Customizing the Body (PDF file) - Print My Tattoo

101 The Tattooist
tenance work encountered in any establishment that caters to a
public. Cleaning. sterilizing. cutting stencils. coloring flash, soldering
needles. and other repetitive preparatory and janitorial
tasks are viewed with considerable distaste.
When you are a professional tattooist you are almost married to
it because it is almost a 24 hour-a-day thing. You work five or
six days a week and then you have to put in at least one work
day behind the scenes building needles. sterilizing. cleaning
up. vacuuming the floor, drawing flash. cutting stencils ...
stuff that the public never sees you do. They think that you are
just sitting there on your shift marking up people. That is the
part that I like least about tattooing-like building needles. It
is boring, monotonous work that goes on constantly.
Novel work routines and the creation of unique objects are seen.
by both the general public and aspiring artists, as key features of
artistic activity (Becker, 1982: 279-281). However. few art-like
products are as conventionalized as is the traditional tattoo. Clients
commonly enter the tattoo studio. spend a few minutes looking
at the designs displayed on the walls and then choose a
standard image with remarkable regularity. 16
The street tattooist takes these routine requests for roses. butterflies.
panthers. skulls, daggers. eagles. and other standard designs
in stride. He or she is primarily a businessperson making a
liVing by fulfilling the requests of customers (within certain
boundaries) while not making overt value judgments about their
taste or good sense. The commercial tattooist is. as one interviewee
put it. the "silent tool" of the client.
In contrast, the steady flow of routine requests for traditional
designs is especially problematic for the fine art tattooist. Early in
their careers tattoo artists are more willing to compromise their
artistic principles and apply standard designs because this pro­
Vides opportunities to gain technical experience and helps build a
reputation. Once they have established a "name" and have acqUired
expertise, the fine art tattooist takes a more active role in
educating clients or shaping their wants so that the products are
artistically unique. In this way the customer's associational and