Tattoo Endels

Monday, August 15, 2011

Adrian's Ink Celebrates His Heritage

I met Adrian last month on a fluke - I was on the D train headed to Brooklyn going to a dentist's appointment, having left work early.

I approached him about his ink and we had a really great discussion about tattoos and art.

Adrian is a wonderful artist and his work can be seen here at Viajero Art (dot) com. Take a look at this exhibit, a mixed media piece that just looks amazing.

He shared two of his tattoos with me. First, this piece:

This tattoo, on the inside of Adrian's right arm, is a Puerto Rican mask. Adrian's family hails from the small town of Loíza, in northeastern Puerto Rico. In the festival of St. James, the Apostle, people wear traditional masks like these as part of the celebration. Adrian explained that St. James was known, among many things, for helping the Spanish fight back invading Moors. One of the functions of the masks, he explained, was to scare people into going back to church, where the masks represented the terrifying Moors.

Adrian also shared this piece from his right forearm:

This tattoo, he told me, represents the women in his life. The fact that she is depicted as a gypsy is for good luck. The detail in this tattoo is astonishing:

He told me that the artist, the talented Marcus Kuhn, used the image from a popular brand of jalapeno peppers, La Morena, as a model for the woman in the tattoo. You can see the resemblance:

Marcus Kuhn tattoos out of Red Star Irons when visiting New York.

Thanks to Adrian for sharing his amazing tattoos with us here on Tattoosday! I look forward to seeing more of his art in the future!

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Sunday, August 14, 2011

Kate Reminds Us: Two Calves Are Better than One

I met Kate last month and she shared these two, of her eleven tattoos:

Kate says these don't have specific meanings behind them, she "just liked the art". Nothing wrong with that at all.

On the left calf, Kate has an exquisite black and grey piece by Benjamin Moss at Apocalypse Tattoo in Seattle.

The romantically morbid idea of two skeletons sharing an eternity in the same coffin is a haunting image.

On her right calf is this dagger:

The phrase "MORTE PRIMA DI DISONORE" translates to the expression "Death Before Dishonor". This tattoo was created at Addiction NYC on St. Mark's Place in Manhattan.

Thanks to Kate for sharing these great tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

Friday, August 12, 2011

Gargoyle Tattoo Meanings and Photos

A gargoyle tattoo has become an increasingly popular request among tattoo enthusiasts. A tattoo artist will generally use a black ink with an intricate shading technique to create this monotone piece of art.

Gargoyles are architectural stone carvings resembling a mythological creature or even a human form. In Medieval times they helped in warding off evil spirits and protected the buildings they resided on. Celtic styles incorporated Green Men - human heads with branches and foliage - to be a sign of divinity. Gothic cathedrals used stone gargoyles as a water spout to direct water away from the sacred building.

Sometimes, a gargoyle tattoo depicts a combination of animals. These mythological creatures were called 'chimera'. The griffin is another well known tattoo that merges the features of an eagle's wing and a lion's head together that represents dignity and nobility.

Human skulls are also sometimes used within gargoyle tattoos and are believed to protect the wearer from an early death. Therefore, a person who chooses to wear a tattoo does not merely do so as a fashion statement but because they believe in traditional values.

Some gargoyles are depicted as a demonic creature with talons, tails and horns and elongated ears. Gargoyle tattoos can also be a combination of ram, boar and felines.

A gargoyle tattoo is usually done in Gothic styles in darker shades of brown, gray or black. It is normally posed in a hunched stance. They are often depicted with a scary face with fangs and unfriendly temperament sitting alone atop tombstones, castles or churches.

Quite a few gargoyle tattoos will blend gargoyles from different cultures and eras, to form a truly unique design. These tattoos could depict a Japanese gargoyle sitting alongside a Celtic gargoyle as well as a European gargoyle, creating a disconcerting yet great effect.

Gargoyle tattoos might appear to be grotesque and scary in their appearance but their true nature is quite the opposite.

Lisa and Her Brooklyn Flytrap

Today's entry is a reader submission from a fellow Brooklynite named Lisa, who sent in this photo:

Lisa tells me:

"[This tattoo] was done a few months ago by an artist named Alex Perez, owner of Tat2sRus located at 5409 4th Ave. in Sunset Park Brooklyn. He has been tattooing for over 20 yrs and is totally awesome. This piece was done freehand just like all his pieces are. I love my tattoo and get many compliments on it."

I know this is a Venus Flytrap, but I'll call it a Brooklyn Flytrap, because it looks like it's a plant you definitely don't want to mess with!

Thanks to Lisa for sending this in to us here at Tattoosday!

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Juliana's Hibiscus

I met Juliana last month and, although there's a section of her tattoo that is "in progress," she agreed to share it here:

Juliana explained:

"I took the picture of the flower myself. The hibiscus means eternal beauty, which I though was really cool. And the symbols [kanji] are respect, love, strength and energy ... so I call it my Keep Truckin' tattoo."

The artist is Ed Knowles, who is currently at 12 Tattoos in Groton, Connecticut. Work by Ed has appeared previously here on Tattoosday.

The kanji are, on the left side strength above energy and on the right side, respect above love:

Thanks to Juliana for sharing her tattoo-in-progress with us here on Tattoosday! Keep truckin', Juliana!

Tuesday, August 9, 2011

Two Peacocks for a Tuesday

Back in June, I met two women on separate days who had peacock tattoos.

First was Charlotte, a filmmaker who I spotted on the uptown 3 train. I snapped these pictures when we got off the subway at 72nd Street:

Charlotte credited Daniel Albrigo as the artist, who did this when he worked at Brooklyn Adorned. He now tattoos out of Three Kings in Brooklyn.

She explained that she "wanted something beautiful to offset the Kali tattoo on her right shoulder".

A week later I met Emily near Penn Station, who had this different perspective on the peacock, inked on her calf:

Emily explained:

"My mother used to work at a school in Dallas, Texas, where I'm from, that has peacocks that roam wild on campus ... when I was a child I used to go play with them (or just watch them)."

Emily told me she "drew it and designed it with the help of Dave Wallin." Dave tattooed this when working at Tattoo Culture in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, but he now works out of Eight of Swords Tattoo Studio.

Thanks to both Charlotte and Emily for sharing their very different peacocks here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2011 Tattoosday.

Monday, August 8, 2011

Sammy's Substitute for High Fashion

When I spotted Sammy outside of Macy*s, Herald Square, I noticed a single line of numbers just below her neck.

Intrigued, I stopped her and asked about it. It was then that she revealed that the one line of digits, from 0 to 9, was only the top of the tattoo. Here's the whole thing:

Sammy explained that this is a body art version of a clothing tag from the high-end clothing designer, Martin Margiela:

She told me that this was her "favorite design label" and said "I want to illustrate ... it's really expensive so I can't buy anything." She added that having the label on her back serves "to control my desire for buying it."

That's certainly a new functionality for a tattoo, in my opinion.

Sammy credited an artist in Los Angeles named Baku at a shop whose name I can't find, so I will go out on a limb and credit Baku Watanabe, who works at Freak Chic Tattoo on Melrose.

Thanks to Sammy for sharing this unusual tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!