[Image: Tattoo graffiti, jaqian via flickr /Artwork: designslinger]

Have you noticed how many people are sporting some sort of tattoo? Not just the old sailor tattoo
of "Mom" or an anchor, some girl's name, or a sexy woman who moves up and down when the upper arm muscle is flexed. I'm talking full arm, full face, half arm, half chest, leg, neck, ankle, ear lobe, even penis. Ouch!

[Images: Maori Chief, Modern primitive, via wikipedia /Artwork: designslinger]

Decorative body painting has been around for a long time, and tribal body art still exists in Polynesia
and in modern tattoo reinterpretations. Wikipedia tells us that, "The word 'tattoo' is a borrowing of the Samoan word tatau, meaning to mark or strike twice (the latter referring to traditional methods of applying the designs)." The Maori of New Zealand are among the most recognized of these tribal groups. Their skill with needle and ink have produced beautiful graphic paintings using human flesh as their canvas.

After all, that is the tattoo artist's support: skin. Whether it is the sharpest, pointiest end of a stick,
or a high-tech alloy needle, something has to penetrate the surface and push pigment into the dermis. I had a tattoo done several years ago on my upper arm, and the needle pricking is fast and fairly painless, but as I mentioned above, there are parts of the human body that are much more sensitive than the upper arm and I can't imagine having certain appendages tattooed!

The "sailor tattoo era," as I like to call it, has moved into a world that the tattoo parlor craftsman of
old could never have anticipated. First, permanent body marking has moved farther into the general population:

                                  "A poll conducted online in January 2008 by Harris Interactive
                                  estimated that 14% of all adults in the United States have at
                                  least one tattoo, just slightly down from 2003, when 16% had
                                  a tattoo. The highest incidence of tattoos was found among the
                                  gay, lesbian and bisexual population (25%) and among Americans
                                  ages 25 to 29 years (32%) and 30 to 39 years (25%). In 2006, a
                                  survey which took place in 2004 was published by the Journal of the
                                  American Academy of Dermatology. It found that 24% of Americans
                                  who were between the ages of 18 and 50 had a tattoo." wikipedia

[Images: Tattooed backs, tattoo-designz; Tattooed arms, nickbaxter /Artwork: designslinger]

Secondly, tattoo design has moved into a entirely new realm of artistry. The tattoo artist is no less
a painter, sculptor, or graphic illustrator than someone who places oil on canvas, chisel's marble, manipulates clay, or spends hours in Adobe Photoshop. Just look at the examples we've displayed here, or the people walking past you on the street, in the coffeehouse, or even on TV. Tattooing has become enough of a popular cultural phenomenon that the television industry has jumped on the bandwagon and brought us shows from A&E's Inked, TLC's Miami Ink and LA Ink.

[Images: Tribal tattoo, tattogalleryreview /Artwork: designslinger]

Getting a tattoo means that it will live with you for the rest of your life. There are procedures now
that can remove a tattoo fairly painlessly and without much scarring, but ultimately once you ink, there's no going back. I believe that the people whose images appear in our post are not the folks who will regret having turned portions of their bodies into artist's canvases. It is a commitment that you don't make on a whim and as important in the art world as anything in a New York gallery.