tattoos

1
CONTENTS
04 Initial Concept
06 Ideation
12 Presentation
16 Typeface Choices
18 Pagination
20 New Direction
25 Dummy Book
26 Colophon
27 Time Sheet
2
3
INITIAL CONCEPT
PROJECT TWO BRIEF
Monograph
TOPIC
Tattoos! The exact topic is yet to be nailed down. It
could be tattoos & public perceptions, or tattoos &
the health consequences of different colors of ink,
or tattoo trends in history, or tattoos in relation
to the graphic design world.
SOURCES
I have sourced a couple of articles for the monograph but am still undecided. They are attached.
AUDIENCE
People aged 16-28
Considering getting tattoos
College students
GOALS
To inform people (who are interested in getting
tattoos) on a specific aspect or consequence of
getting a tattoo.
VISUAL DIRECTION
Similar to the style of
adrenalinevancity.com
Detailed illustrations of tattoos, these will be
tattoos traced in illustrator.
5
IDEATION
6
7
8
9
10
11
PRESENTATION
AESTHETIC
monograph
tattoos
Borrowing from previously established aesthetic.
From adrenaline vancouvers’ website.
TOPIC
Vector outline illustrations of tattoos - allows me to evaluate them all on the
Tattoos! Between two articles right now.
tia blunden | project two
1. “An Ironic Fad: The Commodification and Consumption of Tattoos”
same level. Then I can include different styles of tattoos (comic, native, natural) but they can still relate to each other.
- how tattoos are becoming more & more popular
2. “Skin and Self-Indictment: Prison Tattoos, Race, and Heroin Addiction”
- tattoos are unnatural, death & rebellion
Ecust, te reius, sequi aborepe lluptate qui untem
hillaut eum faccus aliatemposto corenih itatur
alibust, et reptasimilis aute odi net as exeri
reiuscipsum quiderferrum fuga. Lorum quae
nonseque omniminvent et in pra volupta parum
repe alitatem ad ea susdae. Ximagnis verro qui
doluptaQuiasin exerchil modignimus.
Dolorro omni di cusande ruptaecus eum as con
AUDIENCE
perrunt pore adiaes earion rate liquos sit undam
hitione eniatur, et, sed quam imagnat emporep
erferore perci te nusant.
At pore voloreri vent quodi quo venet is volor
apicius apitis dusam et, soluptaestis idigenimet
quiae. Et id moloreprae nosam velenda ntiiscid
Target audience 18-26
ut eos earum dis que ped ullupti orerupt
asperiatiur, non nam rem dolectium natem. Et
quiam sequaepro con et isi cum quuntium debis
eatendit, odi ut porrum inctem rescimporero
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur
People considering getting tattoos
consend itatisimus arciend emporepe molum
adipiscing elit. Phasellus vitae risus a est tempor
molestie. Nunc mauris mauris, molestie et mollis
a, vestibulum vel nunc. Proin sed ultricies lorem.
Nulla nunc dolor, fermentum a auctor eget, dictum ut mi. Sed sed fermentum ante. Quisque sit
Male & female
amet nisl at nisi venenatis varius sed ac elit. Lorem
ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.
Nam non quam elit, quis facilisis felis. Morbi et
nibh risus, vel elementum nisl. Integer quis nisi
quis purus porttitor placerat non id purus. Integer
posuere nisl at velit hendrerit ut gravida magna
But not like super masculine - biker type, but more kids on the outside looking
tempor. Quisque vel lacus vel nulla ullamcorper
ornare. Fusce vitae est sem. Suspendisse ac
suscipit mauris.
Donec posuere ante nec libero elementum blandit.
into the potential implications of having a tattoo
Vivamus eu nulla et dui adipiscing vestibulum.
Nam purus nibh, cursus sed cursus eget,
TYPEFACE
Ecust, te reius, sequi aborepe lluptate qui untem
hillaut eum faccus aliatemposto corenih itatur
I like the condensed sans-serif for the headers (like in this presentation)
alibust, et reptasimilis aute odi net as exeri
reiuscipsum quiderferrum fuga. Lorum quae
nonseque omniminvent et in pra volupta parum
repe alitatem ad ea susdae. Ximagnis verro qui
doluptaQuiasin exerchil modignimus.
Dolorro omni di cusande ruptaecus eum as con
perrunt pore adiaes earion rate liquos sit undam
hitione eniatur, et, sed quam imagnat emporep
erferore perci te nusant.
NEUTRAFACE HEADER
At pore voloreri vent quodi quo venet is volor
apicius apitis dusam et, soluptaestis idigenimet
quiae. Et id moloreprae nosam velenda ntiiscid
ut eos earum dis que ped ullupti orerupt
asperiatiur, non nam rem dolectium natem. Et
quiam sequaepro con et isi cum quuntium debis
eatendit, odi ut porrum inctem rescimporero
consend itatisimus arciend emporepe molum
FRANCHISE HEADER
LEAGUE GOTHIC HEADER
SCALA SANS HEADER
But needs more consideration for body copy.
12
13
14
15
TYPEFACE CHOICES
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Actors, models, musicians, and
idolized athletes proudly herald
the mainstreaming of a previously
Actors, models, musicians,
and idolized athletes proudly
herald the mainstreaming of
a previously marginalized
and historically underground practice.
