I met Matt one afternoon as he stood among the masses at the southwest corner of Madison Square Garden, waiting for a bus out of town.
This is his tattoo which he shared with us, covering his upper right arm:
The message is simple: silence is golden. I love how the side skulls spill off of the front skull, and how the teeth of the primary jaw are fused together.
Matt attributes this piece to "deep life experiences" and how it serves as a reminder to keep his head on straight.
He told me he's "been low and wants to stay higher" and that "keeping what I've done to myself has given me the ability to achieve what I have in life".
Earlier this summer, I posted a couple of tattoos from Joe, seen here.
Needless to say, Joe became a fan, and updated me with a new tattoo, below:
Joe explains:
"The picture is fresh from the artist finishing it. It is "C077X" and is a nod to James Franco and General Hospital. He is my fav actor and I have been watching General Hospital for at least 21 years. It is the the tag that "Franco" sprayed on everything when he recently guest starred on GH as an artist/serial killer. His character's name is Franco, reflecting that art imitates life. A motto the actor and character believe, and so do I. That is why I got the tattoo. To prove art imitates life!"
Photo Credit: ABC via http://sn.soapnet.go.com
The tattoo was inked by Rob at Brooklyn Ink. Rob originally appeared here as a contributor here. And is one of several artists that has represented Brooklyn Ink over the years on Tattoosday. This label links all of the work from the shop previously seen on Tattoosday.
Thanks to Joe for sharing his new tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!
We recently visited her home in Maharashtra for Pola Festival in August, when farmers honour their bullocks before the season's first day of ploughing.
This festival, the Moo Party, is quite a spectacle!
Kaveri is a milk maid. In the mornings she milks the cows and tends to a myriad housewifely duties. From 11am until 5.30pm she grazes the cows in the fields.
During the Pola Festival, bullocks are bathed by their owners, then decorated with vibrant paint and an ornamental shawl. Finally they are worshipped and paraded through town to show off their colours. The procession is often accompanied by the music of drums and bugles.
These two men specialise in buffalo milk, while Kaveri's family specialise in cow milk.
Here the two bullocks are bowing before a statue of Hanuman at the local temple outside the village gates.
This is Kaveri's father-in-law, the farmer.
This is Kaveri's son Adita with his grandpa and two new bullocks.
Kaveri's mother-in-law with her baby niece.
And two more babies - calves on the farm, decorated for Pola Festival.
The same night I met Brian, I met Rachel, who has eight tattoos.
She shared this one with me:
This piece on her left biceps is based on the work of artist Kurt Halsey. This little bird appears in multiple works by the artist, but Rachel imagined it for her own personal situation. She got it after a break-up a couple of years ago, and the tattoo gave her the strength to "let the bird go". In this case, the bird represents the ended relationship and the tattoo is a transitional piece that helped her recover from the difficulty of moving past it.
Despite the great calligraphy (calligraphy as in fancy artistic penmanship), there is a huge typo on this person's torso.
Bushido, the way of the warrior in Japanese is written as 武士道, not with 侍 in the middle. 侍 itself means samurai or warrior, but 武侍道 makes no sense in Japanese. Especially considering Bushido is a Japanese concept.
"Bullshitdo", the way of bullshit, would be more fitting.
I met Brian in Barnes & Noble, Union Square, back in August and he shared two tattoos with us. Put your thinking caps on, folks, because Brian, who is a video artist (website here), has very cerebral ink.
First up is this tattoo, on Brian's left biceps:
This tattoo is based on an illustration entitled "Every Night We Are Haunted by a Dream" by the artist Alfred Kubin (1877-1959).
Jede Nacht besucht uns ein Traum (Every Night We are Haunted by a Dream), ca. 1902-03 Pen and ink, brush, wash, and spray on paper 39.1 x 31.8 cm (15 3/8 x 12 1/2 in.) Albertina, Vienna
Brian explained that this work corresponded very closely to the publication of Sigmund Freud'sThe Interpretation of Dreams, and that Kubin's illustration represents "art between the cusp of pre-surrealism/expressionism and surrealism". It speaks to Brian's understanding of the perception of dreams and art.
