Customizing the Body (PDF file) - Print My Tattoo

158 Conclusion
uate the negative reputation of tattooing and tattooists. To the extent
that these organizational and individual actors are successful in
freeing tattooing from its disreputable background and public image.
the process of artistic definition can progress more smoothly
and result in at least some degree of institutional acceptance.
In addition to its symbolic connection to deviant social groups.
the definition of tattooing as a legitimate art form is impeded by
its limited "artifactuality" (Dickie. 1974: 22-27). Separating the
tattoo from the body of the original purchaser in order to resell it
to another owner is not. for all practical purposes. a reasonable or
particularly appealing alternative. Consequently. although tattooing
is a fairly expensive creative service. with collectors of large.
custom designed pieces spending thousands of dollars for their
work. tattoo art is lacking in direct investment value. 6
Tattooing also employs a unique production process and unconventional
material resources-a needle or group of needles is used
to inject pigment under the recipient's skin. A creative practice
that requires collectors to experience conSiderable pain and lose
blood and that results in the permanent alteration of their bodies
presents a significant violation of artistic convention. These "distasteful"
attributes reduce the chances of tattooing's certification
as an accepted mode of artistic production.
The inability to separate the tattoo object from its owner in order
to display or resell it and the physical trauma involved in the
production activity violate important conventions in the institutional
art world. However. other creative practices that result in
the production of objects with similar limitations have achieved
artistic acceptance. Ballet and other forms of strenuous performance
typically entail considerable pain and result in the loss of
body fluids. The short. but controversial. history of the institutional
acceptance of Conceptual Art proVides another instructive
example. Like tattOOing. Conceptual Art violated conventions of
artifactuality and. as a consequence. resulted in works which
were impossible to collect directly or market as artistic commodities.
As a commercial alternative. documents representing the
artist's ideas and the operationalization of those ideas were produced
and sold to collectors.