Actors, models, musicians,
and idolized athletes proudly
herald the mainstreaming of
a previously marginalized
and historically underground
practice.
Actors, models, musicians,
and idolized athletes proudly
herald the mainstreaming of a
previously marginalized and historically underground practice.
ACTORS, models, musicians,
and idolized athletes proudly
herald the mainstreaming of a
previously marginalized and historically underground practice.
16
Actors, models, musicians, and idolized athletes
proudly herald the mainstreaming of a previously
marginalized and historically underground practice.
an ironic fad
Actors, models, musicians,
and idolized athletes proudly
herald the mainstreaming
of a previously marginalized
and historically under-
AMERICA HAS BECOME A TATTOOED NATION.
IF YOU TURN ON YOUR television, open a
magazine, or go see a movie, you will
likely encounter a tattooed body. Actors,
models, musicians, and idolized athletes
proudly herald the mainstreaming of
a previously marginalized and historically underground practice. By the end
ground practice. of the 1990s, tattoos became visible
Actors, models, musicians,
in the public sphere, finding a home
and idolized athletes
in the comfortable cultural landscape
proudly herald the mainof suburban America where there
streaming of a previously
is an abundance of consumers with
marginalized and hisdiscretionary income. The popularizatorically underground
tion and commodification of tattoo is
practice.
confirmed by a plethora of books and
toys marketed to the youngest youngest
Actors, models, musiconsumers such as Tattoo Barbie, The
cians, and idolized athletes
Sesame Street Talent Show: Tattoo Tales,
proudly herald the mainAround the World in Tweety Time: Tatstreaming of a previously
too Storybook, and the Power Puff girls’
marginalized and historiRuff n’ Stuff Tattoo Book, that include
cally underground practice.
tattooed figures, color-in tattoo kits, and
temporary tattoos for kids to apply to
their own bodies. New generations of
Actors, models, musicians, American children are growing up in a
and idolized athletes proudly cultural landscape that is more tattooherald the mainstreaming friendly and tattoo-flooded than at any
of a previously marginalized other time in history.
and historically underground
practice.
the commodification &
consumption of tattoos
5
4
marginalized and historically underground practice.
america HaS Become a tattooed
nation. iF yoU tUrn on yoUr television, open a magazine, or go see
a movie, you will likely encounter a
tattooed body. Actors, models, musicians, and idolized athletes proudly
herald the mainstreaming of a previously marginalized and historically
underground practice. By the end of
Actors, models, musicians,
the 1990s, tattoos became visible in
and idolized athletes
the public sphere, finding a home in
proudly herald the mainthe comfortable cultural landscape of
streaming of a previously
suburban America where there is an
marginalized and hisabundance of consumers with discretorically underground
tionary income. The popularization and
practice.
commodification of tattoo is confirmed
by a plethora of books and toys marketed to the youngest consumers such as
Tattoo Barbie, The Sesame Street Talent
Show: Tattoo Tales, Around the World
in Tweety Time: Tattoo Storybook, and
the Power Puff girls’ Ruff n’ Stuff Tattoo Book, that include tattooed figures,
color-in tattoo kits, and temporary
tattoos for kids to apply to their own
bodies. New generations of American
children are growing up in a cultural
landscape that is more tattoo-friendly
and tattoo-flooded than at any other
time in history.
Actors, models, musicians, and
idolized athletes proudly herald the mainstreaming of a
previously marginalized and historically underground practice.
{an ironic fad}
AN IRONIC FAD
The Commodification & Consumption of Tattoos
THE COMMODIFICATION &
CONSUMPTION OF TATTOOS
{an ironic fad}
17
Unfortunately, MTV put us on the map with
celebrities getting tattooed. Today it’s chic
. . ..
(‘‘Tattoo Lou’’ Rabino, qtd. in McCabe 125)
Whenever we imitate, we transfer not only
the demand for creative activity, but also the
responsibility for the action from ourselves
to another. Thus the individual is freed from
the worry of choosing and appears simply as a
creature of the group, as a vessel of the social
FROM OTHER TO ARTFORM: Mainstream Print
Discourse
contents . . .
What was once the trade of tattoo artists with names like Sailor Bill operating
in shipyard alleyways and in amusement
park stalls has become craft, if not art . . .
(James) Another factor that has led to a
change in tattoo meanings is the declaration of tattoo as art in the mainstream
18
SORTS ABOUT
HOW COOL
AND AWESOME
TATTOOS ARE.
TOOS ARE.
Most potential tattooees spend some time
conceptualizing and considering what the
design will be and where it will be placed
(public or private location) on their bodies
before entering the studio.6 Furthermore,
after purchasing the product, the client
must follow an after-care regime to promote the healing process and stave off
infection. The customer walks away with
a wound resembling a severe brush-burn
that bleeds, scabs, and eventually peels or
sheds away7 over the course of about a week.
Even if your product is not visible, you are
quickly reminded of your purchase upon
bumping into a table, hugging a friend, or
turning in your sleep. Because the act of
getting tattooed typically encompasses
three distinct stages of varying length—
preplanning, receiving the tattoo, and
after-care regime and healing process—it
cannot be compared with the act of purchasing a pair of sneakers, no matter how
reflexive and discriminating the consumer.
