MONOGRAPH | Final Concept

MONOGRAPH | Final Concept
PROJECT ONE | Tia Blunden
milar to the style of
renalinevancity.com
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
Detailed illustrations of tattoos, these will be
tattoos traced in illustrator.
PRESENTATION
AESTHETIC
Borrowing from previously established aesthetic.
monograph
tattoos
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
amet nisl at nisi venenatis varius sed ac elit. Lorem
Male & female
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.
Vivamus eu nulla et dui adipiscing vestibulum.
into the potential implications of having a tattoo
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.
11
12
13
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
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
SORTS ABOUT
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
RECONSIDERING TOPIC
- still about tattoos
- but now specifically Rick Genest
aka Rico aka Zombie Boy
- he was discovered in 2010/2011,
so it’s very current
- documenting his image as of now
WHO IS IT FOR?
- Lady Gaga followers
- people interested in tattoos
- esp tattoos in relation to
pop culture
- people who have heard/seen
him and want to know more
- people interested in fashion
FORMATTING
- tall format because his story
is unconventional
- focus on the photos, so they
will be glossy
- text will be on matte paper
- vellum jacket
(these changes in texture &
visual imitates the layers of
his story)
23
BINDING
- was originally created to be
saddle-stitched, but in the
end there were more pages
than expected and perfect
binding became more fitting
(echoing a magazine format)
TYPEFACES
- titles are Univers Lt Std
Bold Condensed; very
upright, fashionable
- body text is Chaparral Pro
Regular ; quirky enough
but also easy to read
1
CONTENTS
7
my story
Rick Genest
13
zombie boy
jack murray
35
finding rico
Lee carter
43
born this way
thomas leblanc
MY STORY
rick genest
Twenty–six year old Rick Genest will challenge
your sensibilities about what you believe to
be beautiful. At his core he is a chiaroscuro of
both light and dark—part gentle warrior, part
anti-establishment artful dodger, and he has
serendipitously become the ‘it’ muse for anyone who believes in a brave new world without
judgment. His tattoos have equally intrigued
and inspired a cult following—more than
30,000 followers on Twitter and 65 groups &
pages dedicated to him on Facebook. He has
sparked a revolution with fans who see beyond
the visceral and want to know everything they
can about the mysterious performer, model
and muse known as ‘Zombie Boy.’ >
7
EARLY BEGINNINGS
Genest grew up in a working class family in
Chateguay Quebec, and is the oldest of two
siblings. He got his first tattoo (a skull and
crossbones) at age 16 on his left shoulder,
sparking a fascination deep within him for
the art form. After graduating high school,
Genest left home at 17 and immersed himself in the underground punk rock scene in
Montreal, and was initiated into the street
culture of tattoos, piercings, music and DIY
fashion. He survived by becoming a “squeegee
kid” and living in abandoned buildings with
his new family of friends who gave him the
moniker ‘Zombie Boy.’
By 19 he was committed to his full body
tattoo project and stayed loyal to Montreal
artist Frank Lewis, who designed the majority
of his body over the next six years. Eighty
percent of his body is covered, including
intricate designs of an entire skeleton (skull
included) and is thematically, the depiction
of a body decomposing—complete with flesh
eating insects. To date Genest has spent over
$17,000.00 on tattooing his body and will
continue until his tapestry is finished
CIRCUS FREAKS & GEEKS
Genest joined sideshows with contemporary
carnivals learning geek work, clowning, fire
play, lying on a bed of nails and flesh pull
techniques. He eventually amassed a group
of performers together to create his own travelling freak show titled Lucifer’s Blasphemous
Mad Macabre Torture Carnival which he also
directs. Lucifer’s Blasphemous was inspired
by the resurgence of sideshows (think Jim
Rose Circus) and body modification artists
like Lizardman and The Enigma. “Lucifer is
our boa [constrictor] and we are the droids
of death,” says Genest, explaining the idea
behind the troupe. The performers also
include the sexy mistresses Sedusa, as well
as Dr. Kuttz the psychotic auto mutilator,
and a bevy of other Coney Island circus
inspired characters. “So you’ve got some
action, some gore, some burlesque–sexuality,
and of course the comedy! It’s a Three Stooges
freak show, unlike you’ve ever seen,” says
Genest who performs in English and French,
and clearly plays the ‘Zombie’ character.
