Category Archives: Law

the blog goes on … ;)

it’s been a while but seeing how I just miss reading on the subject and I actually sorted out my Internet access here in my “middle of nowehere,” I might actually get back to reading and occasionally posting interesting things. Funny as it seems, there’s even a local tattoo shop here and I’m kinda itching to check it out! 😉 Anyway …

Roch’n’roll life which is usually associated with tattooing comes at a cost and no one actually talks about it. Here you have “pains and strains” of the job!

“is extreme body modification even legal” touches on the British law but the issue is very valid in all other countries as most more exttreme body modifications (tongue splitting, scarification, branding, eyeball tattooing etc.) are usually done after hours and discreetly. Def. loads of food for thought!

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Fillip Leu and his new endeavour – a limited sneaker collection for Puma. Very *not* underground! 😉

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Eyes of the Iban!

Interesting news from Australia where eyeball tattooing has just been legalised. Is it good or bad? There is not an easy answer as legalising can open the door to those who are not experienced enough to conduct this procedure.

Cristian

And yet the tattooed eyeballs look quite stunning and they really seem to be taken straight out from a sci-fi world!

In PA, US more extreme body modifications (tongue splitting, branding, scarification, body suspension) are planned to be banned. Obviously, it’s ok for us to ruin our bodies with booze and smokes but it’s a no-no to modify our bodies according to our wishes. And it’s all in the name of protecting us from ourselves! Grand! 😉

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Finally, something to cherish and celebrate: the Perseverance tattoo exhibit has been touring the US for somw time now and currently it’s in FL.

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deutschland, deutschland …

I keep having Hanzel und Gretyl’s music in my head these days and seeing how I’ve been in Germany for almost  4 weeks now, no wonder that German news coverage is of special interest to me! 😉

Probably it’s the sign of the summer lull – a Swiss online magazine started running a series of articles focused on the origins and meaning of tattoos.

ban on hell's angels tattoos

In some parts of Germany Hell’s Angels and Los Basndidos’ tattoos can’t be shown in public and they must be covered by clothing or band aids.

Also from Germany a short and uninteresting (but it’s all for the recording’s sake) article about ear stretching (and I want to order some new eyelets from Wildcat, based in Germany, of course!).

Berlin-based artist Chaim Machlev is an amazing artist!

From Bastian a nice article on body suspension!

medical tattoo

Medical tattoos – they may seem a good idea and yet they have stirred some controversy! Coincidentally, there was also something on this subject in the Polish news coverage.

The tattoo scene in Denmark isn’t very well-known, so I read this article with quite an interest. Apparently, acc. To the Danish law, there are some placements that are illegal to cover with tattoos but now there’s growing demand for such tattoos.

Temporary tattoos and good books – two in one!

tattoos and fandom

Finally, good to read, interesting and dealing with pop culture – tattoos and fandom!

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tattoos against the world?

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Dress code again as it’s still quite controversial. One of the Ottawa Convention Centre workers got back to work but since we live in a small world these days, we know that such things happen all over the world. Examples? A German woman’s application to the police forces was denied due to a tattoo on a forearm.  In Australia a man was asked to cover his tattoos while at a night club. The Time magazine and other magazines, too, ran articles on prejudice against body art and based them on an academic research and subsequent article titled ‘stigma of ink: tattoo attitudes among college students’ (the highlights being:

  • Having a tattoo, tattooed friends and tattooed family members is correlated with less stigma against tattooed persons.
  • Beliefs that tattooing involves health risks and pain is correlated with greater stigma against tattooed persons.
  • Among tattooed and non-tattooed, older respondents are less likely to get a future tattoo.
  • Among tattooed respondents a greater number of tattoos and greater coverage are correlated with greater experience of stigma and a greater commitment to current tattoos.
  • Among tattooed respondents greater experience of stigma is correlated with greater concealment and greater likelihood of removal.)

 Fortunately, it wasn’t all that depressing and ‘the whole world against us’ thanks to an article about a German heavily tattooed lawyer who seems to keep his cool about his own ink and the way the world treats him!