This is because tattoo is a product whose
consumption cannot be divorced from
its mode of production (Sweetman). As a
tattooed person, you are the witness, participant, and life-long bearer of a unique
production process; a process in which
the producer and consumer unite in complicated exchange that is simultaneously
ritualistic, economic/consumeristic, and
individualistic. Because of the unique manner in which tattoos are produced and consumed, the act of being tattooed suggests
an inherent degree of agency that is unlike
the consumption of other bodily goods. As
Paul Sweetman notes, you can buy and wear
an Armani suit as ‘‘pure sign’’ that is, ‘‘in
ignorance of the conditions under which
the material product was fabricated’’ (64).
In contrast, tattoos ‘‘demand one’s presence
as producer, consumer and living frame
for the corporeal artifact thus acquired’’
(64). The painful and ritualistic tattoo
process involving the penetration of the
body, coupled with the ongoing live-ness of
the tattoo, creates a unique and potentially
agentic consumer experience that can last
for the duration of the body/product. The
act of tattooing permanently reinscribes
the living body—thinking, breathing,
sweating, wrinkling—with a type of agency
that is ongoing and inexhaustible, as compared with the consumption and display
of sartorial body modifications that are,
by their nature, ephemeral and disembodied. Tattoos invite a level of engagement
because they become a permanent addition to the body/self. The unique production and consumption of tattoo challenges
rguments advanced in the mass culture
debate, particularly Dwight MacDonald’s
contention that the mass culture audience
are ‘‘passive consumers’’ whose ‘‘participation [is] limited to the choice between buying and not buying’’ (55). MacDonald, as
well as members of the Frankfurt School,
predicted that the emergence of commercialized and standardized products would
usurp all creativity and individuality from
the production and consumption process,
resulting in a type of collective consumer
alienation. ‘‘Imposed from above’’ and
‘‘fabricated by technicians’’ (not skilled
artisans or craftspeople) mass cultural
products served only the culture industry
itself (rationalized, bureaucratized corporations) while exploiting and homogenizing
consumers with limited economic and cultural power (McDonald 55). Paradoxically,
tattoos serve the culture industry, from
Versace to mtV ‘‘VJ’s,’’ because they help
sell products, and of course, are sold as
products. Yet the unique process in which
tattoos are produced and consumed directly
challenges the idea that consumers are
zombie-like passive recipients. Just as
tattoos are an ironic fad because they are
permanently embodied, they are also an
icons he revered in his youth:
I: Tell me about when you first started
thinking about getting a tattoo.
M: Well, I mean, the people that I wanted to
be like all had tattoos when I was a kid.
I: Kid meaning teenager? . . . Who were the
people that you wanted to be like?
M: Yeah 12 and up. Well I have always
wanted to be a musician . . . You know I
liked to rock at any early age. You know, I
loved it when Guns ’N Roses came out and
they had cool tattoos, you know?
Even if Matt does not achieve success as a
musician, he will at least have signs on his
body announcing his long-standing commitment to ‘‘rock.’’ Of course, the positive
meanings these signs currently hold may
transform over time if Matt decides upon a
more mundane or conventional career path.
Tattoo’s mainstream status is also illustrated by their usage as an advertising tool
for a diverse range of consumer goods.
Whether designated as a sign of rebellion, youth, trendiness, or some amalgam
of coolness, tattoos assist in selling products—from vodka to cars. Thus, tattoo is
used to sell a product and is simultaneously
a product to be consumed. Interestingly,
one advertising executive came up with
the idea of having basketball players
don temporary tattoos to hock products.
Although nba officials ruled against athletes using their bodies as living billboards,
the Phoenix Suns’ Stephon Marbury said
that ‘‘if they’re paying the right money’’ he
would consider it (Shields 34). The days of
embodied product placement may soon be
upon us. In 2001, Visa set one of its television commercials within a tattoo studio,
announcing to Generation X’ers that you
can charge everything on your credit card,
including body modifications. Besides the
youth culture market, tattoos are utilized
in advertising campaigns geared toward
more established adults, particularly those
22
12
AND AWESOME TAT-
16
14
A QUOTE OF
ABOUT HOW COOL
her body modification. How much longer
can tattoos keep their lingering status as
emblems of rebellion if obviously uncool,
middleaged women chattily discuss them
on a major network morning show owned
by Disney? Considered within the context
of Birmingham School
theories, tattoo status is destined to
weaken as subcultural signs eventually
exhaust their potential to provoke after
repeated exposure through the mainstream
media (Hebdige 92–4). Just as the original
1970s punk subculture was semiotically
pillaged by the culture industry, tattooing is also being gentrified and repackaged
as desirable and hip. Previously confrontational visual codes such as spiked and
mohawked hair, leather accessories, ripped
clothing, safety pins, and now tattoos,
often signify trendiness and conformity,
rather than rebellion and transgression.
Tattoo’s subcultural status notwithstanding, the music industry, arguably a very
powerful arbiter of public taste and a
‘‘primary communicative tool for youth
cultures,’’ is dominated by tattooed male
and female musicians (Seiler 206). Thanks
to mass media outlets such as mtV, which
rely heavily on packaging a performer’s
visual image, fringe and mainstream have
become blurred. Tattoos transcend disparate musical genres and artists, from the
androgynous neo-Goth Marilyn Manson,
to hip-hop and r & b vocalists such as Mary
J. Blige and Ja Rule, and contemporary
pop singers like Pink and the Dixie Chicks.