THE HOUSE OF FORMICHETTI
His international thrust into the spotlight is
a true rags to riches story. Nicola Formichetti,
Lady Gaga’s personal stylist and the creative
director of the legendary Paris based fashion
house Theirry Mugler, was careering the web
when he came across a photo of Genest that
appeared in the magazine Dressed to Kill.
Formichetti was instantly fascinated and contacted Genest through his Facebook account.
In early January 2011, Formichetti flew to
Montreal to meet Genest to complete an
extensive photo and video shoot for Thierry
Mugler’s Fall 2011 campaign. The two clicked
instant-ly and Formichetti invited Genest to
Paris to model in the Mugler men’s fashion
show. It was the first time Rick had ever
travelled outside Canada, and incidentally his
first time on a plane. Acting as his mentor of
sorts, Formichetti then cast Genest in his
biggest role to date; a pronounced cameo in
Lady Gaga’s video ‘Born This Way’ filmed in
New York City. In the video Gaga is in full
‘Zombie Boy’ makeup, as they play a rather
provocative mother/son scenario—with
Genest literally being birthed by the loins of
Gaga herself. Of the experience Genest says,
“Gaga was very approachable and has a great
sense of humour. It was easy working with her
and she knows how to put everyone at ease.
She is a highly-skilled, intelligent and tireless
and dedicated performer.”
In March 2011, Genest returned to Paris
where he appeared along with Lady Gaga
in the Mugler Women’s fashion show. He
was subsequently introduced to famed
photographer Steven Klein who shot him for
2011 Spring Edition of Arena Hommes Plus.
His relationship with Formichetti has clearly
been a boon for his career, and has since seen
him pose for such magazines as gq,Vanity
Fair and Vogue Hommes Japan, as well as
a collaboration with the juggernaut of the
fashion photography world— the renowned—
L’Enfant terrible, Terry Richardson.
In September 2011 Genest’s character was
the face of Formichetti’s latest creation, a
Digital rendition for the online fashion world
launched at his $250,000 Pop Up Store—the
centre piece of New York’s Fashion Week.
RICK GENEST THE BRAND
Not one to rest on the laurels of his Gaga connections and fortitude, Genest has continued
to build his emerging brand with new management behind him. In the Spring 2011 he was
awarded the Guinness World Book of Records
for the most insects tatoo-ed on a human
body (178) as well as the most bones inked on
a human body(138), and he then returned to
his local Tattoo artist Lewis to additions to
his live walking art project.
Additionally Genest filmed a small role in
the upcoming Keanu Reeves film 47 Ronin
directed by Carl Reinch, and plans to further
develop his travelling circus troupe into a
national and international tour. His passion
for Circus Side Shows cannot be over stated.
He continues to collaborate with a bevy of
well-known performers in the industry to
light up local and international stages with
unique acts.
In the summer of 2011, he appeared in the
opening gala of the Montreal International
Comedy Festival for the Francophone comic
Jean Francois Mercier.
In the Fall of 2011, he appeared as a major
attraction at the Circus Circus Fright Dome
in Las Vegas in September—a haunted theme
park attraction that has been visited by
everyone from the late Michael Jackson to
Paris Hilton. He will be headlining at national
and international tattoo conventions for 2011
and 2012. As an avid fan of Tim Burton’s work,
Genest is open to branding himself further
in the world of comic books and animation,
a clothing and merchandise line, as well as
reality television opportunities.
