Rosalie Hurr, Author at Things&Ink

October 14, 2015October 14, 2015

Tattoo Portraits

Alessandro Negrini a.k.a Pepe, an Italian tattoo artist resident at Electric Tattooing Viareggio and his wife Romina have created a book titled Tattoo Portraits, in which his love and respect for the history of tattooing is displayed in beautiful watercolour. Our Italian contributor Ilaria chatted to Pepe to find out more about the book, his love of tattoo history and why he chose the medium of watercolour…

When and how did you discover the art of tattoo?
It all began in Viareggio, in the early 90s. At that time it was none other than the holiday location where I spent my summer holidays with the family. This city, where I now work and live, represented anything an adolescent could ever imagine: there were sailors with tattoos, punks, metal music, skateboarding and surfing activities. Coming from a small town, all of this was very exciting to my eyes!

What do you think of modern society and its relationship with this art?
I think that this media overexposure has removed a sense of it all. You know, it’s my job and I earn some money, but in these twenty years I have seen a complete twist from what was originally the world of tattoo.
When I started professionally in 1996 (at Skin Fantasies, Bergamo) tattoo was frowned upon, it was just an act of rebellion and nonconformity. Nowadays tattoos are on football players, on television and in glossy magazines. Today people get tattooed to join the mass, to be cool or to be accepted by the group. 15 or 20 years ago you couldn’t even get into a local bar if you had tattoos in sight.
I mean, I do not want to be a rebel at any cost, but now getting a tattoo is like buying a nice shirt. What will happen when these people will want/will have to change their aesthetic tastes, as our mothers asked: “what will you do with those tattoos when you become old”?

People you have portrayed are definitely a continuous inspiration for you, both in life and in work. Tell us more about your project!
My project came mainly from an urgency, a need that resided in my guts. My life has changed dramatically in the recent years thanks to the arrival of my son. I am sober for a year and a half and painting had a great therapeutic impact during this transformation. I portrayed the great masters of the past, who have founded the basics of our profession, those who were called “poor Rembrandts” in a world diametrically opposed to ours. After preparing a first set of watercolours, the project grew thanks to the meeting with my partner Romina, professional editor, who wrote our book Tattoo Portraits, she did amazing research regarding the biographies of these tattoo artists . The book is now published and distributed by Surith, Rome.

How did the mere fact of changing ‘means of expression’ and then to paint with watercolours make you feel?
The world of watercolour has always been present in my life. Even before tattoos, it came with my love for comics and with them for adventure: Hugo Pratt was my favourite cartoonist and one of his peculiarities was that he decorated the first introductory pages of his books with beautiful watercolours.
Occasionally this passion came, went away and then came back again, like the water and the waves… I began to experiment with it during the years of art school and then used it only for entertainment in the evening or to rest after a day of hard work. The tattoo, as well as its exemplary drawings, what are called “tattoo flash”, are characterized by an extremely rigid and schematic technique. You trace the outline, then the shadows and finally the color. There is no room for the unexpected. Everything is precise, programmed. Watercolour is the exact opposite, the water flows unpredictable on the sheet, the brush flies fast and the result is never predictable. After twenty years as a tattoo artist I felt the need to find all of this, to dissolve the hand to the emotions, letting myself go: into the unknown, the unexpected and the adventure from which I started.

The history of the tattoo is, at least in my opinion, a part of each tattoo, be it big or small, done with great care.. The simple fact that the man is the mean by which this art continues to live and to be handed down from generation to generation is really beautiful. How important is for you the past and how it helped you to embark on your path?
The tattoo is first of all a sign, a gesture, a symbol. It marks the difference between what you were before and what you are after, like the difference between a donkey and a zebra. It may be little as the dot marked between the index finger and thumb, symbol of love for Japanese geishas, or huge like the entire Polynesian bodies of people from Tahitian islands. The gesture is always the same, inserting a pigment (usually derived from coal) under the skin, through the use of different enforcement tools, from the shark tooth to the most modern rotary machines. The artist who now tattoos on television makes the same gesture that the primitive man performed in the caves during the Neolithic.
Ötzi, the man of Similaun, the oldest mummy found on the Earth, (dated from between 3300 and 3200 BC) is in fact also tattooed, and it is considered the first tattooed human being: on Ötzi body there are 61 tattoos!
I mean, you can not tattoo without knowing the history of tattooing. Tattoo and mankind continue to intersect chronologically along the latitudes and longitudes of the whole world. The history of the electric tattoo begins in the late ‘800 with Samuel O’Reilly and reaches us, ‘Tattoo Portraits’, both in a book and with an exhibition, (currently on display at the gallery Parione9 in Rome). This project of mine aims to provide a tool to the new generations, to know and deepen the roots of the history of tattoo, as we know it today in the West. The 60 portraits that form the book, “tattooed faces” and “blue ladies”, are just the beginning of a natural evolution through my new pictorial work of watercolors. It aims to tell and preserve some kind of a family album, a collection of images from a far away world, preserving through its pages the history and memory of us men and women, tattooed and tattoo artists of the 2000s.