Brian also had these words inscribed on his inner right forearm:
The words "Créer Dangereusement" are the French title of a 1957 essay by Albert Camus entitled "Create Dangerously". This "essay on realism and artistic creation" likewise spoke to Brian who acknowledged that "all art is a political act". It makes perfect sense, if you think about it, in that no great work of art was ever created by the artist playing it safe. It is those who created dangerously that are remembered as trailblazers and icons in their respective fields.
Brian had both of these tattoos done in Austin, Texas.
Thanks to Brian for sharing his artistic ink with us here on Tattoosday!
I met Danny in Penn Station early in August just as he was about to board a train.
Before he headed to his platform, however, he allowed me to take this photo of his tattoo-in-progress on his upper right arm:
He explained that the koi swimming upward on his bicep represented that he was still moving upstream, that is, he was "still overcoming struggles, trials and tribulations". He added that he would get another koi on his left arm, facing downstream, when he had completed his struggle in life.
Before we could talk further, however, he had to run for his train. Fortunately for me (and for you, dear Readers), he e-mailed me shortly thereafter with some more details:
"The leaves are Japanese maples...Everyone gets the traditional lotus flowers, etc. But I chose a leaf that represents no religion or significant meaning to it. I would have gone with the Korean national flower [Hibiscus syriacus] but that, too, had meaning behind it. Many flowers that are traditionally on bodies are either Buddhist or Catholic, etc. Coming from a Christian background, I chose one without any meaning. How can I live with a Buddhist lotus on my arm?
At the time I got the tattoo I was confused with life... Direction, purpose, goals, meaning.. I had obstacles and self goals I had to achieve and was in a standstill (not drug-related or any of that sort). I looked to the pain tattooing offers and how it puts your mind in a zoned-out state, which I now thrive for when I'm stressed. It's therapy to me. I'll update you when I find an artist to finish this tattoo. The windbars were left open to expand."
One thing regular readers may notice is that I tend to prefer singular tattoos, as opposed to larger "concept" pieces. This preference is what you see illustrated here on Tattoosday.
However, once in a while, I see work that, although atypical of our content, is irresistible.
Just check out Khalil's sleeve, which I captured one day after work in Penn Station:
Representing thirty-two hours of work by Mike Boissoneault at Black Lotus Tattoo Studios, in North Kingstown, Rhode Island, Khalil explained that this vision represents a spin on a biomechanical design, "but more organic".
To him, in a world in which people are becoming less human, this tattoo reminds him to be human.
Here's a "fresher" shot from the Black Lotus website:
I met Christina one day after work while walking outside of Madison Square Garden.
She had this incredible tattoo, which she gladly shared with us here on Tattoosday:
This tattoo that covers her upper left arm was actually done in two segments by artist Orrin Hurley, who currently tattoos at Dare Devil Tattoo in Manhattan.
As for the source material behind this beautiful tattoo, Christina chose a piece of art by Frances Olive Esme Eve:
A closer look at the tattooed owl shows how it was changed, but you can still see that there is still a lot from the original design:
The lighthouse was inspired by the Portland Head Light on Cape Elizabeth, Maine.
Thanks to Christina for sharing her tattoo with us here on Tattoosday.
At the end of July, I ran into Stacy waiting for the F train at West 4th Street in Manhattan.
She had a panther peeking out from under her shirt on her back, but we couldn't get the whole tattoo in a shot, so she offered up this piece on her right arm:
Living next to Lake Michigan has many benefits. Having always lived in a location near a large body of water, I can relate to her admiration for the beauty of a seascape, whether it be an ocean or a great lake.
Stacy told me she enjoyed watching the tugboats in her home town, and that these small vessels are a "connective image" that draws her back to her original home.
This is also the second tugboat of the summer. The first one is here.
Thanks to Stacy for sharing her tugboat with us here at Tattoosday. Perhaps we'll see her panther when the Tattooed Poets Project returns next April for its third year!
