Visible tattoos opinion piece

Diceicle

An extract from the editorial of the current issue of Total Tattoo. Just thought I'd post it up to see what people think. It caught my attention as the proliferation of visible tattoos on "non-tattoo" people and the seeming rise in threads asking for advice on viable studios for this type of tattoo recently.
Here goes:

There is something wrong in the current scenario of tattoo art. Something is moving in the exact opposite direction. A dangerous mix of TV fame and commercialization (but lets tell the whole truth: triviality) of the tattoo profession is leading ot a growing number of people - especially young girls - to set their foot in this world at the end instead of the begining. They get their hands, neck and face tattooed and then the rest. Some easily blamed the various tattoo reality shows as an indirect cause of this new trend.......For (Kat Von D), as for those who take this art seriously, tattooing visible parts of the body represents only one step of an artistic and spiritual journey, experienced through years, and not just encouraged by the new fashion trends or the desire to imitate somebody. Hundreds of young girls ask tattooists (who often agree, greed is a bad thing...) to be literally disfigured with works designed on all parts of the body except for those that should be tattooed first, especially if its the 1st tattoo.

Splinter

a nice article ill agree but im unsure what else to say about it. Maybe artists should be more regulated regarding it (tbh in my personal experience, any artists i have are VERY careful over who and what they tattoo and more importantly where). I presume this is still kicking back to that girl that got her face tattoo'd like KVD. I'm sure we will hear someone say "ah but you know, its a recession and you have to take the job regardless of what it is".

heh, i guess i do believe final line of defence in stopping this is the artist, i really dont see how else we will stop people wanting to do this? tell them "tattoos are bad mmm kay?" and take everyone with any sort of visible ink off tv?

jenizzle

Well there is a definite divide in the modified community at the moment and it has become more apparent with the rise of social networking etc.

From our point of view - we are all body modification lovers here, and we only tend to visit reputable tattoo studios with reputable artists in our chosen tattoo style with the same values that we have with regards to modifications (regarding sterilisation, ethics, artistic ability, opinions on scratchers etc) and this makes so much sense to us because we have a tendancy to research these things because of our fondness for it, and we know what we want.

It sometimes is hard to believe that others would go into any old tattoo shop and get a random flash design tattoo done - but if they are getting it done in a fleeting moment, they wouldn't know about GOOD studios with all the above qualities we look for. From speaking with tattooists over the years, I know that you would have to be very heavily modified with numerous tattoos before a tattoo artist would even entertain tattooing hands/neck area. Again, reputable tattoo artists. I have the utmost respect for an artist who can say no when it's appropriate to do so - it's good for them and good for the industry.

However, there always has and always will be the idiots who will mutilate any human being, child or otherwise, for the sake of making a buck and the ONLY way it can be stopped is by regulating the industry. How the government don't have any guidelines or laws outlining the permanent disfiguration of someones body by injuring them for a few hours by using materials that in themselves are not regulated nor are their cleansing or steralisation methods is an absolute shambles.

None of that helps the fact that there is a rising trend in tattoos on visible parts of the skin. Could be down to a number of factors, but is it really such a negative thing? Is it up to us to look disapprovingly at those who want to get their knuckles tattooed? It could be that it's not the tattoos themselves that are getting people vexed, but their reasons for getting them.

That was much longer than I had hoped and it probably doesn't read very well :rolleyes:

Star Lord

jenizzle wrote: »

It could be that it's not the tattoos themselves that are getting people vexed, but their reasons for getting them.

I know that personally, I get... not annoyed per se... but I get perplexed and confused and I despair at the lack of thought and foresight that goes into getting a highly visible tattoo by someone that has little/no previous tattoos.

NikNakOoo

Well said Jenizzle.

Two things I noticed recently whilst travelling in England... so many girl pop groups now have visible tattoos (Cheryl Cole's hand tattoo for example) and how there is a Tattoo/ Piercing parlour in Manchester's Selfridges. Certainly made me wonder about the path that the industry is taking... and how social views are changing. (Also made me wonder why so many people like girl pop groups... but that's another story all together. :pac:)

Raze_them_all

I don't agree with the term disfiguring, i've more to type but my arms hurt so will edit later