Regardless of age, social class, or ethnicity, you do not have to look closely to find
a tattooed star that appeals to your musical or lifestyle tastes. If the musicians we
idolize and sometimes seek to emulate (at
least in appearance) have tattoos on their
bodies, why not get one ourselves? Twentyfive-year-old Matt admitted to me that
he admired and eventually emulated rock
NOTES
1. During the late nineteenth century, some
members of the social elite got tattoos as
badges of exoticism and distinction. See
Sanders and Bradley for a discussion of this
short-lived tattoo craze.
2. The Versace advertisement appeared in
a variety of magazines and newspapers
including the New York Times, Bazaar,
Vogue, and W.
3. Tattoo removal technology is available for
those who are privileged enough to afford
the erasure of a perceived momentary
lapse in judgment. Laser treatments can be
expensive, and may require numerous painful visits to a doctor, rarely restoring the
skin to its original condition.
4. The term ironic fad refers to the practice of tattooing in the broadest sense.
Notwithstanding, specific tattoo designs
have achieved popularity at different time
periods. For example, there was a neo-tribal
tattoo fad in the late 1980s and early 1990s
in the United States (see DeMello, Bodies
174 – 84). More recently, traditional or ‘‘old
school’’ tattoos based on American tattoo
imagery from the 1940s and 1950s became
increasingly popular among tattoo aficionados in their twenties and thirties. In addition to specific tattoo styles and iconography, where tattoos are placed on the body is
reflected in popular trends. The gender, age,
and occupation of the bearer can also influence the location of tattoos.
5. Flash refers to drawings of tattoo designs
that are commonly found on tattoo studio
walls. Flash can be purchased commercially
or drawn by individual tattoo artists.
6. Even clients who pick flash off of a tattoo
studio wall (rather than a unique design)
often reflexively consider where the tattoo
will be placed and have acquainted themselves with the types of tattoo images that
are commonly available.
7. One respondent told me that after he got
his first tattoo, he was quite alarmed upon
noticing that the upper layer of skin had
started to flake off during the healing process. He said that he thought his tattoo was
‘‘falling off.’’ Although tattoo artists disagree on what products to use to aid healing, most recommend applying an antibiotic
cream, followed by a nonperfumebased
skin cream for at least a week after initially
getting tattooed. Swimming, baths, and
sunbathing are discouraged until at least
two weeks after the tattoo is healed. After
the upper layer of scabby, inked skin sheds,
the fresh tattoo is very tender and must be
kept clean, dry, and moisturized until the
area is fully healed. Thus, the lengthy aftercare process is inherently interactive and
ongoing.
8. For example, New York City’s South
Street Seaport Museum, the American
Museum of Natural History, Long Island’s
Islip Art Museum, and the Mariner’s
Museum in Newport News, VA have hosted
tattoo art exhibitions within the last ten
years.
Works Cited
Atkinson, Michael. Tattooed: The Sociogenesis of a Body Art. Toronto:
Toronto UP, 2003.
Balle´, Catherine. ‘‘Democratization and Institutional Change: A Challenge
for Modern Museums.’’ Global Culture: Media, Arts, Policy,
and Globalization. Ed. Diana Crane, Nobuko Kawashima, and
Ken’ichi Kawasaki. New York: Routledge, 2002. 132– 45.
Bell, Shannon. ‘‘Tattooed: A Participant Observer’s Exploration of
Meaning.’’ Journal of American Culture 22 (1999): 53 – 58.
Bradley, James. ‘‘Body Commodification?: Class and Tattoos in Victoria
Britain.’’ Written on the Body: The Tattoo in European and American
History. Ed. Jane Caplan. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, 2000. 136–
55.
DeMello, Margo. ‘‘Not Just For Bikers Anymore: Popular Representations
of American Tattooing.’’ Journal of Popular Culture 29
(1995): 37 – 52.
———. Bodies Of Inscription: A Cultural History of the Modern Tattoo
Community. Durham: Duke University, 2000.
Greenberger, Walter S. ‘‘Tattoo Taboo: In South Carolina, You Can’t
Get One—Kenneth Starr Thinks It Is a ‘Free Speech’ Right for
High Court to Decide.’’ Wall Street Journal 4 Sept. 2002: A1.
Hall, Stuart, and Tony Jefferson, eds. Resistance Through Rituals: Youth
Subcultures in Postwar Britain. London: Routledge, 1993.
Hartlaub, Peter. ‘‘Coming of Age Rituals: Wearing the Art of Polynesian
Culture.’’ San Fransisco Chronicle 30 Dec. 2001: E4.
Hebdige, Dick. Subculture: The Meaning of Style. London: Routledge, 1979.
Hurley, Sue. ‘‘Me Too, Step Aside Boys: Women Are Making Mark
with Tattoos.’’ St. Louis Post Dispatch 4 Sept. 2002: 01.
Irwin, Katherine. ‘‘Legitimating the First Tattoo: Moral Passage
through Informal Interaction.’’ Symbolic Interaction 12.1 12 (2001):
49 – 73.
