Feature girl: Renee Ruin, Melbourne, Australia.
Renee Ruin – beautifully tattooed – publisher by day, blogger by night
Renee Ruin
Ruin by Dean Petty
Girl with skeleton by Jessica Swaffer - Third Eye Tattoo, Melbourne Australia
So Renee, what do you do? I work in book publishing, dealing with international co-editions. So put basically, I get popular children’s books published in other languages for foreign countries like Estonia, Finland, Sweden, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia and Japan. After work I spend my time blogging on my site and also other sites I contribute to and catching up on pop culture and playing with my spoilt brat dog, Bowie.
Skulls by Dean PettyAngelique Houtkamp "Geraldine" by Jane Laver - Chapel Tattoo, Melbourne Australia
What got you into tattooing?
I got my first tattoo at 18 to commemorate moving out of home and eight hours away. That was the beginning. Then I started getting tattoos every time something eventful happened in my life, good or bad. I wanted to try and get something tattooed each year around my birthday as a marker. I also lived with a tattooist for four years so that lead to a lot of random tattoo additions.
What inspires you?
Life, love, death, friends, family, art, film and books. All my tattoos are related somehow to one of those things or more than one of those things.
Do your tattoos have meanings?
Definitely personal meaning. A lot of them are reminders of particular times in my life and are a personal reminder of a triumph or tragedy. A few are purely aesthetic, but my large pieces all have some personal meaning or personal event attached to them.
Daddy by Dean Petty
Are you planning more tattoos?
Most definitely. I’m planning an awesome custom piece for my left thigh which is an amalgamation of Angelique’s style, JT Leroy’s book and Asia Argento’s movie The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things. I am also planning this awesome little ode to my dog Bowie, artist Rik Lee is designing it. I definitely want to fill in my right arm with some patchwork traditional pieces and I’d love a beautiful piece to complete my left arm to compliment Micah Caudle‘s beautiful lady, I’d love Rose Hardy to design something a little darker to compliment it.
Feet Roses by Dean PettyCustom girl by Micah Caudle - Flying Panther, San Diego, CA, USA.
How would you describe your style?
My tattoo style is definitely more traditional mixed with a subtle darker edge. I love girls and skeletons. Do you have a favourite tattoo artist?
Far too many to choose just one. My personal fave to get tattooed by is Jane Laver who did both my Angelique pieces. But I love so many different tattooists and their differing styles.
Boy with antlers based on Sculpture by Beci Orpin by Jake RolfeAngelique Houtkamp 'Madeleine" by Jane Laver - Chapel Tattoo, Melbourne AustraliaDie Trying by Zoe Lethbridge (unfinished)
On the 21st June 2011 I had the pleasure of hearing Doctor Matthew Lodder give a talk on his thesis – Tattooing as Artistic Practice. I have raved, in an adolescent fashion, about Matt Lodder in previous blog posts…
The back of Matt Lodder's beautiful business card.
Matt Lodder’s talk was extremely insightful, he posed a significant question: if tattoos are art, then why have they never been analysed as art objects? Discussions about tattoos tend to centre around the psychology of the tattoo wearer and motivations behind getting tattooed. So Matt’s thesis begins where many other discussions end – the tattooed body as art.
The talk raised important questions about the inherent problems with analysing the modified body as art. There are issues with authorship: who is the artist – the wearer or the tattooist? Problems with ownership and copyright.
Lee Wagstaff
Matt coloured his talk with examples to illustrate these issues. Lee Wagstaff, an MA printmaking student, transformed his body into a living piece of art. Lee designed all the graphics that would be inked onto his body, as the recipient he set out his objective clearly. The tattooer reproduced Lee’s ideas, he was the functionary. However the stylistic quirks of the tattooer will inevitably effect the way the final tattoo looks.
Tim, Wim Delvoye
This example, plus others such as Wim Delvoye’s Tim, illustrate that tattoos can be art. Tim was sold for €150,000, for this price the piece has to be exhibited three times a year, of course meaning that Tim himself has to travel to wherever the artwork is to be exhibited.
Well, Doctor Lodder talked about his ideas far more eloquently than I, so if you get a chance to hear him speak I highly recommend it…
After all this academia we needed wine and discussion in the pub…
Alice Th'ink and Matt Lodder - in the pub for an apres-talk vinoNo paparazzi please
Wine leads to chat about our own inkings and below is Matt’s beautiful padlock tattoo.
Matt Lodder's padlock tattoo - I am hoping to get a padlock tattoo very soon too and I love this one.
Matt also has the words: Curiouser and Curiouser on his wrists, of course I love the Alice in Wonderland reference, being named Alice and having an Alice in Wonderland tattoo myself.
Charmaine Olivia – dreamer, painter, tea drinker, self-taught San Franciscan artist. She first started drawing with soy sauce on napkins but has since upgraded to paper and paint. She loves playing Scrabble in the park, cuddling with her kitten and drinking peppermint tea.
Her work is a mix of intense paintings and whimsical drawings, she shifts with ease between styles and mediums. Oil painting requires discipline, commitment and composition, where as her drawings are more spontaneous and free. She admires the work of Brian Viveros and Sam Weber, she is obsessed with Gustav Klimt.
Here is a selection of her differing styles of work.
My first ever Get your tat outpost featured a lovely lady called Laura, with her script tattoo, Inhale. She has now added a complimentary little heart tattoo to her other arm…she is possibly feeling a little romantic before her nuptials this year…and I have a feeling there will be more romantic inkings to follow…
Feature girl: Rachael D’Alessandro
Today’s feature girl is the beautiful ink addict Rachael, she is in the buying team at Topshop, she loves art and lives in London.
Rachael considers her tattoos as art and treats her body like a blank canvas. The tattoos that adorn her body are art not necessarily about meaning, but about beauty. Art that will live on her skin forever…She even considered tattooing as a career option, but somehow her path has taken her into fashion and as you can see from this collection of photos she is one stylishly painted lady…
Her first tattoo was the heart wings, in between her shoulder blades, adapted from a drawing that she did at the age of 16 (tattoo was also done at this time but shh don’t tell anyone – clearly a rebel at heart). The tattoo was done at a studio in Lincoln.
Her second tattoo is the word Faith on her wrist in flowing type. This lovely little inking is by Chris at Modern Body Art. Chris was also lucky enough to ink her for a third time, this time her right wrist and a very feminine flowing garden vine design.
round and round the garden...
Her fourth (and one of my faves) is her heart, locket and flower design, on her lower back, so beautifully feminine against her skin. This is by Dawny and again was done at Modern Body Art. Rachael liked this one so much she got Dawny to do her fifth arm piece, inspired by all the things she loves.
This is Rachael's personal favourite piece
I unconditionally love this tattoo.
Her sixth piece, again another Modern Body Art masterpiece, is her treasure chest with the word Agape. Agape means unconditional love in Greek philosophy.
Her seventh piece is the writing on her neck, this is a love piece and her boyfriend has the same design. Inspired by Beethoven’s third love letter to Josephine, Immortal Beloved.
Rachael your art is beautiful and I would love to see more as you cover your canvas…
Get your tat out Renee Ruin.
What got you into tattooing?