Despite his recent ascent onto the world
stage, Genest believes in maintaining humbleness, thrift, simplicity and authenticity. Not
unlike actor James Franco, it’s very apparent
that Genest cannot be swayed or coerced into
anything that doesn’t speak to him. He isn’t
impressed by the fame machine and has a ‘IV
drip of cool factor’ that lends to an almost
aloof sense of composure.
He has very little desire for material wealth
and maintains that his biggest extravagance
would be to build a place on a nice spot of land
so that he can give his friends from the punk
rock community of Montreal “a place to live.”
He believes in maintaining his strong relationships and hopes that one day he will be able
to give back to his friends back home all that
they have given him.
Stay tuned. [ ]
8
9
11
10
I SEE MY TATTOOS AS
CELEBRATING THE ART
OF OBSCENITY AND
THE MACABRE
ZOMBIE BOY
jack murr ay
Rick is turning himself into a zombie. So far,
more than 24 hours of tattoos—costing thousands of dollars—have got him halfway there
and made him a minor celebrity on the internet,
where people can’t decide if he’s a body modification visionary or mentally ill sicko.
We caught up with Rick for an exclusive
interview and photoshoot to see what life is
like when you’re transforming yourself into
the living dead.
WHAT LOOK ARE YOU TRYING TO ACHIEVE WITH YOUR
TATTOOS?
They’re about the human body as a decomposing
corpse—the art of a rotting cadaver. It’s also a
tribute to horror movies, which I love. >
13
WHAT INFLUENCED YOUR TATTOOS?
IF YOU’RE GOING TO
BE SURE ENOUGH TO
TATTOO YOUR FUCKING
FACE LIKE THAT, THEN
YOU’VE GOT TO BE SURE
ENOUGH TO DO THE
WHOLE FUCKING THING.
When I was a kid I was a big fan of the Teenage
Mutant Ninja Turtles, and I wanted to be a
ninja turtle and live in the sewers. But as I got
older I fell in love with zombies and wanted to
become one. Oh, and I love George A Romero’s
Living Dead movies.
Anyway, the closest thing I could get to
becoming a zombie was to get tattooed like
one. I see my tattoos as celebrating the art of
obscenity and the macabre.
WHEN DID YOU DECIDE YOU WANTED TO GET YOUR FACE
AND BODY TATTOOED?
I thought long and hard about what I really
wanted, what my passion was. And I decided
I wanted to be a fucking zombie. My first big
move was getting my hands outlined as skeleton print. They say that once you get your
hands tattooed it’s harder to find a job.
HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT YOUR TATTOOS NOW?
They’ve been a part of me forever—before I
even got them done. They reveal how I feel on
the inside. I’m so used to how I look now that
I don’t see them anymore. It’s like if you met
someone with purple hair—after ten minutes
you’d think, “Oh yeah, they have purple hair.
So what?”
But it does look a little different to how I’d
imagined. I expected some portions of my
tattoos to look more bloody and gory. Probably
because I’ve got an overactive imagination
and I’d never be satisfied with the results.
WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE CHANGED?
15
14
I’d have a lot more blood in general, dripping
and oozing everywhere. I’d have loved to have
blood pouring out of my eyes and a few more
bugs here and there. But it just didn’t happen
like that.
>
WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK?
SO WHAT OTHER BODY MODIFICATIONS ARE
My friends think it’s cool, it’s punk rock.
YOU PLANNING?
HOW ABOUT YOUR MUM?
Well, I don’t think this is what my mother had
in mind for me. When I got my hands done
it broke her heart. She said, “You’ve got your
hands tattooed like a skeleton! You’re never
going to get a decent job!” But once she saw
I was determined about it she was like, “If
that’s what you want to do, make sure you go
all the way. Don’t just start it and then change
your mind. If you’re going to be sure enough to
tattoo your fucking face like that, then you’ve
got to be sure enough to do the whole fucking
thing.”
SO SHE’S BEHIND YOU NOW?
