Inked into the mainstream, tattoos are here to stay
When Carlos Haas completes the finishing touches of color in his newest design, it gets up and walks right out the door.
Haas is a tattoo artist and the general manager of Tribal Rites Tattoo and Piercing, which opened on The Hill in 1999. In the last twenty years Haas has seen the tattoo world grow and change into something no one predicted: tattoos went mainstream.
“Tattooing emerged from the underground alternative club culture 15 to 20 years ago in the late ’80s or early ’90s. Before that it was already changing, but it wasn’t known by the general public,” Haas said.
Before this modern renaissance of skin-based art, tattoos were better known for being in the realm of rebels, motorcycle gangs, prisoners and sailors. Subject matter was frequently dark, associated with death and pain, or the stereotypical busty nude woman on a sailor’s chest.
Today’s artists are as likely to be tattooing angel wings on the back of a bride-to-be, or a Tweety Bird on a school bus driver’s upper arm. Yet the art of tattooing has gone beyond the simple designs of the past.
Tattoo artists have produced stunning works of art on canvases of skin. Many travel with their subjects to tattoo art shows to compete in body art competitions such as the Body Art Expo, showing in Denver Oct. 12 through Oct. 14.
Sophomore Kaitlyn Stechmesser and freshman Sarah Mahoney, agree that they admire tattoo art. They also agree that getting a tattoo is not for them.
“It’s really not my thing,” Mahoney said. “It would take some guts to do that.”
So where is the line drawn between a tattoo and art?
Freshman Dylan Theall sports a large black tattoo on his chest that is readily visible to the most casual observer. Theall isn’t sure a butterfly on a girl’s ankle qualifies as art, but noted there are differing ideas as to what qualifies as ‘art’.
“Tattooing can be a fine art, like any painting,” Theall said.
Haas has strict criteria for determining what is a quality tattoo, and what is simply poor work and craftsmanship, but said that the idea of art is individual.
“Art is so subjective to personal opinion,” Haas said.
Contact Campus Press Staff Writer Arwyn Rice at arwyn.rice@cucampuspress.com.