His artworks are now on display in Rome, at Parione9, a solo show curated by Elettra Bottazzi and Marta Bandini.
You can email Pepe at pepetattooing@hotmail.com to purchase the book, and follow him on Facebook to here more news about his project.

Photos taken by Diana Bandini, Nicola Gnesi and Vasco Maria Livio.

October 12, 2015October 12, 2015

Fashion Pearls of Wisdom: In the Buff

Our guest blogger is Natalie McCreesh aka Pearl, a fashion lecturer, freelance writer and creator of Fashion Pearls of Wisdom. In this post she talks about getting her bum tattooed…

Let’s face it getting tattooed is fairly intimate. It involves someone, that can be a total stranger, touching your naked skin. Arms and legs are easily exposed but what about those areas we usually have covered with clothes? What about those tattoos that cover large areas? I’ve been asked a few times about getting my butt tattooed. What did I wear, was it embarrassing, could everyone in the shop see, what if you needed to fart!

I guess embarrassment depends on the individual. I get absolutely mortified when I’ve got to go see a doctor, professional bikini wax – forget it I’ll do it myself, but that’s just me. So how did I find myself sitting comfortably sans clothes in a tattoo studio with three guys? The answer to that is simple, respect. My artist and the others in the studio are some of the nicest people I ever met. I’ve been getting tattooed there for over a year now and in getting to know the guys I am totally relaxed with them. From my first visit I felt at ease, we discussed the design and had a chat before that oh so awkward moment when I had to get undressed. I’d asked around before hand and the general consensus was to wear a bikini which had tie sides so you could undo and adjust as needed. This turned out to be excellent advise. I was handed a roll of tape and left to prepare behind screens in the studio, grateful for the privacy and a mirror I taped the sides of my bikini to me so that the strings could be undone exposing my back whilst preserving my modesty at the front et viola.

Tip, the bikini is also ideal for after you’ve been tattooed- nobody wants a tight bra over a fresh tattoo. Turns out that you’re not the only person getting embarrassed, a naked lady is also a problem for other people not knowing where to look. So if you find an artist you’re comfortable with you’ll be fine. Yes we’ve had the odd nip-slip but what do you expect? Just have a good laugh about it. As for farting, just don’t, please!

October 10, 2015

Film Review: Fear and Desire

Our guest blogger is hobbyist film and TV series reviewer and writer Harry Casey-Woodward:
Fear and Desire, 1953, dir Stanley Kubrick, cert 12, 3/5

Stanley Kubrick is one of my favourite directors, so I was rather excited when back in 2013 Eureka released his debut as part of their Masters of Cinema series on DVD. They even added, as special extras, three short documentaries Kubrick did, two of which are his earliest examples of film making. So you’ve got a nice little package of Kubrick gold if you’re a fan; the beginnings of a career that would span nearly fifty years. To be honest, we’re lucky to be able to watch Fear and Desire on DVD at all. Kubrick detested it so much he removed it from circulation in the 60s when he became more recognised, with only one print surviving in New York.

Fear and Desire

You can kind of see why. Kubrick referred to his first film as a ‘bumbling, amateur film exercise’ and to be honest that’s the impression I got before I even read that quote. The plot is a bit loose for a start. The film is set during an unknown war in an unknown country and focuses on four soldiers who are stranded behind enemy lines when their plane crashes. Their plan is to get to the river so they can raft it past the enemy and back to base. It sounds quite a straightforward plot, but Kubrick uses all his art cinema influences to give us a strange and striking one hour viewing experience.

As expected from Kubrick, the film is beautifully shot. It was filmed in a national park in California and Kubrick fully exploits the picturesque woodland and river scenery, even if it conflicts with his grim plot. Even though the film is black and white, it also boasts some impressive lighting, most of it natural. There is one scene in particular where the soldiers attack two sentries at their post at night. We get shots of half-lit angry men’s faces as they beat their foes to a pulp rapidly cut with close-ups of the enemies’ hands squeezing fragments of the bread and stew they were eating for supper. The result is an intense but bizarre and unrealistic fight scene which sums up the creative but naive ambition Kubrick applied for his first movie.

