Japanese tatoos and Americans

I found it really interesting that the art of tattooing has its roots in wood carving (Mullowney). I think full body tattoos are growing in popularity. Especially since Miami Ink began airing and Americans got exposed to another side of tattooing, one where the tattoo has a purpose and is influenced by Asian arts.



For instance, this tattoo of a Koi has lots of elements from Japanese wood carving arts; the waves are similar to those you see in the Fuji mountain print, and the Koi itself is a fish with Asian origins. It was also part of a full body tattoo in the reader. A lot of us already talked about how Japanese full body style tattoos are growing in popularity. Also, I think the connotation of tattoos being for gangsters and bad people are starting to wear off. I know many people who are ordinary people who have tattoos, and if you watch Miami Ink you'll notice that everyone now a days that get tattoos are regular people. So this gangsta/mob stigma, definitely worn off.

I plan to get a tattoo myself too, but the only thing stopping me is that I have no idea what to get. I don't want any sort of spur of the moment thing and get something lame like a dragon, or some Chinese character on my body. I want something that represents me and I'll be proud to show it off because it has some sort of significance. I think the beauty of tattoos is that they make abstract things concrete. For the Japanese full body tattoos, they depict a full story. For the more Americanized pop tattoo shops they depict things such as a lost family/friend, or a moment in life they want to memorialize. Plus, according to the people on Miami Ink, the tattooing experience can be very therapeutic in relieving the pain of losing someone or something.

Compact challenge update, I sort of ended my streak of success with a recent purchase of new lenses for my Camera. However, I think it's not such a big loss because the lenses will allow me to take stalker pictures and macro shots and actually has a purpose. However, I'm not rationalizing the purchase, I will agree I broke the rules, but it was worth it for this purchase as I have been saving up for it. So technically if I have been planning to buy it anyways it's not wasteful purchase is it?

Blog number 9
Hoa Truong


Class Source:
Paul Mulluowney Ed. Wood Skin Ink: The Japanese Aesthetic in Modern Tattooing. Caroline Valverde Ed. ASA 189B Winter 2010, reader.

Outside source: http://tlc.discovery.com/fansites/miami-ink/slideshow/user_gallery/gallery4/gallery/afi13.jpg