How Come Body Art Is Suddenly All The Rage?
Lately, the passion for body art and tattoos is spreading like a wildfire. Some ten years ago, tattoos were either a symbol of belonging to some group or just a sign of an eccentric person, more or less. Today, it is not uncommon to find artists wielding their tattoo machines in beauty salons (in a separate room, of course, for sanitary reasons) or to stumble upon an ink-master’s own parlor on the corner of your neighborhood. Every other celebrity has a tattoo, some have multiple, like Angelina Jolie, David Beckham, Kelly Osbourne, and Miley Cyrus. How did it come to be so hip? Here are some educated guesses.
It Is a Sign of Strength
The tattoo tradition has been accepted throughout the ages in many countries, dating as far back as 10,000 B.C. From Pacific islands tribes to India to Japan, body art can be found nearly everywhere. And, likewise, nearly everywhere it was historically a sign of some kind of status. Renowned warriors, tribe chiefs, shamans—persons of power or mystique bore symbols on their bodies and faces. One of the reasons for that was that, without today’s technology and medicine, to make a permanent body art one had to go through tremendous amounts of pain worthy of respect and admiration.
In Japan, the traditional art of irezumi is still primarily associated with the yakuza, organized crime people, and not just any small-fry gang members but those who have achieved something in the underworld: to get an irezumi you have to first earn it. As a result, criminals or not, the heavily tattooed individuals were seen as strong, brave, powerful, even rich. Prison-originated and crime-related body art was also widespread in Russia as well as the USA.
It Is a Way to Express Oneself
Tattoos are permanent. Or, to be more correct, removing one completely requires quite a sum of money, it is time-consuming and rather painful, more so than inking yourself originally. That’s why when we make a tat, we first think about what we want it to mean. The things we want people know about us without us telling them often find places on our bodies expressed with quotes, symbols, images.
Tattoos, especially with eye-catchy Tattoo Fonts, make us unique, which seems to be a struggle in the modern world where all the borders between normal and strange has been blurred. Furthermore, inking your body is believed to have therapeutic effect, it’s like making your body—yours and yours only, at least, in your head. Claiming it. We find power within ourselves by simply looking at the ‘Never Give Up’s and ‘You Can Do It’s written in a beautiful font on a shoulder, arm, or under the ribs.
It Is a Form of Art
A tattoo artist is just that—an artist. Same as other forms of art, body art makes impact, it can drive people, change them and how they see themselves and the world. The simplest design can be done in a way that draws eyes to the bearer just like the smile of Mona Lisa has been drawing eyes of viewers throughout the centuries. It just takes a good artist.
Tattoo designs can be simple or they can be complex, as well as intricate, flowing, powerful, gentle, and all wide selection of adjectives. Body artists are talented creatures who draw on peoples’ skin, and what they create there is very special to them and their clients. And it is every part as precious as other forms of art. And when the most famous tattoo artists become celebrities of sorts, recognized by their designs and celebrated, it does not surprise anyone.