I spent a little time at the San Jose Tattoo Convention today – a wholly different vibe than the Central Coast Con that I went to early this year.

That other con, in Paso Robles, CA, was more about the meth set than about the art.

I didn’t really have time to get tattooed today – I wasn’t planning to go, in fact I didn’t even realize it was this weekend until my mother told me about it. But given that I had to bag j-con (and I know I’m going to feel bad about missing that for, like, a year), I figured it was worth dropping in on.

Read more “Ink Lust – San Jose Tattoo Convention”

This could be me, almost.

I mean, you got the beautiful polynesian arm tattoo, words on the fingers. You got squashing jesus like a bug.

I guess I have some catching up to do though. That dude’s got better ink coverage. Tricia? Let’s see what we can do with the back of my hand (no, not that. That’s for someone else).

It gets better. Evidently he was getting a tattoo called “last rites“.

That’s. Um. Poetic. Or ironic. Or something.

Man Getting Tattoo in NYC Falls Down, Dies

I can’t decide if that’s cool or not, but I must say, I like the headline.

Sometimes you see a tattoo and you wonder – what’s he/she saying with that?

I was playin’ goofy-golf and there was a hispanic family ahead of us. Nice, friendly people. Woman in her twenties, a couple little boys, and a guy. But the guy was kind of interesting. Older, a bit, but it was hard to tell how old since his head was shaved. I’d guess he was my age, fourties, but he could have been ten years either direction of me.

Later they were joined by several more kids and a couple late-teens-early-twenties girls.

I’m looking at them and thinking, ok, family, birthday party. Guy’s either dad or grampa.

But you know, I look at this tattoo he has on the back of his neck and I keep thinking, that means something different.

I dunno. Maybe it’s just me. But a tattoo that says daddy, on a man. It just sorta makes me wonder.

Of course, I can think of a person or two I’d like to see that same tattoo on. And no, Ken, you’re not one of them. No matter how much I love you.

If you’re a california reader, Tricia Allen will be tattooing in CA Sept 8 -> Oct 11.

Check her schedule here. She’s got limited appointments so contact her right away if you’re hoping to get inked this trip.

Tricia is one of my favorite people; not just one of my favorite tattooists, but truly one of my favorite people. She specializes in Polynesian tattoo, and you truly won’t find anyone more authentic. She did most of the work on my right arm, and will (eventually) be finishing it, when we finally get enough time.

This.

Thanks Ray.

[made with ecto]

Just an update on this – I wrote about it back in October of 2004; Shelly Jackson’s ‘Skin‘

I finally heard back from Ms. Jackson, albeit in a form letter. Evidently the response has been overwhelming, she’s got thousands of applicants for only a few hundred words.

I still don’t know if I’m giving up a piece of skin for this work; she says she’ll be sending out release forms for the remaining words within the next couple of months. My fingers are crossed. It’s the sort of pointless art-for-art’s-sake thing I love, and you know, I have plenty of skin to spare so far.

This thing has made me think about what words I would choose, if given a choice; say, a single word to represent me, or to represent my life, or my goals. I don’t have any idea what it would be, but I’m thinking.

I was looking at a tattoo in some tattooist’s book back in March when I got my H O L D – F A S T tattoo; and I had to wonder at the time if it was for skin. It said:

     Someday…

Which was an incredibly evocative thing, and something I held in my head for days afterwards.

I love word tattoos. I truly hope I wind up getting to participate in Ms Jackson’s project.

Brett and the delicious Hiromi (and one truly can’t mention Hiromi without an implied Grrrrrrrowl) sent a little love my way by mentioning me here.

More importantly though, they sent me on to a really interesting article about moko-wearer Harawira Craig Pearless:

In short, Ta Moko is the New Zealand Maori tradition of facial tattooing; others have done a better job detailing it’s history and traditions, so for background, look at www.tamoko.org.nz, and a quick google will tell you more.

Ta Moko has fascinated me for years. The designs themselves are spectacular; the Maori themselves (And that’s ‘Mau-ree’, not “May-ori”, people) have pretty much the most sophisticated design sense of any ploynesian people. Not just the tattoos, but the art, the carving, the clothing. In a great tradition of polynesian art, they stand at the peak. I have several Maori-inspired tattoos and will almost certainly wind up with more.

But also, there’s the facial tattoo issue. As a heavily tattooed person, a person who intends to be mostly covered some day, I still have certain lines. The hands, at one point, now crossed. The neck. The scalp. And then, the highest level of tattoo statement, the face.

Read more “Moko Me”