James, George. ‘‘From Back Alleys to Beauty Queens.’’ New York Times
29 July 2001: NJ-1.
An Ironic Fad 1047
Kosut, Mary. ‘‘Tattoo Narratives: The Intersection of the Body, SelfIdentity and Society.’’ Visual Sociology 15 (2000): 79 – 100.
Leonard, Mary. ‘‘Making a Mark on the Culture: Body Piercing,
Tattoos, and Scarification Push the Cutting Edge.’’ Boston Globe
15 Feb. 1998: C1.
Levine, Donald, ed. Georg Simmel: On Individuality and Social Forms.
Chicago: U of Chicago P, 1971.
Lord, Mary. ‘‘A Hole in the Head? A Parent’s Guide to Tattoos, Piercings
and Worse.’’ US News and World Report Sept. 1997: 67 – 69.
MacDonald, Dwight. ‘‘A Theory of Mass Culture.’’ Mass Culture. Ed. B.
Rosenberg and D. M White. Glencoe, IL: Free Press, 1957. 59–79.
of Natural History and an expert on tattoo
art. ‘‘Many people who have tattoos see it
as art, collect it as art and wear it as art.’’
(Greenberger A1)
Such discourses, especially those founded
on expert testimony as in the passage
above, effectively brand tattoo with ethnohistorical and aesthetic legitimacy. Other
articles connect tattoo directly to the legitimate or high art world by not only equating
skin with canvas, but by publicizing the
academic training of some tattoo artists.
A 2001 New York Times article announces
that ‘‘today many practitioners come out of
art schools, finding fulfillment in painting
on skin rather than on canvas—all with
newer designs, brighter inks’’ (James NJ-1).
Similarly, another explains that ‘‘the artistry of the business was enhanced’’ with
innovative design techniques by contemporary tattoo artists (Hurley 01). Tattoo
artists with art school training have clearly
influenced the development of new tattoo
styles, yet mainstream articles focusing on
these changes have also crystallized the
connection between tattoo and art in the
public’s imagination. The mainstreaming of
tattoo, coupled with mass-media discourses
either conveying tattoo as art or connecting
tattoo to art worlds, are developments that
are interrelated. If tattoo is portrayed in
the media to be a legitimate aesthetic – cultural form, rather than a distasteful badge
that permanently blights the body, then
more high-status individuals will invariably
be attracted to tattoo. Notwithstanding, as
the demographic of tattoo shifts from bluecollar to white-collar, it is not coincidental that both the media and institutional
experts would begin to recognize tattoo as
having a greater degree of aesthetic – cultural value. Not only art galleries, but also
museums dedicated to historical, cultural,
and scientific artifacts have responded and
contributed to the popularization of tattoo
by presenting exhibitions that focus on
tattoo specifically, or juxtapose tattoo
with other body modification practices.8
According to Catherine Balle´, these types
of exhibitions are a product of a new
museum era, or ‘‘institutional renaissance’’ wherein ‘‘museums have tried hard
to attract the public and the public has
responded by coming in large numbers’’
(139). Today, privately owned US museums
face new challenges, including precarious
economic resources and the question of
how best to serve a mass public (Balle´ 132
– 45; Zolberg 53 – 4). The cultural strategies
of American museums have shifted since
the 1970s, emphasizing special temporary
exhibitions meant to draw a larger and
more diverse audience. The Guggenheim
Museum’s 1997 Art of the Motorcycle
exhibition, and the 1999 – 2000 exhibition, Body Art: Marks of Identity, hosted by
the American Museum of Natural History,
are prime examples of this contemporary
museum strategy. As tattoos are anchored
in prestigious cultural institutions their
cultural value will continue to rise, further
blurring distinctions between high and
popular culture.
23
for any fashionable phenomena lies in its
inherently ‘‘transitory character’’ (Levine
303). Simmel theorizes fashion as a distinct
social field that includes ‘‘clothing, amusements and social conduct’’ (298). Once the
mainstream or majority adopts a particular fashion, whether sartorial or behavioral, it ceases to become fashionable and
is discarded for the next obscure trend. As
Simmel observes, the nature of fashion is
highly contradictory: The very character of
fashion demands that it should be exercised
at one time only by a portion of the given
group, the great majority being merely on
the road to adopting it. As soon as an example has been universally adopted, that is, as
soon as anything that was originally done
only by a few has really come to be practice
by all—as is the case in certain portions of
our apparel and in various forms of social
conduct—we no longer speak of fashion.
(qtd. in Levine 302)
However, unlike various objects of fashion,
tattoo is a resilient and idiosyncratic material cultural form that resists consumer
‘‘throw-away’’ culture. Even if the meanings
of tattoos shift, and their present cultural
currency declines or exhausts, most tattooed bodies will bear this ironic fad for the
course of the life cycle. For some people, the
permanence of tattoos contributes to their
allure and cultural significance.
In considering contemporary tattoo as a
consumer product, it is also crucial to make
clear that the act of consumption, that is
receiving a tattoo, is often a lengthy ritualistic and increasingly medicalized procedure. Depending upon the size, design,
and location, getting tattooed can take
anywhere from one to two hours for a small
flashinspired icon,5 while large and complex
images sometimes take eight to twenty
hours of work that may extend over the
span of a week and involve multiple visits
depending on the client’s pain threshold.