Saturday, September 18, 2010
from: d.h. to: tiangotlost@gmail.com date: Sun, Sep 12, 2010 at 8:38 AM subject: Here's one
This is supposed to mean passion. I don't think it does. In fact, i couldn't locate this configuration of radicals at all. What are your thoughts?
It means "hot, middle", which does not mean "passion".
This tattoo also reminded me the terrible hip-hop song by Nelly, Hot in Here.
from: Pb. to: tiangotlost@gmail.com date: Fri, Sep 17, 2010 at 8:42 AM subject: My tattoo..
Hey hi Tian.. stumbled over ur blog so thought i should hav my tattoo meaning verified.. I asked the artist to put the my birth date that is 24.. I would appreciate ur feedback..
Thanks Pb..
The bottom character does not exist in Chinese or Japanese vocabulary.
Last month I met Melinda on the West 4th Street subway platform, a location I came to appreciate this past summer for its diversity of interesting tattoos.
Our conversation began on the platform in Manhattan and ended in Brooklyn after a trip on the D train.
Melinda has two tattoos and she shared this one, from her inner left forearm:
She explained that this tattoo is based on the shield of Minerva (in the Roman pantheon) and Athena (in the Greek pantheon).
The shield features the head of the serpentine-tressed Medusa who, if you didn't know, could turn creatures (men, mostly) to stone with a simple gaze.
Melinda loves the contrast between the Minerva and Medusa figures and the relationship between the two mythologies.
The tattoo was inked by Kelly Krantz, of the now defunct Hold Fast Tattoo in Brooklyn. Kelly now tattoos by appointment only, and more details can be found on his website here. Work by Kelly has appeared previously on Tattoosday here.
Thanks to Melinda for her good company on the D train back in August, and for sharing her tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!
I met Liz last month on the West 4th Street platform as we were waiting for the D train.
She has six tattoos, including a really cool Brooklyn Bridge tattoo that she designed and, she proudly told me, Exene Cervenka once complimented her on.
The tattoo she shared with us, however, is this design of a Tyrannosaurus Rex, inked on her upper right arm:
The piece was modeled after the fossil displayed prominently in The American Museum of Natural History, where her brother had worked for a period of time. The tattoo is an homage to the time she spent there.
The tattoo was inked by Christopher Depinto aka The Ink Shrink at Shotsie's Tattoo in Wayne, New Jersey. Work from Shotsie's has appeared previously on Tattoosday here.
Thanks to Liz for sharing her dinosaur tattoo with us here at Tattoosday!
Our Wintergarden store in Brisbane's Queen Street Mall has been a welcome sanctuary from the city's hustle and bustle for the past 5 years - she will be missed!
If you're in Brisbane, do come and talk to the fairies at the bottom of the Wintergarden one last time. They are sure to offer you treasure for a magical price - it's their way of saying:
"Thank you Brisbane!"
Treasure bargains and magical times in the garden...
The Wintergarden gates will close for the very last time in late October.
I met Nick outside of Penn Station and, of his "six or seven" tattoos, he offered up this one:
Nick had this AK-47 inked on his stomach to pay homage to his Russian heritage. He told me that this tattoo was done by Fernando Alvarez out in Los Angeles.
Thanks to Nick for sharing his ink with us here at Tattoosday!
I met Simona in Park Slope, Brooklyn, back at the end of July. At the corner of Prospect Avenue and Prospect Park West, just outside of the Holy Name Church.
Simona had an unusual script around her right bicep:
The line displayed is "Et Eärello Endorenna utúlien," which means "Out of the Great Sea to Middle-earth I am come".
This tattoo was inked by one of the best tattooers of script around, Stephanie Tamez at New York Adorned. Work from Stephanie has appeared previously on Tattoosday here.
She placed the tattoo there because that is where Jews who were interned during the Holocaust had been tattooed by the Nazis. It's tattooed there as an expression of solidarity with her faith and, as a reminder to never forget the horror that was the Holocaust.
Thanks to Simona for sharing her tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!
When I met Chloe back in July, I didn't think that the tattoo she offered would be saved for an anniversary, or a special occasion, but that is how it played out.
