Customizing the Body (PDF file) - Print My Tattoo

159 Conclusion
Works of Idea Art frequently did not actually exist as objects.
Rather. they remained ideas; frequently. what did exist was
only some kind of documentation referring to the concept....
Initially. it appeared that this new art movement rejected the
usual commercial. marketplace aspects of artmaking. Indeed. it
was difficult to understand how such Conceptual works could
be bought or sold; nor could they be "collected" in the usual
sense (Battcock. 1973: 1).
Despite its overt symbolic rejection of the consumer aspects
of contemporary art. Conceptual Art did eventually gain (limited)
acceptance as a fine art genre. To a large degree the institutionalization
of Idea Art was promoted by the pre-existing artistic
reputations of its major creators. Even when they created unconventional.
uncollectible. nonobjectifiable products. the things
that legitimated artists did in the name of art were labeled as art
and accepted as such by the established art world-though not
without conSiderable conflict (see Battcock. 1973; Meyer. 1972;
Rosenberg. 1972: 28-38).
Despite the inherent problems in separating the tattoo artifact
from its collector. tattooing does display the other characteristics
that increase the chances of artistic legitimation. As noted earlier.
presentation in the conventional settings in which art is appreciated
and purchased is a key factor leading to institutional redefinition.
Since the mid-1970s. tattoo art has come to enjoy this type
of legitimating exposure with increased frequency. While gallery
and museum shows of tattooing sometimes contain the art "in
the flesh." it is more common for exhibits to emphasize photographic
representations of exemplary work and other documents
and objects associated with the creative practice. such as design
sheets and ornately carved hand implements. 7
In addition to its exposure in museums and galleries. tattooing
is coming increasingly to be the focus of academic discussion. A
major legitimating event took place in 1983 when the art history
department and the Museum of Cultural History at UCLA sponsored
an "Art of the Body" symposium at which anthropologists.
art historians. dermatologists. sociologists. and various other par-