Kind of ironic: 2 in 1, a pre-school teacher and a tattooer – the principal doesn’t mind and she even got some publicity.

movie quotes tattoos

Movie tattoos: famous movie tattoos and romantic movie tattoos. Nothing new but making the body art more popular and less scary (unless it’s the villains only that are tattooed).

An NBA and tattoo enthusiast and his magnum opus: a blog devoted to NBA tattoos.

Tattoos in NFL: Madden 15 video game and for the first time it features some tattoos. Also games-related: Tetris game turns 30.

Lars Krutak’s book review in German: ‘Magical Tattoos and Scarification.’ Adds lots of depth to pop pulp of the many modern tattoos 😉

Popular tattoos: cat tattoos in NYC and soccer-themed tattoos in Brazil (where else now?)

It’d certainly unusual and allowed me to refresh my very rusty Swedish: a needle lost in a tattooer’s body 40 years ago finally removed (in Swedish). Hard to believe actually!

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Eye candy for men: a German magazine Tattoo Erotica celebrates 10 years anniversary (kind of sexist cover – why there aren’t that many tattooed guys on the magazine covers? and liberating as body art can be, it still objectifies women in many ways!) and a short story of the Suicide Girls.

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*im*mortal Henk Schiffmacher

Old news from last week or so but still worth noting!

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Henk Schiffmacher wants to make possible to preserve tattoos after their owner’s death. Allegedly he’s been munching on the idea for quite a while but now he started working on it more dilligently and began consulting with a lawyer. As he says, ‘“Well I don’t want to pull the skin off everyone with a tattoo, really! Hahaha. I don’t want to help the entire population out of their jackets! No, I only want that some highlights are preserved. There are some beautiful tattoos that tell a story about their time and you have to make an exception for that. You have to keep those, I think.”

The idea itself isn’t new but so far it’s been only something very unusual. Wim Delvoye and his tattoo on Tim Steiner comes to mind and, way ealier, pieces of tattooed skin peeled off the criminals in the 19th and early 20th century. Also, the tattoo shop Walls and Skins offers such a service.

Mr. Schiffmacher is a fascinating character and we can only wish him best of luck! 🙂

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two steps forward, one step back ;)

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A British tourist deported from Sri Lanka for a Buddha tattoo made headlines this week. You could read about it all over the Internet. Here you have samples in English, German and Polish. An interesting perspective is, however, presented in this article: ‘No tattoos, please, we’re Buddhists – but casinos no problem!’ BBC also used this opportunity to remind the Westerners where else tattoos can get you into trouble.

Antitattoo class is offered in Germany but it doesn’t seem as awful as it sounds. However, some Cali teachers are expected to cover their tattoos at work which seems too much for them. *sigh* and to think that there are so-called civilized places where apparently you can’t be a teacher and do your work all covered up and , at the same time, be a tattooed person in private as it allegedly violates the mythical ethical code. The world is a very interesting place, isn’t it? 😉

‘Tattoos of memory’ is an American exhibit focused on immigrants and their hard experiences . Modern art also experienced by means of your body in form of tattoos (this time real ones) as a concept from Bytom, Poland. In Canada there’s an interesting exhibit focused on body art and indigenous cultures of Squamish and Lil’wat peoples.

The Washington Post informs that there won’t be a 24-hour waiting period for tattoos and body piercing in Washington, D.C after all which is good news for people from the industry and people interested in body modification. In New Mexico you can learn much from a state ad campaign against unlicensed tattoo artists.

Top 5 tattoo artists in Mexico.

I should use my rudimentary Dutch more often, so here you have an interview with a Dutch hip hop artist who says he’ll be a cool grandpa and talks his tattoos. In case he would like his grandchildren to have his tattoos after his death (a somewhat disturbing idea, I do admit), he can use the service offered by a Dutch tattoo shops called Walls and Skin that has something interesting to offer:

‘Proud of your tattoo? Proud of the moment it represents? Proud of the pain, time and money you put in the making of it and proud of the artist that made it for you?They say tattoos last a lifetime and then some, now your tattoo can really be forever with our service to put your skin as an artwork on the wall (after you died of course).’