Yeah. At first, when it didn’t have the shading
or anything, she was like, “You look like crap.
You’re going to be a punk your whole life.” But
now it’s starting to take shape and become
more like an art piece, so she gets it.
HOW DO PEOPLE REACT TO YOUR TATTOOS?
There’s all sorts of weird shit here in Montreal,
so I kind of blend in with the culture. Some
people come up to me and say, “Wow, nice
tattoos.” Sometimes you get a smart-ass kid
who yells “Hey, it’s Halloween!” Just about
every day I get some kind of skeleton joke. The
classic is “Why didn’t the skeleton cross the
road? Because he didn’t have the guts.”
DO YOU WORRY ABOUT HOW YOU’RE GOING TO LOOK
WHEN YOU’RE OLDER?
HAVE YOU EVER THOUGHT ABOUT HAVING THE TIP OF
YOUR NOSE REMOVED?
Yes, and I’ve seen it before on TV. This guy had
a flesh–eating disease and he was able to get
his nose cut off because they gave him a prosthetic replacement. I was so jealous. I wanted
it so bad. If I get my eyes blacked in I’ll get my
nose removed.
WOULD YOU HAVE YOUR EARS REMOVED?
Maybe just the one. I was thinking of having
worms coming out of one ear and a spider’s
web in the other. But I’m an extremist, so if I
met someone who could remove my ear and
get the right result, then that’d be cool as hell.
If I saw someone walking around like that I’d
shit myself.
WOULD YOU BURN YOURSELF WITH ACID TO GET
TEXTURE ON YOUR SKIN?
I don’t know. I’m not a pro. But it has nothing
to do with pain. I like pushing the limits to >
17
16
No, fuck it. Everybody ages—me too. Are you
worried about what you’re going to look like
when you’re 60? It’s just life—tattoos turn
green. I joke that once the body suit’s done
they’ll be so faded I’ll have to start again at
the beginning.
I still want to get my brain shaded in. I want
to get it all nice and grey like hamburger meat.
And then I want to get Frankenstein bolts
sticking out of my head around the rim of
where my scalp’s ‘cut off’.
And I’ve thought about getting my eyes
blacked in. I’m thinking that in five years from
now, if no one’s gone blind from it by then I’ll
go and get my eyes tattooed black, so there’d
just be big holes in my face.
As for tattoos, I’ve still got to get under my
arms done, then I’ve got to finish the intestines
and get a contour added to the demon on my
chest. I’m going to get bones sticking out of
my knees, my toes done in skeleton print, and
have patches of muscle scattered around—
with worms coming out of the wounds.
see how much I can take. I’d get my tongue
split, I’d get my teeth sharpened.
I wouldn’t cut off one of my fingers, because
I want to play guitar. I’m not going to cut off
my arms and legs to look cool. But there are
no rules about how zombies look. My buddy
has a tattoo where his throat’s slit and bugs
are coming out with worms up the side. It
looks fucking awesome.
WHAT ADVICE DO YOU HAVE FOR PEOPLE WHO WANT
THE SAME KIND OF TATTOOS?
They’re fucking stupid and should get their
own idea. You’ve got to be original. I hate
copycats and idiots. But I’m up for the idea
of more living deads. I think a whole crew of
people who had their face tattooed as a skull
would be awesome.
But you can’t rip off someone else’s personality. And I don’t want kids to go out there and
ruin their lives because they think it’s cool—
it’s got to be in you. You’ve got to know what
you want. I sacrificed my whole future for this.
WHAT EFFECT HAS IT HAD ON YOUR LOVE LIFE?
There are girls who dig it, but the kind of girls
who dig it are usually trouble. Some people
might look at you and think you’re mentally
ill. They might do, but I’m not. I think I’m very
on the ball.
There are a lot of people I meet who just
don’t understand, but there really is nothing to
understand. I’m realistic, sane and intelligent.
