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Text: Valeria Solonari Illustration: Katrina Eglite Photography: Alexei Patrascu Has anyone ever seen that movie from the 1970s entitled ‘Tattoo’? It told the story of a demented tattoo artist (played by one of my favorite movie-psychopaths, Bruce Dern) morbidly obsessed with a model; he abducts her, holds her hostage and expresses his undying love by covering her entire body with his creations (against her will, of course). I could be euphemistic or totally exaggerating, but I do consider myself a vehement expressionist. As a function of my creative nature, I must express myself, speak my truth and illustrate my vision… even if it means comparing one of the most beloved art forms to dementia. Although the aforementioned is certainly a very extreme and undeniably fictional situation, tattoos have been a powerful part of our cultural scene for a very long time. Their dark and lingering appeal transcends the stereotypical images of ‘tough guys and gals’ and all of their underworld friends. In this disposable society, tattoos symbolize permanence and they retain a power and mystique all of their own. Down through history, many famous personalities have adorned their bodies with tattoos: songstress Pearl Bailey had a heart on her upper thigh; David Bowie a lizard across one ankle; Cher tops them both in numbers and assortments, bearing a cluster of flowers on her butt and a black rose on one ankle, just to name a few; American pol-
itician Barry Goldwater bore a crescent with four dots in the shape of a snake bite. Heck, now even ‘Barbie’ has a dragon tattoo running down her entire back or bearing a butterfly on her stomach. Tattoos have actually become so popular in certain scenes that getting one might even run the risk of becoming a total cliché. For example, a friend of mine recently said that he is automatically less attracted to women with tattoos, not because he dislikes the mark itself, but because he feels like they probably just did it to follow a trend, and that gets just as dull when everyone has a tattoo as it does when nobody has them. While tattoos used to be considered rebellious, the more mainstream they get, strangely the less intimidating or surprising they’re becoming. Besides, when everyone is pinning and tweeting and tumbling their favorite tattoo designs to share, the ‘trending’ tattoo ideas are more likely to spread like wildfire. And puff! There goes your unique, one-of-a-kind, beautiful imprinted ornament.