Fear and Desire

So while we can agree that Fear and Desire is not as stylistically or literally coherent as Kubrick’s later masterpieces, it still packs a lot into such a short running time. On one hand it’s got a typical war action storyline of GIs busting through enemy lines and attacking an enemy base which they discover nearby. On the other, there are elements that foreshadow the styles of modern anti-war classics like Apocalypse Now and even Kubrick’s later films like Full Metal Jacket by several decades. For one thing, Kubrick used stylish film techniques like poetic interior monologues to death, which the 1998 equally dreamy war epic The Thin Red Line also did with its parade of military characters.

There is also an episode in Fear and Desire where the four soldiers capture a native girl, which is also the plot for the 1989 Vietnam war film Casualties of War, in which five American soldiers kidnap and rape a Vietnamese girl. While the men of Fear and Desire don’t go that far, they express their desire for their captive. One who actually goes mad through some extreme form of PTSD (in a typically Kubrickian over-the-top performance foreshadowing Jack Nicholson in The Shining) kisses and presses his body on her when she’s tied to a tree. This scene was used to sell the movie as a sexploitation, which were all the rage in underground 1950s cinema. Randy audiences must have been quite disappointed when subjected to Kubrick’s dream-like war allegory.

The attitude towards war exhibited in Fear and Desire (which is carried on in other Kubrick films) is strikingly modern and pessimistic regarding 1950s American cinema. All the four soldiers want to do is survive and when they do take some military action in attacking the enemy base, the results are bittersweet. All four men are damaged in some way by their experiences. Though the film is short and a little disorganised, it has a surprisingly deep and haunting message about war’s senseless brutality.

But does the film stand up on its own apart from being Stanley Kubrick’s first film? Almost. It’s certainly not as good or cohesive as Kubrick’s later works and there are much stronger and more noteworthy films that came out at the time. The other short films on the DVD are a little interesting and a little dull. It’s best to view all the films on the disc as a worthy director stretching his wings, and Fear and Desire as an experimental indulgence in metaphors and literary references. However there was enough plot, good acting and filmmaking to keep me gripped. It’s a strange but beautiful gem, a little rough on the edges but with enough of an intoxicating gleam to draw me back into this absurd dream on war. It’s also noteworthy for being the first wholly independent US movie, for it was financed by donations from Kubrick’s family and friends. I’m just glad that they had faith in him and this restoration finally got release in the UK. Plus it’s short so if you hate it you don’t have to hate it for long.

[Quotes and background information from ‘No other country but the mind’ by James Naremore, an essay included with the DVD.]

October 7, 2015October 7, 2015

Inkluded: Witch Tattoos

27-year-old Beccy Rimmer is the founder of Inkluded, a blog that explores tattoo culture, who also works as an arts marketer in Leamington Spa. Celebrating the launch of The Horror Issue we chatted to Beccy about why she started blogging and her witch tattoos inspired by her pagan mother…

How did you get into blogging? I always loved writing – when I was a kid, it’s what I “wanted to do when I was older”. I always looked at the world through a certain (weird) pair of goggles and this became more apparent as I grew up. I studied English at University, which I loved, and then found my place in arts marketing. Over the last 6 years I have worked for various different theatres and venues, and love it still, but was starting to get that itch to write contemplative editorial again. I was going through a tough time some months back and was starting to re-evaluate many aspects of my life and I suddenly thought, where am I going, what do I really want to do? The answer was within me all the time – write!
Tattoos are such an interesting and rewarding thing to write about. We have this beautiful creative industry of artists in this country, and the media doesn’t give justice to it. There’s so much to talk about and explore together – why do people get tattoos? Where do they go for information? Who are some of the best artists working in our country today? What do artists feel about creating a piece of artwork for someone else? How do the rest of the public view tattoos? Is the industry changing? Why?

When did you set up Inkluded? Why did you create the blog? I created Inkluded in November 2014, as I mentioned above, to fulfil my love for writing and tattoos, and because I felt there was a lot to talk about… but not just because of that. Inkluded’s mission is make people feel part of tattoo culture, not alienated. I wanted to create a place online where tattoo art was appreciated, explored, discussed and celebrated. The process of getting a tattoo is so complex and interesting, it’s not like anything else in the whole world – it’s not fashion, it’s not just a lifestyle, or a trend, it’s not even just about the art. It’s also, to me, not about profit, and that was a strong thought it my mind when I launched the blog. Inkluded doesn’t make any money and so I manage it in my evenings, weekends (and lunch breaks!) alongside other jobs. I would love to be able to run it full time in the future, but I think when you’re setting up a blog, it’s important to have your respects for the industry come first, and then see what follows in the future. A good blog is built on genuine passions and interest, rather than any kind of profitable plan.

