Tattoos

Kamis, 20 Februari 2014

Erica, Rats and the Chrysler Building

A little over a year ago, we featured this tattoo on Erica, a musician, who also happens to be my wife's cousin.

Erica is a member of Poof Pony, and we recently caught their gig at Fat Baby on the Lower East Side.

After their set, we were kicking back and enjoying some beer, catching up, and Erica showed us her newest tattoo:

This tattoo, sitting on Erica's upper right arm, "is a combination of King Kong and Banksy," she told me, adding "I prefer the Chrysler Building to the Empire State."

The tattoo was inked by Nick Caruso from Bound for Glory Tattoo.

Thanks to Erica for sharing her cool new tattoo with us here on Tattoosday! Be sure to check out Poof Pony's website here and listen to their music!

If you are seeing this on another website other than Tattoosday, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit http://tattoosday.blogspot.com and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.

Minggu, 09 Februari 2014

Sean's Two Sides: Good and Evil

Here we are in February 2014, and we're finishing off with our last encounter from '13. Back in September, on Broad Street in Manhattan, I met Sean, who shared some of his tattoos with us:

Sean explained that these nautical stars and swallows represent good and evil:

"I did the stars on Adobe Illustrator – I took just basically an outline of regular ones and I did a little distressing to them and then decided to turn the colors around and not have full shadings on them, just like silhouettes of shadings. I thought it was a nice move and that’s when my artist said Okay I’ll do those."

His artist is Rich Fie at R&D Tattooing in Queens. He credited the devil and angel swallows to an artist named Lulu.

He also has this piece on his forearm:

Sean has been a musician for twenty-five years, playing drums, guitar, saxophone and harmonica. This tattoo represents his love of music.

Thanks to Sean for sharing his tattoos with us on Tattoosday!

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Jumat, 31 Januari 2014

Mike Bakaty, Rest in Peace

I learned last night of the passing of a legendary NYC tattoo artist, Mike Bakaty. Our friends over at Needles & Sins informed us of the sad news, with this touching remembrance .

I never met Mike, whose Fineline Tattoo NYC is a great shop, thanks to his talent and hard work, along with that of his son Mehai. But, as you would imagine, a couple of his tattoos have appeared on the site over the years. Interestingly, both examples I found were for the Tattooed Poets Project:

That was from Ethan Hom's contribution last year (here) and this:

which is courtesy of Christine Hamm, in 2010 (original post here).

You can see more examples of some of Mike's work on the Fineline website here but I encourage you to head over to Needles & Sins to get a true appreciation of the importance of Mike Bakaty and his impact on the tattoo community.

It reminds you that every time you see a tattoo, it's often not just a work of art on the skin, but a reflection of the hard work of an artist, with a soul and a life, and that they truly do live on in this world through their work, even after they have passed on to the nect.

Rest in Peace, Mike.

Kamis, 30 Januari 2014

John and the Savannah Bird Girl

Long time readers of Tattoosday may remember I used to find a lot of contributors in Penn Station, across the street from where I worked for many years. This past September, I started a new job downtown, on Broad Street, and this tattoo was the first one I found for the site in my new neighborhood:

This tattoo is on the back of John's calf, and was inked by Lisa from Whatever Tattoo on St. Marks Place in Manhattan.

He explained it was the Savannah Bird Girl, most familiar to many people as the statue on the cover of John Berendt's Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil:

John explained, "I loved the book and I just fell in love with the statue.”

Thanks John for sharing this cool tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2014 Tattoosday.

If you are seeing this on another website other than Tattoosday, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit http://tattoosday.blogspot.com and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.

Selasa, 28 Januari 2014

Two Birds for Tuesday, Celebrating Ten Years in New York City

Back in September, I met Daniel on Broad Street in downtown Manhattan. It was his New York City pigeon that first grabbed my eye:

Daniel explained, “It’s my ten-years-in-New York Tattoo. It’s my New York bird."

Representing his country of birth, he added, "I have a Mexican bird on the other side:”

That is the quetzal.

Every once in a while, I am fortunate enough to stumble on the work of simply amazing artists. Both of these phenomenal tattoos were done by the talented Regino Gonzales from Invisible NYC. Work from Regino has appeared previously on Tattoosday here, here, here, and here.

Thanks to Daniel for sharing his two awesome bird tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

Minggu, 26 Januari 2014

Karin Shares a Tattoo Fit for a Seamstress

I was leaving Governor's Island after the NYC Poetry Festival last summer, when I spotted Karin sitting down waiting for the ferry back to Brooklyn.

I asked her about her tattoo:

Karin explained that she is a seamstress, which goes a long way to explaining this tattoo. Initially, she told me, "it was just the thread and Maggie added the needle and the hand."

Maggie Cho Brophy was the tattoo artist from Gnostic Tattoo in Bushwick, Brooklyn, who added the parts that gave this seamstress's tattoo a whole new dimension.

Thanks to Karin for sharing her work with us here on Tattoosday!

Rabu, 22 Januari 2014

No Mud, No Lotus

Back in July, at the NYC Poetry Festival, I was awash with poetry and a wide array of tattoos.

I met Jhani, who shared this tattoo on her arm:

This lotus flower was inked by Chris at Outer Limits in Costa Mesa, California. It reads, “No Mud, No Lotus.”

When I asked her what this meant, she replied, "To me, it means patience." She added, "it’s also a reminder to be conscious of my decisions and also how turmoil can create life as long as you’re open to existing in a dark and dirty position, especially if it’s in your own like cycle for a while.”

Thanks to Jhani for sharing this fantastic tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!