Celebrating body modification culture since 1994.
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It’s fresh in the large photo, but Dustin’s tail-wagging black cat finger tattoo was done for him by Sean Holmes at Altered Image in Indianapolis about a year ago. The animated version is how it looks now and in motion. Admittedly, it doesn’t make a very convincing mustache, but I’m sure the pose leads to many vaguely inappropriate jokes about sniffing the pussy on his finger.
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I’ve already talked a bit about new procedures that artists are developing to create both new stylistic options in ear pointing while also achieving more “realistic” or “natural” looking results. The latest procedure to be added to this world of fascinating options is one by Brian Decker. I asked him to describe it, and he explained,
“What I do is bisect each upper and lower section to eliminate the rebounding of the cartilage. Fold each section flat down and connect to the outer conch area. This is done with permanent internal sutures. The outer openings are then closed superficially with no tension. Because she’s from out of town, I used all dissolving sutures for the outer closing.”
Pictured below is the first set he’s done using this procedure, so he says there are adjustments he’ll make on the next one from what he’s learned by watching this one heal. In this group of pictures you can see the ear pointing right after it was done, then at about two and a half weeks in the middle picture, and finally at six weeks in the right picture. At six weeks it’s still healing to some extent, so expect the swelling to continue to reduce.
I should also mention that Brian is currently touring, and will be in Des Moines, Iowa from March 5th through the 11th, and then in Columbus, Ohio in mid-April, as well as London, UK in early May (including at the First International Scarification Convention), and then in Las Vegas in mid June. Get in touch with him via his website at purebodyarts.com.
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Tonight (February 14, 2013) AMC will be airing a new reality TV show called “Freakshow”, all about the Venice Beach Freakshow. The cast member who may be of most interest to ModBlog readers is Marcus “The Creature” Boykin, tattooed head to toe and wearing a face-full of self-pierced metal. The name “Creature” comes with a double meaning — he’s not just a creature in the monstrous sense, but also “create-ure” in the sense of creating himself as an artistic invention, a body that is “all original, unlike anyone else’s”, in the hope that he’d be able to not just entertain, but inspire and let people know that no matter how impossible something seems, you can do it.
Here’s the official video profile of Creature from AMC. Following that is a brief chat that we had yesterday letting you know a little bit more about what makes Creature tick — but if you really want to see what he and the rest of Venice Beach Freakshow are all about, don’t miss the show, which begins tonight on AMC at 9:30, 8:30 CST.
** What made you want to move from being a kid into piercings to someone at the “freak end of the scale” — and how did your family react?
My family are hard core Christians, and my mom is still in disbelief, but my dad supports me to the fullest in the craze of body art and piercings. My inspiration came from historical pictures like the Great Omi… warriors receiving scarification, like the great Shaka Zulu, and slaves chastisement as they got whipped and scarred and burned — also Jesus Christ himself suffered out of this world piercings and was scarred beyond any recognition — it goes reallly deeeep…
** How did you get into the industry professionally?
When I was a kid I always was attracted to the arts, and now consider myself a multi-disciplinary artist. I was someone who was always into creatures — that’s why my name fits so well. I first got educated on the industry by going to the store and grabbing ink magazines. I saw the abnormal things featured in magazines like Tattoo Savage, and these influenced my young mind. Even as a kid, I always wanted to entertain, from the art of popping, locking, and breakdancing, and being a creature known as Gizmo and Raver Dayn, as Yoshi, and rebel dancing as him toooooo… I’ve always been into the strange and unusual, so I’m not surprised by my profession. I believe I didn’t choose it — it chose me.
** Why do you have so many piercings specifically on your face? Do you have issues with rejection?
I have a lot of piercings on my face because I want to fill it completely with surface piercings. Ear stretchings, lips, nipples… a lot of the mods just takes time. Of course I suffer rejection but that’s just a part of the game. I’ve been piercing my own face and tattooing it for years now, and things just keep on improving in the industry so there are endless possibilities. The future holds many new creations in my body mods. It won’t be done until I am dead.
Creature with one of his many young fans
** What are your future body modification plans? Are you interested in going for one of the “most piercings” type records?
As my mods go, I am still adding more and want to continue to lead African Americans in this art form and represent the endless possibilities of our body. That’s very important to me, and in addition to my facial work, I want piercings over my entire body surface. I already hold the record as the most tattooed and modified man in America thanks to my layers of ink, mods, piercings, and stretchings but I’m going for more — of course I will keep delivering the blow! Art has endless possibilities, and I express that through the body as the Creature.
