping the pros. But for talented artists to rip each other off? To have so little respect for each other, for themselves, for the industry? It’s really heartbreaking.

What do you think? Where is the line? Is this an example of a professional backstabbing a peer? Or am I overreacting, and it’s been changed enough, and is instead an example of someone simply drawing inspiration from a well-known tattoo and getting “their own version”?
September 2, 2012

ModBlog

Cave Painting Tattoo

Written by

Shannon Larratt

Given how many mummies and ice-men and “primitive” people we’ve unearthed covered head to toe with wonderful tattoos that would win awards at even today’s tattoo conventions, let alone whatever body art celebrations they had ten thousand years ago, it’s surprising to me that we don’t see more neolithic-inspired tattoos. On that note, I’m in love with this cave painting-inspired tattoo by André Cruz in Sao Paulo, Brazil. The motif works so nicely, and not just because I suspect that culturally there is a strong crossover between early cave painting and early body markings when it comes to the history of the human experience.
September 2, 2012

ModBlog

More fun tattoos (and a tool to do them)

Written by

Shannon Larratt

Adding to the silly little tattoos I posted last night I want to include this pair of sweet fun foot-top pieces. On the left a minimal tattoo by Gábor Zagyvai (zagyvai.com), and on the right a great little cock by Lionel Fahy (lioneloutofstep.blogspot.fr) that he had the honor of doing on fellow tattoo artist Jimmy Toge of Radjah Skin Design in Bali, Indonesia.

Speaking of Lionel, I wanted to show you this joyful tattoo machine that Den Nis of El Hombre Invisible Tattoo Machines made in collaboration with him.

Oh and thinking of feet tattoos has reminded me to squeeze in one more that caught my eye, although it’s not as “funny” as the first two. This masterpiece was done for Maxime by Cammy Stewart of Metalurgey in Dundee. I especially like the way the red checkerboard travels onto his toes — a very nice touch assuming it heals well [Edit: Oops, Maxime just took the photo, it’s not his foot].
September 2, 2012

ModBlog

Rolf’s 150th Suspension!

Written by

Shannon Larratt

Speaking of “records” and “firsts”, I’ve got to congratulate Rolf (oft-mentioned here on ModBlog) again, who just did his 150th suspension, choosing the humorous asstronaut suspension, a style that I never-ever thought I’d see again after the first person jokingly did it… but then somehow it took off, no pun intended. This was done at Suspension MECCA 2012, where Rolf also did a lotus suspension.
September 2, 2012

ModBlog

Free-Fall Knee Suspension

Written by

Shannon Larratt

For their 35th free-fall suspension, The Sinner Team changed things up and attempted a difficult six-point free-fall knee suspension, pierced with six hooks, three horizontal placements stacked vertically over each knee (and a back-up safety harness in case of failure of course). There were 10m (32 feet) of free-fall, with the exit point at 25m (82 feet), and Stanislav says he was quite surprised with the amount of stress it put on his leg muscles even though the jump was perfectly staged to minimize this. That said, he was able to walk just fine the next day, although he only weighs 67kg (150 lbs) and warns that if anyone heavier were to attempt this that he feels there is a good chance of injury. Note that the stress on the legs is more because of the jump itself, not the hooks per se, which are of course not passing through muscle tissue!

Amazing, forward thinking, and most of all, responsible work as always. I say it every time, but to me The Sinner Team really does it right, and it makes me so happy to see the way they operate. Following are some screen-caps from the video, and then the video itself on Vimeo. If you haven’t already done so, browse all their videos here. Be sure to note a few things besides just being wowed and writing September 1st, 2012 in your body modification almanac as the first ever free-fall knee suspension — for example, the fact that the hooks didn’t tear at all, the incredibly complex and professional rigging, the many small details to ensure safety, to say nothing of the beautiful documentation they keep. My hat is so far off to these guys that I’m pretty sure it’s colonizing Mars right now.
September 2, 2012

ModBlog

The Tattooed Face of the Future Czech President?

Written by

Shannon Larratt

I have been watching with great interest the presidential campaign of Vladimír Franz, a Czech artist and composer who is taking advantage of the fact that he’s completely tattooed to attract a great deal of media and populist youth attention — first to his inky face, but once he has their attention, to his political message as well. Vladimir holds a law degree, but after graduating chose to ignore that field and focus on the arts, while supporting himself in a variety of blue-collar jobs. These days he is a teacher in the theatre department of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague and also lectures in the film department. When asked about his tattoos in an interview he said (and I do my best to translate it here — the original in Czech is on his website),

Tattoo Art has accompanied mankind since time immemorial. In addition to the its original magic and ritual, it serves an aesthetic purpose. Of course it’s true that from an aesthetic point of view, this is a decision to be made by each free individual. Tattoos are an expression of free will. The tattoos are a permanent and unchangeable expression of my decision to stand up for the graces of freedom, for better or worse. I know that people have many questions about my tattoos, and that these questions will certainly continue, but I want to add that my tattoos are the result of a long-term sophisticated concept, not a sudden whim.

