Sunday, June 07, 2009

It's 7AM and I'm out of bed, I gave up on hopes of sleeping in today. I had a tattoo session yesterday and I almost never sleep well after a session. You just can't get 100% comfortable if there are parts of your body you can't move or roll over on without discomfort. I also had a session 2 weeks ago, sorry I didn't post pictures but the tattoo just wasn't far enough along in the healing process. Over the past two sessions we've been filling in the background on my upper arm, most of it on the inside near the armpit and yesterday where your arm meets your back. This area takes a bit longer to heal since it is in constant motion. But it's exciting to see the tattoo on my arm starting to be connected to the tattoo on my back. I should be able to get more pics up before my next session in a few weeks.

As I mentioned in my last post, I received a copy of Mario Barth's "Under the Skin" documentary which features Horitoshi. After watching it, I'd have to give it mixed marks. In the documentary Mr. Barth makes his way over to Tokyo for the annual Sanja Matsuri festival, which if you've been following me you know I also visited (I believe I was there the year before Mario, you can check out the archived post with a few pictures here.) The interviews with Horitoshi and family are short, but a picture emerges of the artist as exceptionally committed to his craft and refreshingly humble. A few of Horitoshi's clients are featured and the work they display is just incredible. At the end of the film you also get a taste of the festival, which is just insane - I highly recommend checking it out someday if you can. I suppose what bothered me about the film is that I got the feeling that in the end it is just another promotional tool for the Mario Barth marketing machine; that staking out his rather dubious claims to be the "only Westerner welcome to immerse into this highly guarded world" and thereby raising his own profile was secondary to exploring the world of Horitoshi and Japanese tattoo. But perhaps I'm cynical, so please, check it out yourself and draw your own conclusions.

The other day someone remarked my tattoo was "quite an accomplishment". I reminded them I don't actually do anything, I just lie there. The accomplishment is all Horizakura's.

2 comments:

mikael Mirdad said...

that's true. You have the same feeling as me after i watched that film. Don ed hardy had been in the festival back in 80s. I hate Mario Barth because of the self-proclaimed.

Anyway, my name is Mikael from Indonesia. I really enjoy reading your blog and see your bodysuit progress.

As for me, i just got appointment to start my backpiece with Horiyoshi in October. So wish me luck.

nice to know you

Mike Crash said...

Thanks for the comment and good luck! Horiyoshi is a great artist..