IS THERE ANY KIND OF BODY MODIFICATION YOU
WOULDN’T HAVE?
18
Cock–splitting. I’ve seen pictures of that and
it’s not for me. But I’d tattoo my cock. I’m thinking of having reptile scales and cockroaches.
I’ve had different ideas that aren’t relevant
to my body suit. One was quite sacrilegious.
I thought about having my cock tattooed like
a Cyclops Jesus ding–dong. There would be a
crown of thorns around it, an eyeball and
some scales. And there’d be a crucifix in the
background, so my cock would be like Jesus
on the cross. But in the end it just sounded
completely wrong.
DO YOU THINK YOUR LIFE WOULD BE BETTER OR WORSE
IF YOU HADN’T HAD YOUR TATTOOS DONE?
Actually, since having them done I’ve become
a much happier and nicer person. Before, I
hated pretty much everything and everybody.
I just wanted to pass out in the gutter and
swear at cars as they went by, shit like that.
I wasn’t a happy person at all.
That’s why I got the skull tattooed on my
face in the first place, I suppose—I wanted
to fucking kill everybody. But then, as time
went on, I started getting all this positive
feedback—people would come up to me and
say how cool they thought it looked. I started
getting invited to parties and bars all the time.
Strangers ask to have pictures taken with me.
I’ve been having so much fun with it that
life has definitely changed for the better.
I honestly wouldn’t change a thing… not that
I have much choice in the matter.
HOW DO YOU SUM UP YOUR PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE?
You’ve got to respect that everyone’s different
and has to do what they’ve got to do. I can’t
tell you what to do, you can’t tell me what to
do—but we can still get along just great. [ ]
22
32
FINDING RICO
lee carter
There are some things for which money,
distance, even the law, are no object. If you
have a muse, this won’t be news to you. Here’s
the incredible but true story of how Mugler’s
new creative director Nicola Formichetti discovered Rick Genest—aka Rico, aka Zombie
Boy, aka that guy with the mad skull tattoo
on his face—and got him to walk in his debut
men’s collection, basically becoming the face
of Mugler. Of course, it doesn’t hurt to have a
little encouragement from Lady Gaga (who, by
the way, snapped up half the collection, with
the other half in Rick’s inky hands)...
LEE CARTER: How did you find Rick Genest?
NICOLA FORMICHETTI: I found Rico on Facebook.
35
YOU STUMBLED ACROSS HIS PROFILE?
I had his picture on my wall forever. I saw it
one day on Google. I thought it was amazing
Halloween make-up done by Peter Philips or
something. I mean, I’ve done so many shoots
with skull make-up. And then, in October I
got my first tattoo, a triangle with a circle
inside, an ancient Japanese symbol meaning
centeredness. And the tattoo artist who did
it, my friend Maxime, who has this tattoo
magazine called Sang Bleu, saw that picture
and said, “Oh yeah, that guy is Zombie Boy.
He lives in Montreal.
YOU KIND OF IMAGINE
HIM TO BE A FREAK,
SOME PUNK
SO YOU SOUGHT RICO OUT ON FACEBOOK AND ASKED
HIM TO MODEL FOR YOU.
Yeah, I just wanted him to be the face of whatever we were going to create. At that point the
clothes were, you know, proper suits and shirts
and very clean. I just needed to have some kind
of a twist to it or...
AN EDGE.
Yeah, so after seeing his pictures on Facebook,
I just thought he was so inspiring. Just by
looking at his pictures I changed the whole
collection.
YOU CHANGED THE WHOLE COLLECTION?
Well, I added more, by taking stuff from him,
making it a bit darker and gothicy. So basically
I Facebooked him and was like, “You know, I’m
doing this thing in Paris and I would love you
to be there in two weeks.” He emailed me back
straightaway and he was like, “Yeah, sure, I
would love to, but I don’t have a passport.” And
then I start thinking how the fuck is he going
to get a passport in time?