A QUOTE OF SORTS
hero is no Roger Moore, he is composedly
cool and fierce. He gets the girl, saves the
world, and does it with subcultural style.
Tattooed characters aside, actors and
actresses seem to be just as enchanted with
tattoo as the masses. While celebrities like
Cher and Johnny Depp are elder tattoo aficionados known to be tattooed before the
1990s, there are other pop stars who have
more recently acquired tattoos and unveiled
them in public, such as Pamela Anderson,
Ben Affleck, Christine Ricci, Angelina Jolie,
‘‘The Rock,’’ and Sean Connery. There are
even coffee table books like Celebrity Skin:
Tattoos, Brands and Body Adornments
of the Stars (Gerard) and Tattoo Nation:
Portraits of Celebrity Body Art (Ritz), documenting who has what tattoo and what
part of the body it is located on. The realm
of professional sports is also filling up with
tattooed bodies, particularly the fields of
football and basketball. For example, it is
estimated that fifty percent of the members
of the National Basketball Association are
tattooed, including such high-status players as Michael Jordon, Marcus Camby,
Kirby Puckett, and Shaquille O’Neal
(Shields 36). Both celebrities and their audiences have mutually embraced the practice.
The fact that many lionized public figures
are tattooed may lead some people enamored with celebrity to follow in their path.
At the very least, the celebrity tattoo phenomenon contributes to new understandings of tattoo and elevates tattoo’s cultural
status. However, as tattoos prevail in popular culture and become increasingly visible,
they risk appearing rather banal. In August
of 2002, in a television interview on abc’s
Good Morning America, interviewer Diane
Sawyer gaily commented on middle-aged
actress Carrie Fischer’s brand new celestialthemed ankle tattoo. In a parent–child
role reversal, Fischer puckishly quipped
that her daughter highly disapproved of
grades. They are no longer the emblems of
the economically and
socially excluded: punks, gang members,
and bad kids from economically ravaged
neighborhoods. This perceived cultural evolution functions to sanction the practice of
tattooing, allowing the possibility for tattoos to be acceptable to the mainstream, if
not into respectability. The new tattooees
are not exotic or deviant others—they are
everyday people with aesthetic sensibility.
Besides stressing shifts in tattoo populations, another significant aspect in the elevation of tattoo’s status can be attributed
to articles that declare tattoo to be an art
form. A recurring theme is the placement
of contemporary tattoo practices within a
larger cross-cultural historical context of
body modification and body art. For example, a 2001 article on San Francisco tattoo
culture proclaims that certain members of
the community are ‘‘rediscovering the longdormant art’’ practiced hundreds of years
ago in Polynesia (Hartlaub E4). While a
1998 Boston Globe article, ‘‘Making a Mark
on the Culture: Body Piercing, Tattoos, and
Scarification Push the Cutting Edge,’’ states
that ‘‘since ancient times, the body has
been a canvas for adornment’’ (Leonard C1).
The skin-as-canvas metaphor presents the
body as a legitimate artistic medium that
can be placed in a historical frame. If
people have been getting tattoos since
ancient times and they are considered art
in other cultures, then contemporary tattooing can be understood as an extension of
these body art practices. The following passage from a 2002 Wall Street Journal article
explicitly makes this connection:
‘‘Many of today’s designs reflect the influence of traditional Japanese tattoo artists,
who specialized in full-body tattoos that
were integrated works of art,’’ says Enid
Schildkraut, curator of the anthropology
division at New York’s American Museum
17
CONSUMING TATTOO
When I began conducting ethnographic
research on contemporary tattoo culture six years ago, colleagues questioned
the significance of my project because it
appeared to be ‘‘just a fad.’’ They presumed
that tattoo was destined to fall out of popular favor just as quickly as the last season’s
accessory, shoe or haircut. Considering
the forces of the consumer market and the
fickleness of public tastes, it seemed like a
reasonable assumption. However, unlike
hairstyles or clothing, tattoos are not worn
upon the body but rather inscribed into
the body. Tattoos simultaneously decorate
the body and permanently modify it. For
this reason, tattooing can be conceptualized as an ironic fad—a popular cultural
trend that, due to its permanent nature,
cannot be as easily discarded as a pair of
jeans.3 One twenty-nine-year-old informant described her tattoo as the ‘‘fad you
can’t toss away,’’ predicting that by the time
she was a grandmother her ‘‘tattoos will
be cool again and I will get cred from my
grandkids.’’4 According to social theorist
Georg Simmel, the ‘‘element of attraction’’
Although there was a short-lived tattoo
fad among members of the European and
American leisure classes over a century ago,
the contemporary American tattoo craze
has eclipsed it in size and scope. The community of new tattooees transcends age,
class, and ethnic boundaries, and includes a
heterogeneous population of teenagers and
young adults, women, African Americans,
Latin Americans, urbanites, suburbanites,
white-collar professionals, and the collegeeducated. Of course, as Margo DeMello
(‘‘Not just for Bikers’’; Bodies) has documented, those who make up what could be
described as the traditional tattoo population—working class, blue-collar, bikers,
prisoners, punks—are also still getting
MEDIATING COOL
One of the obvious indicators that tattoos
are a part of the social mainstream is their
prevalence in mediated popular culture.
