Customizing the Body (PDF file) - Print My Tattoo

200 Methodological Appendix
because I had been very much taken by the small rose tattooed on
Eiko Matsuda's ear in Oshima's film In the Realm oj the Senses
(1976).
Like the Horus eye, my third tattoo was also done by the tattooist
with whom I became friendly early in the fieldwork. I chose a
flaming eye design that the tattooist had adopted from a book on
Tibetan art largely because it was unusual, brightly colored, and
of moderate size. I had it placed with the scarab on my forearm
because I had no desire to expand to other body locations and
wasn't very much taken by the here-and-there badge motif which
is fairly conventional in western folk art tattooing.
My next piece was a six inch dragon grouped with the rest of
the tattoos on my arm. By the time I decided to get this work I
was a reasonably knowledgeable member of the tattoo subculture.
I had heard many glowing reports of the abilities of an artist who
had a studio in New York City and had seen examples of his
highly detailed work in various tattoo publications. I decided that
I wanted a dragon design both because of my involvement with
fantasy art and because I was becoming more and more interested
in the powerful Japanese style, which is a key influence in contemporary
western fine art tattooing. Symbolizing strength and
wisdom, the dragon is a common design in Japanese work. In the
company of another tattooist and carrying a half dozen books
containing drawings of dragons, I traveled to New York. After an
hour or so of discussion and work on sample designs the artist
and I settled on an image which combined features of both western
and oriental dragons and I received the largest and most ornate
piece in my growing collection.
Some months later I again traveled to New York, this time to
participate in a television talk show segment on tattooing. I felt an
immediate sense of connection to the tattooist who was also on
the program-an artist about whom I had heard but whose work
was unfamiliar to me. Seeing for the first time the examples of his
art, I realized that this young man was creating tattoos that displayed
a level of technical skill and striking beauty unlike anything
I had yet seen. Though I had planned to close my career as a
tattoo collector with the dragon, I began to reconsider as my personal
relationship with the tattoo artist developed and I came to