LIKE IT’S A CRIME TO HAVE A TATTOO ON YOUR FACE?
WHAT DID YOU DO?
37
36
I had no idea what to do. I was calling my
lawyers, saying we have to get this guy to
Paris. But then I thought, maybe he doesn’t
need to be there physically. Maybe I can do
a film or pictures. So I told him I would go
to him in Montreal in two days. I called my
friend Mariano [Vivanco, photographer] and
my manager. We got together the first week
after the holidays as I was about to leave for
Paris to work on the last bit of the collection.
I remember thinking I have to do this, I just
have a gut feeling, I have to work with this
guy. Everyone said he’s a freak, why would
I want to do that to a luxury brand? I didn’t
listen to anyone and just went. I brought some
clothes, a couple of suits, and I actually made
lots of clothes the night before I left New
York. I had pieces sent from Paris and was
just making stuff in my house, and then took
everything to Montreal and we did a photo
shoot and video. The photos are the ones we
just launched as a visual campaign.
I SAW THOSE. BEAUTIFUL.
It was so inspiring. Then I showed it to Gaga
and she was like, “Oh my god, you have to do
a show.” I always loved her song Shiza. For me,
Shiza is in the spirit of Mugler, kind of like a
dirty Berlin club meets glamour. So she’s like,
“Okay, I will remix it and make it amazing for
you.” I had wanted to do a film projection, not a
show, but I thought, fuck it, let’s do a show.
OKAY, SO HOW DID YOU GET RICO TO PARIS IN TIME?
Right, then we found out why he couldn’t get
a passport, because he was homeless. He had
a lot of fines or something, because he was
always sleeping on the street.
AH, SO MUGLER PAID THEM? WERE THEY VERY MUCH?
It was a lot.
A FEW THOUSAND DOLLARS?
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Like ten or twenty.
WHAAA?
Yeah. And he just kept telling me, “I’m not a
criminal, I’m not a criminal.” It took him so
long to tell us. Oh my god, he was so emotional.
He was crying and saying how this was going
to change his life. It was a beautiful moment.
THAT WAS REALLY NICE OF YOU GUYS.
I paid it myself. I really believe in him. He was
only in Paris for two days. You kind of imagine
him to be a freak, some punk. But it’s actually
inspiring to hear him talk about shades, which
are the dots that create the 3d effect of his tattoo. It becomes more and more refined when
it’s shaded.
WAIT, IS HIS WHOLE BODY TATTOOED? LIKE A SKELETON?
It’s a skeleton theme, yeah. Well, except his uh,
there. (Laughs.)
IT’S GOOD TO KNOW SOME THINGS ARE STILL SACRED.
Yeah, but not because he didn’t want to. He
didn’t have the money.
SO EVENTUALLY HE’LL GET IT DONE. SOUNDS PAINFUL.
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(Laughs.) Maybe it’ll be a selection of cock
rings. I just really fell in love with the way he
lived. In a way his story is similar to Gaga, in
that there’s no going back. You do what you
believe. You are that, you are what you’re creating. [ ]
BORN THIS WAY
thomas lebl anc
Let’s be honest here: we wouldn’t be talking about a macabre 26 year-old skeletontattooed performer if it weren’t for a certain
music video from one the most significant
cultural icons of our time. In Lady Gaga’s
recent Madonna homage Born This Way, the
mama monster of corporate radio gives birth
to an evilish Rick Genest, also known by his
stage name Rico The Zombie. In one scene, she
dances alongside her new boy-toy, sporting
make-up mimicking Genest’s real life face and
skull ink. The video to this eurodance fable of
self-acceptance premiered with great anticipation on February 28th, 2011 after which the
single became Billboard’s 1000th #1 hit. And
Lady Gaga brought Genest along for the ride,
giving a whole new meaning to Andy Warhol’s
“15 minutes of fame” – online, on TV and in
newspapers, Rico The Zombie has become
the object of a very unique blend of attention,
rumours, envy and full-on admiration.