The entertainment industry is replete with
tattooed personalities—both ‘‘real’’ and
fictional. Television programs, including
soap operas, sitcoms, and the burgeoning
reality genre, present tattooed characters
and everyday people who openly display
their ink. Similarly, Hollywood films frequently employ tattoos as corporeal signifiers that suggest disenchantment and
rebellion. The summer of 2002 blockbuster
action film, XXX, featuring the character
Xander Cage (played by actor Vin Diesel) as
a postmodern action hero best described
as an alienated James Bond meets Rambo
on a skateboard, is covered with tattoos.
The advertising campaign for XXX focused
on Diesel’s character’s detached and misanthropic persona, penchant for extreme
sports, and heavily tattooed
muscular torso and neck. Billboard and
newspaper advertisements displayed
Diesel’s oversized and distinctively tattooed arm cradling a fragile, helpless
beauty. The message for eighteen- to thirtyyear-old movie consumers was clear—XXX’s
15
interested in expensive luxury goods. In a
frequently reproduced2 print ad campaign
for Versace’s 2002 summer beach collection, russet-skinned, wellslickened models
reveal large portions of their bodies from
under tiny Versace bathing suits highlighting carefully positioned tattoos. That tattoos are appearing on models’ bodies and
are being used to target the present-day
leisure classes indicates an elevation in
their cultural status. The continued usage
of tattoo in advertising campaigns assists
in circulating a variety of new images and
messages about tattoo into the public’s
imagination; it also heralds tattoo as a
legitimate and desirable consumer product
for all social classes.
New generations of American children are
growing up in a cultural landscape that is
more tattoo-friendly and tattoo-flooded
than at any other time in history.
conduit of popular culture. The content of
newspapers and magazines is also analyzed
to reveal how tattoos are being reframed
in print. In addition to media discourses
and entertainment representations, I also
examine tattoo as a commodity and as a
fad. I argue that the mediation and commodification of tattoo are processes that
are interconnected. The prevalence of tattooing in popular culture and the dramatic
demographic shift in tattooees indicates
that tattoos have mass appeal. Within this
context, I explore how the mainstreaming
of tattoo relates to the recognition of tattoo
as an art form.
13
america has become a tattooed nation.
if you turn on your television, open a
magazine, or go see a movie, you will likely
encounter a tattooed body. Actors, models,
musicians, and idolized athletes proudly
herald the mainstreaming of a previously
marginalized and historically underground
practice. By the end of the 1990’s, tattoos
became visible in the public sphere, finding
a home in the comfortable cultural landscape of suburban America where there is
an abundance of consumers with discretionary income. The popularization and
commodification of tattoo is confirmed by a
plethora of books and toys marketed to the
youngest consumers such as Tattoo Barbie,
The Sesame Street Talent Show: Tattoo Tales,
Around the World in Tweety Time: Tattoo
Storybook, and the Power Puff girls’ Ruff n’
Stuff Tattoo Book, that include tattooed figures, color-in tattoo kits, and temporary
tattoos for kids to apply to their own bodies.
tattooed, but have been carefully edited out
of media discourses announcing the elevation of tattoo cultures.
The 2001 MSNBC television special, Skin
Deep, which examined tattooing and other
contemporary body modifications, reported
that twenty percent of the American population is tattooed. Although the validity of
this statistic is speculative, a 2002 survey
conducted by the University of Connecticut
produced similar findings. As a result, the
profession of tattooing has blossomed, with
academy-trained artists venturing into
the craft in search of creative work that
guarantees a paycheck. In fact, tattooing
was listed as one of the top high-growth
businesses in the middle and late 1990s
(Vail 253). With the ubiquity of tattoo in the
media, the growth of the tattoo industry,
and a new population of tattoo aficionados,
it is reasonable to propose that one in five
Americans is imbued with ink. Why has tattoo been adopted across such diverse status
boundaries? How can we explain tattoo’s
mainstream appeal?
To understand tattoo’s popularity in the
latter decades of the twentieth century,
larger global, cultural, political, and economic trends must be taken into consideration. However, the individual motivations and personal meanings that people
ascribe to their tattoos can also provide
clues to understanding this phenomenon
(see Atkinson (157 – 60); Bell (53 – 8); Irwin
(49 – 73); Kosut (79 – 100); Pitts (67 – 84);
Sanders (46 – 7; 51 – 2); Sullivan (13 – 23);
and Vail (253 – 73)). With this in mind, this
article focuses on one piece of the contemporary American tattoo puzzle by exploring
the popularization of tattoos within the
context of media outlets that shape the terrain of mass culture. Special consideration
is given to the entertainment industry
broadly defined—television, film, sports,
fashion, and music—as it is a primary
11
10
(Simmel, qtd. in Levine 295)
20
18
AN IRONIC FAD
the commodification &
consumption of tattoos
print media. As Margo DeMello notes,
popular print discourses have contributed
to the erasure of early images and meanings of tattoo by recreating tattoo as a
middle-class cultural practice with inherent aesthetic value, distancing ‘‘modern
tattooing from its working-class history’’
(Bodies 97). In roughly the past five years,
there has been a striking similarity in the
way that tattoos are described and contextualized by journalists and reporters.
