Permanent Ink

I always hear, “I’m waiting until I really like something” when asking people if they want a tattoo. I guess they are waiting to identify with some piece of art or text that they feel powerful enough about to ink on their body. I know plenty of people who just add tattoos for fun and on a whim. And on the opposite spectrum are the culturally bound tattoos, generations of ritualized inking. But in all, tattoos help construct personal identity and self-expression.

Are we talking Marine’s, prison alum, gang members or what? All have been classified, as groups with heavy dosages of ink but over the year’s tattoos have become decoration for the body in an aesthetic fashion.  What about the new age of tattooing? I find it funny when I see people inked with things like math equations and barcodes. Who are they identifying with, or are they trying to tell us that this is all just a big game were playing and were just part of this commercialized society?  

People with tattoos love to identify with one another, comparing tattoos and hours under the needle. This tattoo community is one that more and more joins each day.

There are so many subcultures of tattoos; portrait, cartoon, Japanese, realism, etc., all specialties to their own. 

The Connection Point

What is the connection point these days for most kids and art?  The kid who isn’t in love with Van Gogh or Monet but art class is on their school schedule. What can the teacher do to make an interesting connection to spark some sort of bond with the student and the learning?

Each generation reinvents art in its own fashion. Because art is an act of description (in some form or another), the description will reflect the generational idea of the association being made.  I don’t think this is a strict reflection of the generations being “described” but for certain an interpretation portrayed in a language that is always in a state of transformation. 

For example, The Simspons “Remastered” by David Barton. I think this is an interesting way that an art teacher might go about demonstrating an artists’ work or the techniques that an artist might use when giving students knowledge of art history.  The connection point would be the contemporary characters of the popular sitcom. It’s a way to excite and attract some more attention of some students’ that may not be engaged in the practice of art. 

David Barton has digitally recreated a handful of The Simpsons in the styles of  famous painters. Manipulated with photoshop, Barton reworks Apu into Salvador Dalí, Homer with the brushwork of Rembrandt, Groundskeeper Willie in the style of Van Gogh and Marge asThe Girl with a Pearl Earring by Vermeer; or in Marges’ case a necklace.

The Family That Sticks Together.

Part of living the “American dream” in today’s culture is having a family, and not just any old family, but one with hobbies.

There are so many different social platforms these days to present the world “your” social identity. But for some, that just isn’t enough. Now you can drive around town with sticker avatars of your family. There are websites that you can go to and personalize each sticker to be a mock-up of your actual family and their “important” features that “represent” them.

These stickers give you hundreds of variations to choose from in order to make a “unique” family member. *I had to include some spoofs. I can't take the real ones seriously anymore!