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nightlife.ca sat down with Rico in a
Montreal studio to get the lowdown on the
most bizarre winter of his life.
PLUCKED FROM OBSCURITY
world. Last month, he had to pull out of his
crew’s ninja-themed performance in Montreal
when his presence was requested in Budapest.
EVERYDAY NORMAL GUY
RULES ARE FOR SQUARES
Rico still shares an apartment with friends in a What do you do in your show? “I do the whole
loft near the train tracks in Saint-Henri. “You
zombie thing. Lots of fair work, biting nails,
can jam all night long, there are no chances
blockhead, brain floss, because it’s gross. I
that the cops might come. And somebody in
put a lot of things in my nose. Geek work, like
the block is having a party every night. On
eating worms, brains, fish eggs. It’s kind of
weekends, you can jump from apartment to
clowning as well. A zombie who goes through
apartment. It’s pretty cool.”
pain. It’s just a macabre show.”
Rico The Zombie isn’t as soulless as his name
On the matter of being unconventional,
and multiple deathly tattoos (which include a
his openly conservative mother told the UK’s
nuclear danger sign and critters) would lead
Daily Mail: “Rick will always be himself. He’s
you to believe. The guy is lively, in both a naive very loving to his family and faithful to his
and wise way, with a glimmer in his eyes and
friends. His grandparents love him very much,
a surprisingly handsome smile. He talks in
he has been to family weddings, everybody has
an assertive yet respectful manner, and his
always accepted him as himself.” On the topic
soft-spoken tone is indicative of someone who of rules and real life, Rick adds: “Conventions
has seen his fair share of pavement and sideare overrated. If everybody worked 9 to 5,
walks as a street punk. He’s also more at ease
there would be no nightclubs, there would be
answering questions in English than in French. no people listening to Gaga. 9 to 5 is a guideIn person, the tattoos make it harder to figure
line for people who can’t make their own rules.”
whether Rico is short and muscular or just
In Born this Way, Lady Gaga also praises
lean, almost frail. He’s not tall; his body seems open sexuality: “No matter gay, straight or bi;
like it’s not fully grown. When I ask him about
lesbian transgendered life” you get the point,
tolerating pain each time he gets a new tattoo,
we’re all born this way. Again, Rico’s life and
he says: “It takes a lot of practice. It finds me. It the book of pop music’s sexual ambiguity
comes with the job.”
intertwine: when asked if he has a girlfriend
The ‘job’ is also Rico’s passion for gore peror boyfriend, he keeps us wanting more.
formance art. After a string of terse answers
“Overrated” is his only answer on the matter
to my questions about his newfound fame,
of relationships. He smiles shyly, keeping
his face lights up when I mention his carnival
things mysterious.
project. “We are Lucifer’s Blasphemous Mad
Rick Genest is a punk-rocker at heart: pop
Macabre Torture Carnival. We’ve got a zombie, music and fashion are not his world. “I’m
an executioner, an auto-mutilator. We’re work- pretty open-minded. You can take the good
ing alongside two really hot chicks called Bella and the bad in everything: music, sports, arts
Obscura. They’re gonna do a lap dance for my
… even drugs!”, he says, laughing. He arrived
buddy Caleb! Beautiful women and people
on set sporting a long black coat and a studded
being tortured at the same time. It’s just a very cap. Under it, he wore a black suit that was too
contrasted, hellish show.” The troupe should
big for him. He didn’t seem to care much about
technically be performing at Toronto venue
the rack full of fitted neutral coloured clothes
Mitzy’s Sister on April 9th, but Rico might
that the stylist had brought for the shoot.
have an engagement somewhere else in the
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I’M TRYING TO BUILD MY
OWN COMPANY NOW THAT
I HAVE A LITTLE MONEY
TO PLAY WITH
International media and the fashion press
have been quick to frame the story as some
kind of fairy tale: last December, Gaga stylist
Nicola Formichetti stumbles upon Rico’s fan
page and contacts him on Facebook to shoot
the first images for his menswear collection
as the newly-appointed creative director of
legendary Paris-based house Mugler. Genest
is evasive on the extraordinary circumstances
that brought him to become the new face
of a rejuvenated French fashion company.