In fact, when I approached her in the Union Square Barnes & Noble, I was more interested in a design on her thigh. However, she dismissed that tattoo, one of her first, and offered up this relatively crude rendering of the American flag:
By crude, I mean unpolished, and I do not mean it disrespectfully. For Chloe disclosed that this was a "stick and poke" tattoo that she and her friend Luke had given one another when in school.
Chloe was a Visual Arts major and explained that, in college, everyone seemed to be "poo-poohing on America," and this bothered her.
It is occasionally the case where college students, from their campuses, speak out against our country.
But Chloe and Luke wanted to make their own personal statements. "We do have a lot here," she told me, and expressed her dismay at those fellow students who seemed to take our freedoms for granted.
Chloe loves American culture (especially Westerns) and is "super-jazzed about Americana".
Despite the fact that it was not professionally done, it seems appropriate that this tattoo appear here on Patriot's Day, on a day on which we give pause, and remember what America is about. Our freedom is not something to take for granted and, whereas we certainly have a right to voice our discontent with the government, we should also not take for granted the freedoms we do have, those that make us who we are.
Thanks to Chloe for letting us unfurl her flag here on Tattoosday, on this day in which we should all pause and reflect, remembering how fortunate we Americans are to live in such a wonderful country.
I also encourage people to check out previous Patriot Day posts here, here and here.
Earlier this week, author Karen E. Olson released the third installment of her Tattoo Shop Mystery series, Driven To Ink.
For those readers who may not be familiar with Ms. Olson's series, you can check out my reviews of the first two books, here (The Missing Ink) and here (Pretty in Ink).
The series features Brett Kavanaugh, a Las Vegas-based tattoo artist, and a cast of supporting characters, from her police officer brother Tim, to fellow artist and competitor Jeff Coleman, owner of the shop Murder Ink. Kavanaugh's staff at The Painted Lady, a high-end tattoo shop at the Venetian Hotel and Casino, also offers up some memorable characters, including Bitsy, the diminuitive shop manager.
Driven To Ink, like its predecessors, has an "only in Las Vegas" feel, with a well-crafted narrative that, this time around, revolves around a drive-thru wedding chapel called "That's Amore" that features a handful of Dean Martindoppelgängers crooning, you guessed it, "That's Amore".
Olson has once again spun a riveting tale, which finds Brett Kavanaugh discovering a dead Dean Martin imperspnator in her trunk, with a tattoo machine's clip cord around the victim's neck. She had just lent her car, a Mustang Bullitt, to Jeff Coleman's octogenarian mother, Sylvia, so she could get married in style at the That's Amore chapel.
What I love about Karen Olson's books is that tattoos are seen above and beyond base clues in a murder mystery. She treats the vocation with utter respect, explaining things to the reader as if they were new to a tattoo studio. Tattoos may serve as clues, but they are not regarded as these huge totems that define their owners.
Brett Kavanaugh is an enjoyable protagonist, not without faults, and the author let's the reader tag along on her adventures that start off innocently enough, but pull her into deeper and deeper water. It's no surprise that one of the recurring characters is an Emergency Room doctor, as medical attention seems to be needed from time to time, making this mystery series ring truer than one in which the hero (or heroine) dances through their adventure unscathed.
Olson's first book in the series was a novelty. A new mystery with tattoos at the center of the narrative. After three volumes, Brett Kavanaugh seems more real, more human, than ever before.
A word to the skeptics, those tattoo snobs who may scoff at the light-hearted appearance of these books: Karen Olsen has given a gift to the tattoo community in the form of Brett Kavanaugh. Driven To Ink is another great mystery, with a respectful and honest portrayal of one artist/sleuth who just happens to be a tattoo shop owner.
I have enjoyed every one of Ms. Olson's books and Driven To Ink is yet another chapter in the fascinating life of Brett Kavanaugh. I'm looking forward to her next installment which, I am led to believe, is tentatively called Ink Flamingos.
Check out Karen talking about her first Tattoo Shop Mystery here:
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, like its predecessors, has an "only in Las Vegas" feel, with a well-crafted narrative that, this time around, revolves around a drive-thru wedding chapel called "That's Amore" that features a handful of 