While some articles focused on teenagers,
women, or celebrities with tattoos, there
is one common thread that connects all of
them—a differentiation between how tattoos used to be and how they are now. The
following passage is an excerpt from a 1997
US News & World Report article entitled
‘‘A Hole in the Head? A Parents’ Guide to
Tattoos, Piercings and Worse.’’ It serves
as an example of the mainstream media’s
acknowledgement of the new tattoo phenomenon, differentiated from the deviant
‘‘bad old days’’ when tattooing was still in
the closet, so to speak. Tattoos and piercings are far more mainstream than most
parents realize. In a forthcoming study of
more than 2,100 adolescents from schools
in eight states . . . it was found that 1 in 10
had a tattoo and that over half were interested in getting one. The young ‘‘body-art’’
enthusiasts came from all income levels
and ethnic groups. A majority earned A’s &
B’s. (Lord 67) There are two elements in this
passage that are representative of similar
contemporary media accounts of the new
and improved mass tattoo culture. The
first is the mentioning of tattooing in the
context of art. The message is clear: tattoo
is acknowledged as having some degree of
aesthetic value. The second element is the
citing of a shift in the socioeconomic status of the tattoo bearer. Now tattooed kids,
both boys and girls, come from ‘‘all income
levels and ethnic groups’’ and get good
19
21
ironic consumer product because they resist
the mechanization and distance created by
the assembly line. Unlike other commodities, tattoos are highly individualistic and
personal, as opposed to impersonal factoryproduced goods. Even standardized tattoo
drawings commonly found on studio walls,
as opposed to original, one-of-a-kind tattoo
designs, are rendered uniquely idiosyncratic
during the application process. The image
remains the same, but the artist’s hand and
the recipient’s body personalize the product.
For this reason, tattoo is a rather contradictory consumer good. Is it a commodity
whose value will soon be exhausted, or an
inherently creative and agentic postmodern
product? Tattoos have clearly undergone a
process of commodification; they are not
only purchased as embodied status symbols, they are used to sell other commodities. Tattoos are also subject to mediation,
particularly through carefully constructed
images created by the music and film industries. Even though they have been pulled
from their subcultural roots (blue-collar,
deviant, underground) and replanted in
the mainstream, tattoos still have a certain
aura of cool and rebellion about them. This
is evidenced in the use of tattoos by the
culture industry and their prevalence in a
variety of popular entertainment media.
These two developments play a role in the
mainstreaming of tattoo and the transcendence of class, race, and gender lines among
a new generation of tattooees.
19
9
8
PAGINATION
NEW DIRECTION
20
21
22
23
DUMMY BOOK
24
25
ARTICLES
[Page 5]
My Story by (assuming) Rick Genest
http://rickgenest.com/index.php/mystory.html
[Page 11]
Zombie Boy by Jack Murray
http://www.bizarremag.com/weird-news/
tattoos-body-art/7173/zombie_boy.html
[Page 33]
Finding Rico by Lee Carter
http://www.hintmag.com/post/the-truestory-of-how-nicola-formichetti-gotrick-genest-the-guy-with-a-scalp-tattooto-model-in-mugler--march-20-2011
[Page 41]
Born This Way by Thomas LeBlanc
http://www.nightlife.ca/mode-design/
interview-rico-zombie-think-montreal-srick-genest-wasn-t-born-way-think-again
IMAGES
[Jacket & Page 45]
Raphael Oullet for Nightlife.ca
http://thefashionisto.com/rick-genestby-raphael-ouellet-for-nightlife-ca/
[Cover]
http://makeitsparkle.files.wordpress.
com/2011/04/ricco.jpg
26
[Page 3]
Nicola Formichetti
http://zsofiasexpressions.blogspot.
com/2011/01/mugler-inspired.html
[Page 4, 13, 23, 46 & PB 2–3 & PB Front
Cover]
Jacqueline Tappia for GQ Italia
http://clothesbeforehoes.com/rick-genest-zombie-boy-for-gq-italia-editorial
[Page 9, 14, 21–22, 26–27]
Mateusz Stankiewicz for Fashion
Magazine
http://morphoman.blogspot.
com/2011/07/blog-post.html
[Page 10, 35]
Karim Sadli for GQ UK
(Pictured is Nicola Formichetti)
http://beforeyoukillusall.blogspot.
com/2011/04/editorial-gq-style-uk12-when-man-walks.html
[Page 19, 30]
Mariano Vivanco for Vogue Japan
http://www.whosthatboy.me/2011/03/
hard-to-be-passive.html
[Page 24–25]
Maria Eriksson for Viva Magazine
http://thefashionisto.com/
rick-genest-by-maria-eriksson-for-vivamagazine/#more-117133
[Page 36, 39–40]
Mariano Vivanco for Mugler Fall/Winter
2011 Collection
http://www.whosthatboy.me/2011/03/
mugler-campaign-fall-winter-2011.html
[Page 28–29]
Dermablend Commercial Screencaps
http://ricothezombie.blog.cz/1110/
go-beyond-the-cover-screencaps
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Page numbers are in association with the
final Monograph unless marked ‘PB’ for
Process Book Page.
All images are of Rick Genest unless otherwise stated. All images accessed via
Google Large Images (Searched for Rick
Genest, Zombie Boy, Rico etc)
All articles & images were last accessed
December 2011.
TIME SHEET
Sheet1
COLOPHON
27
TIA BLUNDEN 2011
A DVA NCED PR INT PUBLIC ATIONS
28