Formichetti and his team come to Montreal in
January to shoot Rico; fashion agency TRUSST
are in charge of the production. The two founders of TRUSST, Melissa Matos and Andrew Ly,
had previously worked with Rico on a local
shoot, meeting him through nightlife owl
Gibran Ramos.
After the Mugler shoot, Formichetti
requests to have Rico fly to Paris to walk the
menswear show on January 19th. There is a
slight setback: Genest has no passport and is
bogged down by fines to his name totalling
well over $10,000 in many Canadian provinces.
Formichetti agrees to cover the necessary
expenses: he basically makes him a free man.
To fast-track the process, Genest and TRUSST
hire an immigration lawyer who subsequently
becomes his manager. On January 19th,
Chateauguay-raised Rick Genest stars in his
first ever Paris fashion show. His tattoos, the
very reason why he was thrust into the limelight, were paid for with money he scraped
together by washing cars. Weeks later, he
shares the stage with Lady Gaga for the womens
wear Mugler show, after meeting her in New
York on the set of the Born This Way video.
“My friends think I’m rich now,” says
Genest with a smirk. But that’s not the case.
Colin Singer, the manager who stood by him
through this twist of fate, wants to help his
protégé capitalize on the media frenzy; he says
a film project is in the works. Days after the
nightlife.ca shoot, the two fly to Budapest
for another contract. Genest may also appear
on stage at the Bell Centre when Lady Gaga
stops in town on April 25th.
He has kind words for Formichetti and Lady
Gaga, even if he saw the latter no more than
four times in total. “We were having laughs.
After the show, we went out for a couple of
drinks. For sure, it was real, it was cool. Good
aura. Spiritual people.”
“Gaga is a machine. She’s a distraction, just
like carnivals. It’s all to keep people entertained”, he adds, pensively.
been tied to the pole all winter, that’s pretty
cool. Beauty... it’s broken bicycles.”
ART, TIME, BEAUTY... WHAT’S THE MOST IMPORTANT
THING TO YOU, RICO?
“Keeping it real. Respecting your people. Your
friends, your family. Those who are yours.”
AND MONTREAL?
CURATING GLOBAL CULTURE
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What has changed since Formichetti plucked
you from the streets of St Henri? “I’m trying
to build my own company now that I have a little money to play with. I’m hiring people as we
speak. Just playing by my own rules instead
of somebody else’s is a dream come true.” Any
downside? “Now people I don’t know come up
to me to talk about Lady Gaga and ask me if
that’s a real tattoo.” What do you answer? “I
tell them no, it’s my little sister’s make-up.
Or, no, that’s not me in the video, it’s my twin
brother, we have the same tattoo. If you ask a
stupid question, you get a stupid answer.”
One ingredient that has been overlooked in
the creation of Rico The Zombie is the curatorial talent of Nicola Formichetti. As a stylist,
his talent lies in gathering the right ideas to
create strong and meaningful imagery—such
as Lady Gaga coming out of an egg at the
Grammys. In this hyper-connected world,
where culture and spectacle are going more
global and digital by the minute, Formichetti
relentlessly brings together designs and people
to entertain a generation that sees the world
through a screen.
By inking our collective fear of death all
over his body, Rick Genest is challenging
our relationship with time and beauty. If
he doesn’t think much about the future, he
acknowledges that everyone has a past. About
beauty, he adds: “I don’t know. There’s a lot
of beauty.” Pointing to the other side of the
street: “That rusted, dismantled bike that’s
“Of course, I love Montreal. It taught me
everything I know.” [ ]
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