What inspires you? I’m inspired by everything. I’m wide-eyed, impulsive, inquisitive, analytical and I question everything. I used to hate that part of my personality but as soon as I realised I could channel it into writing – I found my way. The world is overwhelmingly meaningful and beautiful; history, patterns, cultures, art, people, our past, our present, our future, the universe. There is so much to philosophise about, and that in turn makes me think, write and get tattoos of the things I think are important. To quote my favourite film American Beauty, I always ‘look closer’ – it doesn’t matter what inspires each person, but the fact that we all take meaning from different little things, is so special, and what makes us human.

Can you tell us about your mum and pagan upbringing? My mum is a pagan and reads tarot cards professionally. She is a real eco warrior in a way, like many of her time (the early 70s, when witchcraft was just taking off) so she has always ‘worshipped’ nature, the planet and the elements. She uses certain Gods and Goddesses in her work and is particular drawn to the Morrigan, a Celtic Goddess of Ireland.

Growing up, I didn’t know this, as my mum has never tied to force her belief system on me, but she always instilled certain morals and ideals in me that have stemmed from her pagan beliefs – such as the power of positive reinforcement to attain something you desire. In other words, asking the Universe for something and believing wholeheartedly that you can get it. This is the art of spell craft. I have done many spells with my mum to great success!

What does she think of your tattoos? She loves all of my tattoos and was inspired this year to get her own, on her 60th birthday. It was a beautiful watercolour raven, one of her favourite animals and symbols, and she loves it.

The raven is the symbol of the Morrigan and it is her witch name – ‘Morianna Ravenswood’. Ravens and crows symbolise the power of prophetic sight, which is important to her in her tarot work and divination.

Can you tell us a little bit about your tattoos? I have been collecting tattoos for the last seven years or so and they all have different meanings. I have quite a lot of roses, most of them red – the rose is my favourite symbol because of what it signifies, and I am also a Lancashire red rose and feel connected to my heritage and family. I’m also fascinated by nature, the symbol of the skull, mandalas and pattern work, meaning a lot of my tattoos are floral (some bright, some dark), intricate and almost quite henna-like. Some have quite a personal meaning, but some are just because I love the design or artist. I’ve always been quite impulsive with my tattoos. I don’t give them too much thought, but like to analyse and think about them afterwards, and question the process of getting tattooed, which is what led me to want to blog about tattoos.

What was your first tattoo? Do you still love it? I got my first tattoo when I was 20 years old, and it’s an Egyptian ankh on my leg. It’s tiny, it’s wonky, but I love it and would never cover it up. The symbol has meant a lot to me since I was a little girl, and I am in the process of adding another one to my witch-themed sleeve. I would like to add to the original ankh maybe and create some sort of huge epic Egyptian piece one day!

Are there any artists you admire? And want to get tattooed by? Some of my favourite artists are Keely Rutherford, Joanne Baker, Charlotte Timmons, Paula Castle, I could go on forever! I love traditional tattoos, but also abstract styles and anything bold, colourful, girly and bright. I think some of my favourite tattoo art at the moment is coming out of Poland – I went to the Krakow Tattoofest last year and it was the best convention I have ever been to, just because of the atmosphere and the art. The next artist I want to book in with is definitely Keely – I have lots of cool ideas that are right up her street, I hope!

Have you got any tattoo plans? I really want something Blackpool themed, as the seaside town’s symbols (the tower, the piers) represent nearly all of my childhood memories (as I grew up there and Rimmers have lived there for generations. I’d also like a colourful, kawaii Caribbean piece and something to signal gambling and Las Vegas – again, both things that have family and memory significance. I’m also still working on my pagan witch themed sleeve with artist Alex Rhodes, we have tarot cards, a raven and a few other symbols to add to it, then it should be finished. Alex has a beautiful, clean, bold traditional style so I have quite a few tattoos from him, including the roses on my chest. Most of my other tattoos, including my other sleeve, were done by Adam Frame.

Inkluded is also presenting a tattoo art exhibition, in Leamington Spa, in the Midlands, running from the 3rd to 20th of October.

October 6, 2015

Pet Tattoos

Our guest blogger is 25-year-old London-based Amber Bryce, who not only writes her own blog but also the social media copy for Tesco. In this post she talks about her own pet tattoo and talks to other pet owners to find out why they decided to immortalise their pets in ink…

Getting a tattoo of your pet can be as simple as a paw print, as intricate as a portrait, or as fun as a moggy cat dressed in scuba gear. Although the stories behind them may sometimes be sad, there’s always something so heartwarming about hearing the impact a pet has had on someone’s life.