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watch out for trouble

Interesting news about tongue piercings or rather how they can be used to help the disabled people.

News from France: they are going to prohibit some ink colors due to the unknown contents.

Warsaw Tattoo Convention this weekend in Poland while in New Zealand one of these rare (I hope) cases of unhappy people whose tattoos done at the convention don’t heal well.

Interesting seminar about tattoos in India.

Bad Chinese tattoos in Brazil.

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Thou shall (not) …

There’s still a lot of commotion about the proposed 24-hour waiting period in Washington D.C. Even the Fox TV has put its two cents on the subject. The poll shows that majority of people are against it. In the meanwhile, a MI senator proposed a tattoo ban for minors. There may actually be something to it as this short article from TX shows, where high school students revealed their secret tattoos in their year book. it should not be about banning, though, it should be about educating!

But tattoos are also about beauty and life affirmation as this great P.INK campaign shows!

As they say, every body tells a story and, even though cliché as it sounds, it actually does.

More on the Bled for Boston project.

Tattoos may be frowned upon and people deemed not to be trusted about them but no one can deny that tattoos are more and more popular. This article from the Washington Post shows, yet again, that you are never too old to get a tattoo. Pretty much the same message you can get from a Polish article about a growing number of Poles adorning their skin.

Also from the Washington Post, an awesome, interactive tattoo guide!

Tattoo Conventions: the BIG one in London and a local one in Katowice, Poland (this one also shows that suspension shows are a staple of tattoo conventions now).

More on Japan, how Japanese view tattoos and how it may be a problem during the future Olympics.

Tattooers and their thoughts: a Chinese artist from Beijing (here‘s his Instagram) (“Tattoo is similar in that way [to painting] but at the same time I think it’s more than that. It’s alive, it’s got blood, it’s got pain and it will always stay with you. It is a very unique and rare art form.” and “A good tattooist must have a thorough understand of history, culture and humanity. It’s not just about picking up a machine and finishing a pattern.“) and an Australian whose faith makes him believe that ‘”Jesus loves [him] with or without [his] tattoos.” The latter line may be handy next time we run into people thinking along the ‘if God wanted us to have tattoos ….’ lines.

Finally, tattoo etiquette or why it’s not a good idea to touch our tattoos without asking first!

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active in many ways

Bastian already provided us with some relevant info on legislative changes regarding ‘non-traditional’ forms of body modification in Arkansas but here is another article showing that body artists can and should cooperate with legislators to change the industry for better and educate people on the subject of body modification. Also from Arkansas, a local artist’s take on scarification.

Definitely interesting: body jewelry and piercings in American prisons.

One of the great of the industry, Mark Mahoney, still doing strong!

One of more popular tattoo artists, Ami James, in Ireland.

‘Meaningful’ tattoos are usually associated, and kinda mocked because of it, with Miami Ink show and even though there is something to it, this Australian article on tattoos and the process of grieving shows that tattoos may really help deal with a loss.

Popular tattoo culture reflected in an article about a new tattoo magazine focused on ‘tattooed urban models,’ a slide show presenting tattoos in hip-hop and a text about an app which brings both Zombie Boy and Dermablend back to life (so to speak).

A little more about the project ‘Bled for Boston.’ Also related to running is this article from Runner’s World on temporary tattoos as heart monitors (not a new topic but I like it when the Bible (a.k.a. RW ;)) mentions tattoos.

Fitness and tattoos combined – Bob Harper discussing his tattoos. He’s one of the most tattooed personal trainers out there and even though he seems to be a tattoo guy only (you never know, though), his example shows that a fit, modified body is the (only) way to go for those who want to adorn their ‘temples.’

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Tattoos and brain: Dr. Mark Benecke. Not the best article ever but he’s always worth to be mentioned.

A very interesting exhibit focused on Native American pride: Iroquois tattoos. Here’s some more info on Hiawatha Belt, a frequent tattoo motif for modern Iroquois.

Two tattoo artists, different modi operandi: Tyson Pederson of Divinity Tattoo and a guy called Czarny Tulipan who is presented as if he worked underground.

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