Inked: my un-tattooed opinion…
Norwich Body Arts Festival enjoyed it’s second year on the weekend of 14 – 15th August 2010 and I gave it a go on the Saturday as a last minute Stag Weekend curio type thing to compensate for the fouled-up paint balling plans (postponed to the hungover Sunday that followed). Being inkless made me feel a little apprehensive of going, because sometimes not fitting in can make you feel pretty awkward, and like a lot of the un-inked I somewhat perceive the inked as having a disregard and doubt for my rock ‘n’ roll credentials on the grounds of being inkless. Thus in spite I have chosen to stay inkless as a statement of my own and also to keep any professional doors firmly open, but I may well kick that statement one day if tattoo culture is as rich as I found it to be at NBAF 2010.
(Source: www.eveningnews24.co.uk, from Simon Parkin report)
(Source: www.eveningnews24.co.uk, from Simon Parkin report)
Anyway I went and enjoyed the spectacle on my own level and was satisfied with the cool stuff to buy, t-shirts, sketchbooks, posters, flyers, business cards and as well as seeing some tattoos being done too. It was pretty awesome overall and well worth going to see and I regret that I had to leave early thus missing some of the entertainment. What I did do though for starters was basically take a business card from pretty much every stand I went to and in the gallery set bellow one can gander at some really nice examples of tattoo art and design, some of which I found really amazing and beautiful:
Though in some cases the design side is a bit ‘hit ‘n miss’ (in particular some had a poor command of typography/typesetting), the art side was quite often pretty impressive, only in some cases stifled by sketchy design direction. All the same though some of them I’ll hold onto for studio pin-up curios and ect…
As well as the groovy business cards that seemingly spanned many genre’s of tattoo art/design/illustration, there was the thrill of the market stalls they had too, from which I bought these two cool t-shirts from the Toxico Clothing stall:
I think its pretty clear to see that the tattoo art style lends itself really well to the graphic tee, and what’s more these would look pretty cool with the whole ‘open shirt to reveal tee’ look that’s been going on for the last 7 years or so. They are pretty intricately detailed and printed quite decently too, and my only regrets are not having enough money to buy more of their wears and other stuff.
Also on the stalls was the ‘Vince Ray Experience’ merchandise from which I bought this set of shooters:
That stall sold loads of stuff in this sort of pulp-fiction, b-movie, voodoo-hoodoo, rock ‘n’ roll, psychobilly, americana, nostalgic, vintage-ness style. They also had ash trays, ceramic tiles for bathrooms, mugs and loads of cool posters too, I could have happily taken one of eveything if I had the capitol. If I ever were to get a tattoo it’d be something like this or a vintage style sailor tattoo, which are really coming back right now (or for the last three or so years I think).
I feel that what gives tattoos the the crappy stigma they’ve had for years; is the fact that it has been used so too often as a means of creating exclusivity within elitist groups, expressing and flaunting something offensive or immoderate, an attempt at creating an intimidating ego, or a poorly conceived/executed tribute, worship or glorification to something or someone. But those cliches are braking down and I think the increasing rise of the tattoo’s popularity is probably more to do with a much wider fashion, artistic and cultural statement that is at first glance not as shallow as the above negative motives are for inking up, and also the ‘community’ if you will is more welcoming than ever in my view.
I think this can be reflected in the increase of press and journalism covering the topic these days, which I feel is something positive and meritable to the cause; thus I introduce this pretty cool obscure DIY ‘Zine/Paper I picked up at NBAF 2010, called ‘Swallows n Daggers’ (Issue 3).
It’s a pretty cool little publication actually and worth a flip through, and be sure to check the website of theirs too…
Well thats pretty much a wrap on this one, what I saw there was pretty cool and very interesting on many levels; and considering how I have always felt tattoos aren’t for me and that I don’t want to join the club anyway, I think I left feeling a little more enlightened, though with my cynicism mostly intact. If tattoos for your own sake don’t do it for you, if your an appreciator of the arts one would have enjoyed this event anyway owing to the variety of body-mod related stuff on offer and general spectacle overall.
Main regrets I ‘spose are not taking my camera to snap the more unusual stuff that I couldn’t otherwise buy and so forth, and also missing Sunday meant also missing the retro burlesque dancers that are the ‘Hot Boppin’ Girls’ (damn). Very good event on the whole…
As usual thank you for reading and keep coming back for more, and check the links below:
http://www.norwichbodyartfestival.co.uk/about.html
http://www.eveningnews24.co.uk
http://www.swallowsndaggers.net/
http://www.hotboppingirls.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PtOytQdShmQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4hcMYhAwrqw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v27AK8xXreQ
I love the post and I’m envious of your cool merchandise, that white t-shirt is very cool, it seemingly blends into your desk. I love the glasses that you have got, mainly as I have collected glasses/ cups/ mugs for years now and do not have that style, very jealous.
I think you should have got a tattoo done regardless of your reservations, you’d only have a small one to begin with, arm, leg, shoulder or something that an employer would not see anyway, unless you plan to go to interviews naked.
Loving that Vince Ray’s stuff. Seen some of it before but never found a name to go with work. Really awesome man, makes me long for another tattoo. And I’m still very jealous you got to go to this thing.