The saying, beauty is in the eye of the beholder, is true when speaking about art, including tattoos. Art is any system of rules and traditional methods for the practice of a craft, trade, or profession according to the New American Webster Dictionary.
Everyone has their own favorite art form. It could be oil paintings, sculptures, or abstract art. Often enough, we usually do not think of tattoos in the category of art. Unbeknownst to many, the love of art is a very common reason for many people to get tattoos. Just like any other art, you choose what you like and then, usually, buy it. The art of tattooing is a profession that involves tremendous skill.
Of course, tattoos do not exactly appreciate in monetary terms like the non-tattoo works of art do, however, many of the tattooed consider themselves collectors (Blake 1).
All art is displayed somewhere and somehow to show off the artist ability to reflect emotion and feelings. Trevor, a tattoo artist at Bodean’s gave me his portfolio to look at while I was visiting. As I was flipping trough the pages I came across a picture of a dead cow. Startled that someone turned the picture in for a potential tattoo, I asked Trevor about the picture.
I thought it would grab your attention, it usually does that to everyone, they’re always shocked when they see a dead cow, but that’s why I put it there, I like the look on everyone’s face when they see it. (Henley)
I flipped through Trevor’s portfolio and was really impressed by all the different photos he had taken of his work. He blushed when I complimented him on some of the butterfly photos with very elaborate wings. “No one, that’s not a regular around here, compliments me or anyone else on their work” (Henley). We started to talk about his tattoos when I noticed a tattoo on Trevor’s neck that resembled two faces hanging by their hair by a tack. The faces looked scary, almost like Halloween mask.
I got it when I became a professional to remind me not to get a big head like a lot of the people do in this business. I’m also a Gemini, this is my sign the drama faces, one is smiling and one is frowning. Just like there is a good and a bad side to everything. (Henley)
Trevor Henley could not wait to be eighteen, because that meant he could get his first tattoo. The majority of his friends had tattoos and they hung out in tattoo parlors. Trevor did not care that many adults looked at him as a troubled adolescent; he was happy and comfortable in his skateboarder punk rocker phase.
It is obvious that many tattoos today are received at a young age or at his or her eighteenth birthday. It is common knowledge that young people are obsessed with their image and how their peers view them. If their friends and idols are getting tattoos as a mark of popularity then they also feel obliged to do the same (Armstrong & Pace). Brittany Spears has a tattoo of a fairy on her lower back which has become one of her trademarks. Many young women have gotten the same tattoo in the same place or a similar girly tattoo on their lower back. This is a great example of social aspect of America’s youth getting tattoos. However, tattoos have long been looked down upon by the upper and middle classes, on the other hand, that is who is flaunting their new tattoos. When it comes time for a teenager to become rebellious, a tattoo will signify his or her time or rebellion, sexuality, and aggression.
I would have never considered tattoos to be art until I paid more attention to the time, patience, and detail put into every artwork. People become tattoo artist because they are highly skill artist. The majority of the time they love what they do and work their way up in the system to become a professional artist. There is not a huge market for tattoos, but it’s the love for art and self expression that drives the business.
Tattoos can also be used to improve your appearance with permanent makeup. Permanent makeup is a form of tattooing that is usually not considered tattooing.
Many individuals choose to undergo tattooing in its various forms. For some, it is an aesthetic choice of an initiation rite. Some choose permanent makeup as a time saver or because they have physical difficulty applying regular, temporary makeup. For others, permanent makeup is an adjunct to reconstructive surgery, particularly of the face or breast, to stimulate natural pigmentation People who have lost their eyebrows due to alopecia (a form of hair loss) may choose to have “eyebrows” tattooed on, while people with vitiiligo (a lack of pigmentation in areas of the skin) may try tattooing to help camouflage the condition. (FDA 1)
These are some of the reasons the U.S. Food and Drug Administration documents year after year of reasons why people undergo the permanent makeup processes. Melinda Lauren, a permanent makeup professional at Top Notch Salon in Lexington, Kentucky, chose permanent makeup for several of these same reasons.
The main reason is it is a time saver. It is much easier to get up in the morning and only have to touch up your makeup. She has permanent eyebrows tattooed on because this way your eyebrows stay in place at all times. Also, temporary makeup smudges and comes off during the day, permanent makeup dose not come off. You only have to touch it up every couple of months depending on where the makeup is on your body. (Lauren)
Melinda also has vitilligo, a disorder of the pigmentation of the skin. You will eventually turn very pale and your pigment no longer works; your skin will not turn tan when you sunbathe or any other time. She has large white spots all over her body and it is extremely hard to cover up but is also very expensive to fix.
When you start cosmetic tattooing it becomes more expensive. I would love to have the pigmentation tattooed back on but I don’t have the money or the time right now. (Lauren)
Several of the reasons people get cosmetic tattoos are very different from people that get decorative tattoos. There are those people that get cosmetic tattoos as an elective procedure. Melinda is one of the many women who think it is a lot easier to get up in the morning with your makeup already on. She also works out a lot and feels that it is much nicer to work out with makeup that will not run down your face. Cosmetic tattooing can also be done on women after they have had breast cancer surgery and no longer have a nipple. Cosmetic surgery can be used to implement the pigment back onto the breast to give it a more natural appearance. Permanent makeup can be used as an elective or helpful procedure.
From these reason, it would seem that the reasons for ritualistic marking are very personal and sometimes very profound. Returning to my own experience, that only involves looking at tattoos on someone else’s flesh, I wonder if perhaps people were simply giving form to something that was already a part of them, manifesting the internal life without. Nonetheless, this alone could not account for the sudden upswell in this art's popularity.
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