I can definitely appreciate those comments, and have always agreed that body modification and personal freedoms and civil rights are inexorably linked. If these thoughts are indicative of the rest of his politics (which I admit are not easy for me to really translate), then I’d be happy to see him succeed. That said, no one should ever make the mistake of assuming that someone is defined by their tattoos.

To be realistic, Vladimir Franz is about as long-shot as you can get, and I suspect his goal is more to inject a worthwhile independent voice into the dialogue and to inspire others to do the same — and I’m happy to see that his tattoos are being leveraged to achieve that — rather than the serious campaign for the Czech presidency he purports to be running. He is not the member of any political party, nor of any behind-the-scenes interest group, nor has he profited from overpriced government contracts. He sees himself as a man sensitive to injustice, with a sense of humor and an inner relationship to nature, able to listen to others, and with a never-ending passion to learn and expand himself. These are all wonderful, but the sad reality is that they go a long way to disqualifying an individual from the corrupt, beholden, and rotten-to-the-core political process.

Visit vladimirfranz.cz for more information.

PS. I’m in no way saying that anyone should vote for a politician just because they have a tattooed face. But for me, when I see someone that looks like this, I know that we at least have some shared background and life experience, and that it’s worth taking the time to hear what they have to say. In addition, for better or worse, a tattooed face means there’s a very good chance the individual is not beholden to big business, because by and large a tattooed face is a great way — at least for now — of having those doors slammed in your face. The irony of my comment is that by supporting such politicians for that reason, we help eliminate the validity of that reason!!!
September 1, 2012

ModBlog

Let’s have some fun

Written by

Shannon Larratt

Before I read comics in bed or turn into a wolf or whatever it that I do at night when I walk away from the computer, I want to wrap up the day with a couple of fun, light tattoos since it feels like everything I’ve posted today has been so serious. First, on the left, a hilarious tattoo by Josh Herrera of Skin Factory in Las Vegas. It’s a Zom-Bee. Get it? Zom-BEE!!! Hahaha. Love it. And to the right of that (and of course you can click’n’zoom ‘em both) Deryn’s super-cool Back To The Future themed 88 MPH tattoo with a flux capacitor symbol next to it to really give it geek cred, done by Charlie Coppolo. This makes me miss my Delorean. Wish I’d never sold that car (actually, I traded it for my 650HP supercharged ’74 Corvette, which had its charms as well).

OK, I can’t stop myself from squeezing in a “serious” tattoo as well because it’s just so striking. Here’s a big black piercer sleeve, halfway up the arm, completely engulfing the forearm. What I love about it is that it’s been capped off not by the normal straight lines, but instead has been graphically “faded” using nice bulky halftones, giving it a unique and modern appearance. Then the top half (I assume these are the same arm anyway!) was capped off with a maze-like piece of pixelated geometry that steps away from the swastika patterns and other sacred geometry that we’re so used to seeing in these types of pieces. This particular sleeve was tattooed by Yaroslav Gorbunov of Maruha Tattoo Studio in St. Petersburg, Russia.
September 1, 2012

ModBlog

Can you ever be “too clean”?

Written by

Shannon Larratt

At what point is addressing sterile field control overkill? I mean, on one hand it’s never a bad thing per se, but in a cost-competitive world, lines have to be drawn somewhere or you’ll lose money providing protections that are redundant. Should one always strive to be better? Or does one reach a level of risk mitigation where no reasonable improvement is left to be had, and it’s better to move on to other areas?

I’m really blown away (in a good way) by the level of concern Ronaldo “Piercer Snoopy” Sampaio of Sao Paulo, Brazil (piercer-snoopy.blogspot.com) pays to even “basic” procedures like navel piercings, wearing full surgical gowns and a mask in addition to the industry standard gloves. We all accept that gloves are needed. This is not so much to avoid skin-on-skin contact between the piercer and their client, but because changing gloves is the easiest way to control cross-contamination. Oversimplifying the matter, the primary purpose of gloves is to provide a barrier between clients (even though they’re rarely in the room at the same time), to stop transmission of blood-borne diseases from one client to the next. Gowns, hair nets, and masks on the other hand primarily provide a barrier between the piercer and client. In addition to these protections, in some cases this studio does the procedure through a “window” in a surgical drape. In addition to creating psychological clarity by isolating the procedure from the rest of the environment, this minimizes the risk of pulling any bacteria from the surface of the client’s skin into the wound.

On one hand, all of these protections reduce the chance of infection and related complications as well as projecting an air of professionalism. But on the other hand, humans have been piercing each other with dirty sticks in caves for perhaps the last hundred thousand years. What do you think? Where do you draw the line for acceptable minimum standards? What do you expect of a top-notch shop? Is there a level where you begin questioning the allocation of resources? Do different procedures have different rules? No matter where you think the line should be drawn, I hope you agree it’s wonderful that people are working at such a high standard to even allow such questions to be asked!
September 1, 2012

ModBlog

Do we need a body mods in comics wiki?

