Tattooing and Low Brow Art
I'm a tattoo artist in Auckland, New Zealand.
I know that tattooing isn't considered a fine-art form along with photography, or painting. But I find that in tattooing a beautiful union is created between the tattooist's personal artistic energy, the client's imagination and personal meanings, as well the tattooing traditions and art styles cultivated for hundreds of years prior.
A master, when combining all of these factors, produces something with visual impact and beauty, something that both them and the artist can be proud of. Its an artistic process like any and after tattooing for a while I realise definitions like 'low brow art' are more harmful than necessary.
The time I spent in a fine art school opened my eyes to the stuffiness of it and drew my attention to low brow art forms, such as graffiti, tattooing, and memes. There is a creative liberation in them, and a philosophical freedom that fine arts can't have.
Only someone who hasn't really paid attention to tattooing would think that it isn't as much as an art form as anything else. I'm in awe of anyone who can take a vision in their head a make it a picture we can all see - doubly so when you're working on someone's skin! Is the picture some of your work?
Yes, the photo is of one of my tattoos. Tattoo art is considered art yes, but due to its commerial and more graphic (less conceptual) nature, it often isn't given the same consideration as fine arts among visual artists.
Tattooing is definitely one of the more modern forms of art there is. I don't remember where I heard this, or maybe it's just a generic thing that I read, but it was something that went along the lines of a painter (like myself) having a canvas and the tattoo artist having one as well - the skin - and while you can hang a painter's work in a house, the tattoo artist's work is always on display. Something to that effect. Is this a photo of one of your designs? I'm also an artist and you can find my work on my page at https://steemit.com/@mrblinddraw if you are interested. Have a good one!
Yes, this is in a sense true. Its more someone else's skin becomes a collaborative canvas. For me there is always an awareness that it is only my canvas for as long as I work on it, but it is their canvas for life.
And yes, the photo is of one of my works.