Customizing the Body (PDF file) - Print My Tattoo

34 Introduction
worked in a variety of traditional media. display astonishing levels
of technical skill. and regard tattooing as a creative endeavor similar
to that pursued by legitimated artistic workers. They aspire to
the status and control afforded by the role of artist. They concentrate
on the production of unique and expensive "pieces" for an
upscale clientele that understands the relevant artistic rationales
and for whom tattooing has overtly aesthetic meaning. This "new
breed" of tattooist is working to expand the boundaries of tattooing
by experimenting with photo-realistic portraiture. oriental
traditions, "fantastic art" illustration. nonrepresentational abstractions.
and other innovative stylistic approaches. Chafing under
the continuing public distaste for the tattoo medium. they
consistently refer to themselves as "tattoo artists" and their establishments
as "studios." They take great pains to disassociate
themselves from "scratchers" who are technically unskilled and
"stencil men" who are incapable of doing creative custom work.
The recent appearance of specialized "serious" publications
dealing with tattooing is particularly important in the legitimation
process. In 1982 tattooist Don Ed Hardy founded Tattoottme.
a slickly illustrated annual containing scholarly articles about
conventional tattoo images, innovative stylistic developments.
body decoration in non-western cultures. and other issues of interest
to academically inclined practitioners and enthUSiasts.
Equally serious analyses of tattooing are available in Lyle Tuttle's
quarterly. The Tattoo Historian. and the various publications produced
by C. W. Eldridge of the Tattoo Archive in Berkeley.
In turn. the larger art world has begun to take notice. Galleries
and museums are now exhibiting both photographic reproductions
and liVing samples of exemplary tattoo art. Mainstream
publishers are marketing expensive "coffee-table" books containing
full-color photos and learned discussions by accepted art critics
that situate tattooing within the larger context of western art
history (for example. Wroblewski. 1985; Rondinella. 1985; Richter.
1985; Thevoz. 1984). High culture periodicals now present articles
on tattoo art (for example. Tucker, 1981; New Yorker. February
9. 1987: 28-31) while academicians meet to read papers
about tattooing and publish proceedings (for example. Rubin.
1988) that further help to identify the practice as a legitimate