Here’s my own story about why I chose to get a tattoo of my pet, followed by some more pet lovers…

“My dog’s name is Punky. He’s a puggle (beagle crossed with a pug) and looks like he’s either constantly philosophising or in a really bad mood. I got Punky when I was 15 and from the very start he was a nightmare. My sister and I would get home from school to find he’d got into our bedrooms and eaten through half our wardrobe (RIP leggings) or escaped to the local curry house (seriously).

“As naughty as he was, I find it hard to remember my life without him. Since moving out of my dad’s house I miss him so much; the jingle of his collar, the deep sighs he does before getting settled at the end of my bed, or the way he rolls over for belly rubs like a big, blubbery seal. I decided I wanted to get a tattoo of him, to keep a little bit of him and his comforting presence with me wherever I go.

“Rebecca Vincent created my beautiful and personal portrait of Punky in her poetic, naturalistic style. The subtle nature of the sketchy tones makes him look as though he’s left an imprint of his soul in dot work.”

The thing I love most about seeing other people’s pet tattoos is the variety of ways in which people choose to symbolise their pets, whether through their strange little quirks and eccentricities or the emotional narrative they left behind. I decided to explore other pet tattoos and the stories behind them…

Name: Natasha Westlake Age: 26 Lives: St Albans

“The first pet I had as a child was a moggie called Harmony. He loved swimming and would frequently come into the house covered in moss, soaking wet after chasing ducks in the nearby pond. He also had half a moustache! Sadly he passed away a few years ago, so I wanted to get my first tattoo as a dedication to his memory.

“My second pet is my Shih-Tzu dog, Lilly. She is a stubborn little princess and loves a lot of attention, she isn’t a fan of wearing any kind of doggy clothes (so I took a really adorable photograph of her wearing a feather boa — needless to say she wasn’t a fan) and she has very crooked teeth and an under-bite, which always shows. She had a really funny and lovable relationship with Harmony, and I love her very much so I wanted to get her tattooed on my other thigh.

“I have always had an obsession with Asian culture, cartoons, and cutesy things, so I knew I wanted the style of my tattoo to be cartoon-y and cute, but to keep the characteristics and personality of my pets. I found my artist through Instagram, which I would say is definitely the place to find tattoo artists. I hash-tagged pet tattoos and came across Keely Rutherford from Jolie Rouge, whose main style is a cutesy kawaii animated style.

“I love the very personal details in my tattoos that make them my own, I gave Keely a bunch of ideas and she was able to translate them. The scuba diving gear and the bandage on Harmony represents his love of swimming and fighting, and the tiara and feathers on Lilly represents her princess-like personality. I also love how vivid the colours are.”

Name: Amber Schwartz Age:24 Lives: LA

“Charlie was five years old. I got him when I lived in Chicago and he went everywhere with me. We flew together countless times and he moved to NJ and California with me. He was my son. He was a Malshi and his birthday was a week difference from mine. A few months ago I moved to Hollywood and my roommate lied to an organisation and neglected to tell them that Charlie and I lived there. They gave her a 70 lb pitt bull who attacked and killed Charlie. I was not home during the incident and I left Charlie locked in my room. My roommate took Charlie out of my room and Jameson attacked him. He passed away about 2 months ago at this point, and not a day goes by that I don’t think about him or miss him.

Charlie “Before Charlie passed; about a year ago I got a paw print tattoo for him witha “C” in it. After his passing it was a no brainer that I needed to honor him. I got his actual paw print tattooed on my elbow, and “Good Morning Char”. That did not feel like enough; hence I got my best friend’s portrait.

I went to Victor Hugo at Norwalk Tattoo studio in Norwalk California. He is a dog lover; and honestly I could not have asked for this piece to come out any better. His work is amazing; his detail and care is obvious in all tattoos he does. I am so so, so grateful for Victor!”

Name: Jennifer Byrne Age: 23 Lives: Liverpool

“Bubbles is my 12 year old tabby cat, the smallest and cutest of our three cat family. I got her as a kitten when I was 10 years old and I’ve been smitten ever since!

“Amy Savage does the most amazing stippled tattoos of cats and other animals. I knew I wanted to get a cattoo by her and thought that it was only right I got my favourite cat tattooed – Bubbles. I love the fact that I will have her on me forever, I can’t believe such a little animal has made such an impression on me.

“Her work is incredibly detailed and I sat for my longest sitting yet with her when getting Bubbles tattooed. She was so friendly and I felt really comfortable, especially considering I’m a huge wimp! I may ask her sometime in the future to tattoo Bubbles’ brother on my other leg… I’ll probably end up with all my pets on me!”