Tattoorism: Sean Returns, Part 1

Back in 2009, one of our loyal readers, Sean, submitted a whole slew of his work for our viewing pleasure. You can read the original posts, here and here.



Why do I bring this up now? Last summer, Sean sent us more of his tat-alog of work and I had been saving it for a rainy day. Since it's a rainy, sleety, snowy day, I thought I should share more of what Sean sent along. And since he sent a lot, I'm splitting it into two posts. What follows is the first installment. Italics represent direct quotes from Sean.

I got the ditch of my elbow done probably about a year or so ago.  It is a flower of sorts, of my own design, made up of various geometrical shapes.  The tattoo represents two parts of our world, nature (the floral shape itself, petals, leaves, etc.) and science (the geometric shapes making up the flower).  I believe that one should not base their ideals solely on nature or science/technology, but on a mixture of the two.  It represents my appreciation for both nature and science.  Basically, I am fascinated by technology and the sciences that are its basis, but at the same time do not feel that science should trump nature all together but rather, have the two working together in harmony.  It was done by Robert “Binky” Ryan at Electric Tattoo in Bradley Beach, NJ.

The sparrows circling my outer elbow were my next pieces done.  I had attended a Marine museum in Philadelphia which had a great exhibit on the tattoo culture surrounding the Navy and sailors in general throughout history.  According to the exhibit, sailors would earn the right to a single sparrow tattoo after traveling 5,000 miles at sea and a second sparrow after 10,000 miles.  I am not much for sailing, but the idea of the sparrow representing travel and all the hardships, journeys, and successes that surround that travel appealed to me.  Further, I have a general appreciation for American Traditional tattoos and their overall aesthetics.  These were done by Rich Heller at Electric Tattoo in Bradley Beach, NJ. 

Don’t quite remember when I got my feet finished up, but it was sometime within the last year and a half or so.  My feet are tattooed with a sun and moon, which I drew myself about 6 years ago.  The duality of the sun and moon, and various meanings that these two symbols hold are why I had them tattooed.  The idea that each represents night and day, or two opposites that work together to make up a whole, are what drew me to having the designs placed on my feet.  Further, it represents the two sides that I have to myself, a lighter, happy, and caring side and a darker, selfish side.  I feel a person cannot fully understand themselves without acknowledging and accepting all parts of their personalities.  I also gave the sun and moon, a dark, kind of macabre, look as I am a huge horror fan and have always been attracted to the darker side of things.  Originally, I had them inked by Robert “Binky” Ryan (then at Body Art World in Pt. Pleasant, NJ but now Electric Tattoo in Bradley Beach, NJ) in 2004.  They were done in grey wash and I was happy with them for about 5 years, in which point I decided to have them colored in, and had some background added.  The color and background were added by Brody Longo at Slingin’ Ink in Pt. Pleasant Beach, NJ.

The next piece I got was an anchor on my inner forearm.  The anchor represents all the things that drag me down in life.  Across the anchor is a banner that reads “P.M.A.” the abbreviation for positive mental attitude.  I feel the first step in pushing through any kind of hardship in life is to have a positive attitude, and the rest will follow.  I want to say the original use of PMA was in a Bad Brains song, but I pulled it from its use in the Glassjaw song “Piano.”  This tattoo is also a throwback to the band Glassjaw, as they have been my favorite band for I would have to say at least 10 years now and I have experienced just about every emotion possible while listening to their albums.  So as an added bonus, the tattoo brings me back to all those memories.  The tattoo was done by Rich Heller at Electric Tattoo in Bradley Beach, NJ.





Thanks to Sean for sharing all of this with us here on Tattoosday, and for patiently waiting for me to post it!



Stay tuned for part 2.....

Obama Cancels Moon Project

This is a strange story. While it seems to be the standard "recession causes cutbacks" thing, there are deeper considerations at work here too.

Firstly, it's clearly a reversal of the 1960s policies. When JFK committed the US to reaching the Moon, the subsequent president (Nixon didn't have time to do much about it) followed it through. In part, this was because LBJ was consciously trying to capitalise on the JFK legacy and somehow therefore ensure his administration wasn't dominated by the escalating Vietnam crisis. In that, he was only partly successful. Obama of course is trying to undo the Bush legacy in almost every way. And this project, so long term and so expensive, was designed as a Bush legacy thing - something for people to remember him by in generations to come. It wasn't a real aspiration in the way that it was in the 60s.

And the reasons for that is the second point. We're just not interested anymore. Our scientific interests are entirely to do with our bodies. Biology - that's what we want. From that point of view, our range of inquiry has narrowed. We don't look outwards now. No-one wants to go back to the moon: the practical benefits look slight; the costs and risks immense; and the sense of achievement it would bring is irrelevant - we simply don't value that kind of achievement. We are much more likely to condemn it as wasteful and so on.

Thirdly, the whole project seemed somewhat uninspired. The rocket was new, but the delivery systems were entirely based on Apollo, just with updated computers and guidance and so on. NASA's argument was to the effect of "why rewrite a hit" but it made the whole idea seem derivative and as if they were just going through the motions - very expensive motions, at that. Is this unfair? Perhaps. But for a project intended to be concluded some fifty one years after the original moon landings, using the same designs is strange. Were there really no other ideas?

While I deplore the lack of imagination in this decision, and the fact that it's all too predictable in an era that is not interested in anything outside its own genitals, the project was definitely flawed. If Obama and his government can come up with anything more interesting, I'd be all for it. It does look as if they are going for something they are condemning elsewhere -a private sector, private finance set of initiatives.

Who'd a thunk it?