A new Path
I recently received an art book called, “The art of Kelogsloops” (I am currently devouring it) and felt really compelled to stop for a moment.
Hieu, the artist this book is about, discusses his process, and then shows a montage of sketches, ideas, mostly just bullet-pointed words, quickly written down. This is the research stage. Finding meaning and purpose within the theme he’s settled on for the next exhibition. It’s not just about creating something beautiful, it really is about telling a story.
This is where I think a lot of tattooing fails. Sure, we want a tattoo to be a solid piece of work. And yes, I totally understand the limitations of this particular medium. However, I think alot of artists struggle with finding their purpose. We let the story of our clients guide us to such a degree we loose our identity. We fumble on the elements of the design that not only mean something to us, but can be identifying features of our own style choices. To some degree, I’ve fallen victim to this too. Above all, I want to make you happy. But I can’t neglect the parts of myself that go into this process too.
I also recently watched a video about Jeff Gogue—if you don’t know, go find out. He’s a great artist. He travels to Japan to get tattooed by one of the most remarkable tattooers alive today. It’s an old video, but what strikes me right now is that it parallels what I feel is happening with my tangent above.
Jeff goes there and expects to just get a tattoo. Shige, the tattooer, says, “no I don’t have time.” and kind of leaves that where it is. He instead spends time talking to Jeff, asking about why. Regardless of the language barrier, he’s trying to dig deep and get an understanding of this persons character and who they are. This is most likely his research stage, deciding what elements should be included, what historically from a Japanese tattooing standpoint makes sense. (There is a lot of meaning and symbolism in Japanese art/tattooing, if you didn’t know.) Building a foundation for something bigger than the original idea.
I feel really inspired to change my approach. I will absolutely continue to hear your needs and ideas. But I think I will start asking why more often. Maybe deeper within that well, I can find something I can connect to, to help create something truly special. Something that can be born from my own style and choices, and to who I am. I think this is a piece of my art that is missing that I think can radically change everything.