Tattoo Endels

Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Danny's La Pietà, for the Love of Art

I met Danny last month across the street from Verdi Square on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

He had quite a lot of nice ink, and we focused on this piece, tattooed on the inside of his upper left arm:

This is based on Michelangelo's Pietà, the famous sculpture in St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican City.

Why does Danny have this, and other classic art, inked on his flesh? I'll let him explain:

"To be honest with you, I'm really into the Italian sculptors ... all [my] gray-scale pieces are ... purely art-based decisions. The only tattoos I have that have real significant meaning behind them are the words, you know, anything that's got words. All the art, it's just because I love the art."

Danny also has tattoos that are based on the work of Gian Lorenzo Bernini.

To recreate a masterpiece of Italian sculpture like La Pietà, in such fine detail, is truly remarkable.

Joshua Lord, at East Side Ink in Manhattan, is the artist who so skillfully created this tattoo. Joshua Lord's work has appeared previously on Tattoosday here and work from East Side Ink has been posted here several times, viewable under this tag.

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

If you are reading this on another web site other than Tattoosday, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit http://tattoosday.blogspot.com and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.

Monday, October 10, 2011

Veronica Reveals What's Under Her Sleeve

Running an errand in SoHo two weeks ago found me hopping on an R train at Canal Street, which is not my normal routine. Sometimes a break in a routine can be rewarding.

Sitting on the train was Veronica, who had this intriguing ink running out from under her left shirt sleeve:

What is that? I wondered. A tree? Curious, I asked her about it and was rewarded with not only the answer, but a photo of a pretty spectacular tattoo:

Veronica explained that she had seen an exhibit at the Georgia Aquarium in Atlanta that featured jellyfish with really cool lighting effects that brought out these sea creatures fluorescence. She went to see Gustavo Rizerio at Invisible NYC and this beautiful tattoo was the end result. Here's a clip of what she was talking about:

I also learned, coincidentally, while talking to Veronica, that her sister Leyna, had appeared here on Tattoosday back in June 2010!

Thanks to Veronica for sharing her beautiful jellyfish with us here on Tattoosday!

Friday, October 7, 2011

Inkspotting: The Creep Factor

There’s a fine line in what I do: I could easily fall into the “creepy” category. And I’m not talking about my full-time vocation as a Human Resources Manager.

Look, I exercise significant restraint to avoid being perceived as a Creep by the subjects I approach in public. Granted, there are some folks with predisposed notions that, by the mere fact that I am an older male approaching younger women and asking them about designs on their flesh, I have already crossed over to The United States of Creephood. But for the most part, I am able to avoid that trap.

One of my cardinal rules, and one that any loyal reader of this site can affirm, is that I do not ask about lower back tattoos, or about ink along the waistline. When one is offered to me, I am more than happy to include it in a post, but I generally avoid that section of the body, for obvious reasons. The most shining example is here.

Trickier are chest pieces, but I usually will build a rapport with a contributor before asking if they’re comfortable allowing me to photograph the area. This post was inspired by a woman I met on Tuesday, who had a simply gorgeous cluster of flowers along her neckline that I would have loved to share here on the site. I’m still holding out hope that she may send me a photo, as she was not keen on me taking a picture of her chest in the James A. Farley Post office (understandably so). I haven’t heard from her yet, but I’m still holding out hope, as it was a stunning floral tattoo.

The problem is, especially for women, that there are so many creeps out there, who judge tattooed women without even knowing them. A great discussion on this can be found here, from contributor Emily at xoJane.com. People who know me know that I am a nice guy, and go to great pains to avoid the Creep label, which is why it pains me so much to be treated like one, just because I was brave enough to approach someone about their ink.

But, if I am going to keep producing Tattoosday, I will have to continue wearing my heart on my un-tattooed (as of now) sleeve, and know that my friendly approach will continue to have success, but there will always be people who will think I’m a Creep. So be it.

This entry is ©2011 Tattoosday.

If you are reading this on another web site other than Tattoosday, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit http://tattoosday.blogspot.com and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Kristina: Aon Grá

Over the summer, we were having a yard sale, when Kristina stopped by to peruse the goods. She shared this, one of her four tattoos:

Located on the inside of her right arm, the phrase "aon grá" is Irish for "one love". This decorative tattoo with a powerful message was tattooed by Rob at Brooklyn Ink in Bay Ridge. Work from the shop which, due to its close proximity to "home base" for Tattoosday, has appeared often over the years on the site, and can be seen here.

Thanks to Kristina for sharing her tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Julianne's Owl

I spotted Julianne on the 36th Street train platform in Brooklyn last month and struck up a conversation about her ink. She has eleven tattoos and offered up one of her more recent ones, this owl on her shin:

This was inked by Justin Stephan at A Stroke of Genius Tattoos in Boca Raton, Florida. I like the shop's website because not only was I able to find the tattoo in the artist's gallery, but Justin also commented on the piece a little, saying this was "a cool owl tattoo I did on a walk-in, she was a champ, sat like a rock, the tattoo is in the middle of her shin...".

Julianne likes owls and this is one of her favorite tattoos.

Thanks to Julianne for sharing her owl tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Lynn, Týr, and the Fenris Wolf

I met Lynn in my neighborhood over the summer as she was headed to Green Spa & Wellness Center, where she works as a massage therapist. She has a ton of ink, and shared the piece that dominates her right arm:

Lynn explained that this piece depicts the Norse god T ý r and the Fenris wolf.

She elaborated:

"Týr got his hand bitten off by the Fenris wolf to prevent chaos from entering the world ... I kind of identify with that because I do massage therapy. I help people ... I injured myself helping people - I'm right-handed ... it's not quite the same thing, but [it's] the whole idea of self-sacrifice. You know, the greater good."

Lynn credits Willie Paredes, co-owner of Brooklyn Tattoo, with creating this piece.

Thanks to Lynn for sharing her tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

Monday, October 3, 2011

Kyle's Industrial Sunflowers

Riding uptown on the 3 train, I see a sleeve half way across the car that just looks amazing. I can't make out the specifics, but the color and detail tell me it's a fantastic piece.

The problem is, it's a crowded express train during rush hour, and unless this guy gets off when I get off, I won't get a chance to talk to him.

As luck would have it, he does xit the train at the same stop, and as I am trying to catch up with him as he heads upstairs, and across Broadway, I recognize his left sleeve. His name is Kyle, I interviewed him in 2008 (using a borrowed camera, no less) and his post appeared here.

This is new ink, however, and when I finally catch Kyle on the north side of 72nd, it takes a moment, but he remembers me, and is happy to share his new work, which bears a similar theme to the tattoo I spotted last time our paths crossed:

It is by the same artist, Myles Karr, who had done the tattoo from the original post when he was at Saved Tattoo. Myles is now at Three Kings, also in Brooklyn.

Like the prior encounter, from over three years ago (May 2008), the right sleeve is a dichotomy. The left sleeve is a city vs country tension. This piece is dominated by a burst of sunflowers, which travel down the arm and circle the elbow.

On the flip side is another cityscape, this time more silhouetted, and he explains that his near-pastoral umbringing was punctuated by the sunflowers he and his mother harvested. This, juxtaposed by the industrial city, is the center of the tension between the two aspects of the tattoo.

As an afterthought, I snapped a shot of the murder of crows lining the inside of his arm. "I just love crows," he told me.

He also offered up this shin piece, also by Myles Karr:

He explained it is an old-time traditional circus strongman, as old circus and sideshow imagery being another style of designs that he likes.

It was great seeing Kyle again and appreciating the amazing work he had added since our paths last crossed three years ago. Thanks to Kyle for sharing his tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!