Tattoo Endels: Puncture Tattoo

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Four from Frank

It may be the middle of October, but I am still working with a handful of summer photos, like those I took of Frank, who shared four of his ten pieces with us.

The first one is by Cris Element at Puncture Tattoo Studios in Dyker Heights, Brooklyn:

He was reluctant to share the meaning of this tattoo, saying it was personal, but he did elaborate on three others, done by Taze at Groove Tattoo in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. This one, for example, he told me was because "I was born on June 7th [and] I got no luck so maybe I'll get some luck out of this tattoo...".

Frank indicated that the element of time figured into this piece, with the naked woman representing life, and the skull representing death:

And this one, also by Taze, represents that he had "the best times of [his] life skateboarding":

Thanks to Frank for sharing his ink with us here on Tattoosday!

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Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Ryan’s Steadman Sleeve

I spotted Ryan in my local laundromat, a surprisingly good spot for finding tattoos in the neighborhood. As I mentioned a long time ago over on BillyBlog here, Hunter S. Thompson's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is one of my favorite books, and the illustrations of Ralph Steadman only enhance the volume's sheer brilliance.

So, once I realized the theme of Ryan's sleeve, I hoped he'd agree to share his ink with us here on Tattoosday. Thankfully, he did:

Ryan is a native Brooklyn resident, and is a huge fan of Steadman. And this iconic image above graces the cover of Thompson's best known book.

The tattoo artist that Ryan is working with on this sleeve is Cris at Puncture Tattoo Studio in Dyker Heights, Brooklyn.

The figure at the top of this piece is the Steadman-imagined Hunter S. Thompson.

The image below Hunter is from the cover of Steadman's America:

Ryan says that all of this work spans "about a year and a half, altogether, session by session, [over] five or six sessions." He adds, "it’s not done yet, it’s gonna go all the way up ... I’ve just been at this stage for a little while now."

I was particularly interested in the piece with the American flag, which Ryan told me was from America, referenced above.

Ryan's work is certainly ambitious and the fact that he intends to continue the work into a full sleeve is certainly intriguing. I'm looking forward to seeing what's next!

Thanks to Ryan for sharing his work with us here on Tattoosday!