Written by

Shannon Larratt

Something that’s been on my very long list of “I should do this” projects has been some sort of comprehensive wiki of tattoos and body modification in comics and graphic novels (and another one for film and television might be great as well now that I think about it — assuming it doesn’t already exist). Perhaps it would be a nice subset addendum to the BME wiki (wiki.bme.com). I’d love to see it cover everything from casual references to stories that build their central plot around body modification. A la Niven’s sex “what-if” sex conundrum Man of Steel, Woman of Kleenex, can Superman even get inked? Perhaps with a Kryptonite tattoo needle?

In any case, the “Body Mods in Comics Wiki” project came to mind again this afternoon as I re-read Alan Moore’s Hypothetical Lizard and saw the character “Book”, whose skin is covered in swirling spiraling patterns that are actually lines of text — a motif I’m surprised I’ve never seen explored this effectively in reality.

I was also recently prodded when Rafa changed his avatar to a picture of Spider Jerusalem, one of the greatest heaily tattooed comic book characters of all time, the “plausible dystopia” version of Hunter S. Thompson from Warren Ellis‘s brilliant epic 60-issue Transmetropolitan series (also available as a ten volume collection). Click the picture (and you can do this with the Mek and Skin Graft images too) to actually read the little excerpt, but trust me, everything I’m mentioning in this post is worth the purchase — especially this.

Speaking of Warren Ellis (the author of Transmetropolitan), it’s quite common to see body modification in his stories, and in the past he’s linked to ModBlog’s more “upsetting” entries. Also in Transmetropolitan is “Fred Christ”, leader of a “Transient” cult, a sort of transhumanist cyberpunk Church of Body Modification with a little inter-species fun thrown in for good measure. After Transmetropolitan wrapped up its print run, Ellis further explored these ideas in a short three-issue story — which I can not recommend highly enough — called MEK, as in “Massive Enhancement Culture” or body modification beyond simple aesthetics. I admit that I secretly (not any more I suppose) pretend that I was the inspiration for the main character who leans the MEK movement, because I feel like if you played a “who said this” quote game it would be easy for people to guess wrong — Lepht might also fit the role well. In any case, Mek is perhaps the best body modification themed comics, although it got unfortunately mixed reviews from the critics when it was released and is now out of print — although it’s not hard to find it used at inexpensive prices.

Another comic that’s got body modification as a central theme is Rick Veitch’s surreal masterpiece Can’t Get No, in which a failed businessman — failed, amusingly, because his permanent marker company was sued to death over the graffiti its product makes possible — wakes up one day covered in head-to-toe tattoos, drawn on with those very markers by cackling women as he lies passed out drunk. The comic showing us his psychedelic nightmare of a journey through post-9/11 America (the attacks taking place not long after his marked affliction).

More obviously — and a much more traditional comic — I’m also thinking of Skin Graft: The Adventures of a Tattooed Man a four-part horror thriller in which explores ideas like the the souls of a serial killer’s victims becoming consumed by the tattoos he wears — admittedly an overdone idea, but effectively tackled by writer Jerry Prosser — and sacred tattoos gifted by a master or teacher that give the wearer power.

There are many, many more examples, enough I feel to justify a wiki, not just blog posts.

And finally while I’m on this subject — and I think there may be a space in such a wiki for this sort of general trivia — I have to throw out a plug for artist Jacen Burrows. If I see him credited as the artist in a comic I always take the time to check it out. Before becoming a star in the comic world — you may know him from projects like Alan Moore’s Necronomicon or the notorious, over-the-top perverse and violent Crossed series — he was a tattoo artist. I suspect he’s not the only tattoo artist that has worked in both industries, because in many ways the demands are similar, namely, producing copious amounts of custom art on brutally short deadlines for demanding clients that need you to inject your unique artistic vision into a scene without betraying their original literary concept. Neither one is an easy life, but both bring great joy.

What do you think? Would you like to see this? And perhaps more importantly, would you be willing to help?
September 1, 2012

ModBlog

Hey boom-boom! Zygzag lives!

Written by

Shannon Larratt

Got a great tip from a friend who was watching a overflowing-with-fun video (that even reminds me of some of the big BMEfests of yore in a way) of Woodstock 2012 by Ostro and Cam-L, held at the start of August in Kostrzyn nad Odrą, Poland, and at 0:24 who should make a brief appearance but one of my piercing heroes, Zygzag, aka Fishmaul, the fellow who in the past wore the remarkable stretched cheek piercings — if you don’t know who I’m talking about, you must go read my original entry on it here — www.bme.com/2008/02/24/fishmaul-fishmouth-zygzag-cheek-stretching/ — as it’s one of the most remarkable (and most divisive love-it-or-hate-it) things I’ve ever posted. It looks like he’s looking about the same as the last time I saw him — his good ol’ grimey self — and isn’t currently wearing jewelry in those big holes (and nylon thread in many of the little ones). Here are some relevant screencaps.

Click to double the size of that image. Wish I could get you better photos and an interview, but it’s not like he’s a guy that’s easy to get in touch with from Canada over the Internet. If someone reading this is a friend and can help out, you’d make me very happy and I’d be thrilled to publish any photos or information you can provide.

Finally, If you’d like to enjoy the whole music video, here you go.