** What can we expect from you on the show?
Before I started body mod I did body balance circus tricks and planking, part of a world-wide crew I started called “The Freakshow”, and advancing to the world famous LA Breakers, tattooing and evolving my skills and receiving mod work to advance my power. Now as a tattooed man, following in the footsteps of the Great Omi, famous in the sideshow, I love what I do because of the influence I can have on children, telling them to be themselves — that’s what’s it all about.
** Have is been difficult walking this path due to your ethnicity?
Yes. I believe there is a big separation in piercing for minorities versus whites. Blacks in particular, because in modern times they don’t generally do these things, is why I felt I had to lead and do it personally. I believe we as African Americans come from the first culture to do these things historically, especially in the extreme categories like head shaping, lip plates, septum expansions, plugs in ears, lips, upper lips, nose, and of course also scarification and branding… As Americans, blacks have had to walk a straight edge to get jobs, so mods are uncommon. We are forced to look acceptable to work…
** Have there been positive aspects as well?
All the movies I watched growing up were about being black and proud, and I want to express that through my ink. Like everyone, I have an inner warrior, and I found mine through needles of ink and piercing, as well as through modifying my hair… I had my face fully tattooed at age twenty-three. My race helps me with this struggle because there is no one leading in the mod world as a black male, and I wanted to be the real first extreme real black make in the body mod community.
In addition to being in the sideshow and inking himself, Marcus has also worked as a tattoo artist in a classic urban LA style. Here’s a collection of the ink he’s put on others — click to zoom in for a closer look. Don’t miss the cartoon in the bottom right which wears the same nose jewelry as Creature!
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I think there are very few people who worked in a piercing or tattoo studio in the late 1990s that don’t remember chatting with their coworkers at the beginning of the summer season and saying something to the effect of, “well, this is going to be the last big summer.” Piercings and tattoos were so unbelievably popular that it was impossible to believe that the “fad” couldn’t possibly last any longer. Almost all of us thought that one year soon we’d be remembering the nineties as “the good old days” back when mods were still popular.
I was watching Star Trek: Deep Space Nine today and was reminded of those days because of a funny scene that takes place in the episode “Past Tense” (season three, episode eleven) when some of the characters time travel back to the San Francisco of 2024. One of the people who travels back is Jadzia Dax, a trill, who like all trill has characteristic leopard-like spots running down each side of her body from head to toe.
In 2024, humans did not yet know about non-terran civilizations, so Jadzia had to come up with an excuse for her spots. The scene between her and a human she’d met that was helping her out (Christopher Brynner), was quite amusing –
Christopher Brynner: You know, those are very unusual.
Jadzia Dax: Oh, you mean my tattoos?
Chris: It is amazing work! Where did you have them done? Japan?
Jadzia: How did you guess?
Chris: Well, I used to have one myself… A Maori tribal pattern — used to go all the way down my arm. I got it in highschool, back in the 90s, just like everybody else. Of course I had to have it removed. Well… you know how it is. To get the government contracts, you have to look like all the rest of the drones. So I guess that makes me a sellout.
Because I’ve made it my mission to binge watch every Star Trek episode of every series, I’ve been enjoying the body modification references, both direct references like the one above, and indirect ones like all the different characters and races with tattoos — I thought about making a post cataloging it or adding it to the BME encyclopedia, but then had a bit of a reality check and realized it would be of interest to me and maybe… three other readers.
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Last time I posted Diego it was just for fun, so let me include some info this time. Diego had his nostrils pierced in the normal small gauge way — they weren’t dermal punched — but after seeing Pauly Unstoppable (who has inspired more people to stretch their nostrils than anyone out there — I’d argue he is the progenitor of this look in modern times) and then being further inspired by the giant nostril plugs of the Apatani people decided he wanted to stretch his as well. Since then he’s reached 24mm (1″), which is currently quite loose so it’ll be larger soon, with a goal of 30mm or perhaps larger. I just love this picture of him!
As you can see he also has his eyeballs tattooed as well, and he was just telling me about a secret project he’s considering, so I’m looking forward to seeing him evolve as the future unfolds!
Edit: It’s been pointed out that Pat Tidwell’s large stretched nostril piercings predated Pauly’s, although they didn’t have the same insane level of media penetration that Pauly’s had. I asked Pauly about who inspired him, and he told me,
“My first exposure of nostril stretching was from the Apatani tribe and a tribe in New Guinea where the males stretch there nostrils and septum very large. It wasn’t till after I found BME and saw Pat Tidwell’s nostrils that I understood that I could also stretch my nostrils. I would say it was a bit of both for me. I had wanted to do it since seeing the tribes in India but at the time didn’t think I could do it till I saw other Westerners on BME that had them done.”
