Back from LA

Just got back from the Perseverance show in LA.  Great show! If you're in the area, I highly recommend checking it out at the Japanese American National Museum.  I was glad to see Horitoshi's presence felt via Junii, LA Horitaka, and of course Horizakura. If you can't make the show, I recommend the catalog - great pics, recollections and commentary, and at a very reasonable price!  Here are a few pics of the book and a few pics nabbed from Horitaka's Instagram page. Big ups to Taki for putting together a tremendous exhibit, I'm glad I could be a small part of it.

Front cover of catalog

 

Inside, a page from artist LA Horitaka!

Best pics so far of me in my current state, nice job Kip Fulbeck

Glimpse of the setup at the show, larger than life and double-sided full body prints were amazing!

More shots from opening night

Perseverance 2014

At Shinji's urging, yesterday I met up with Horitaka from State of Grace Tattoo in San Jose and artist/photgrapher Kip Fulbeck.  They were in town taking pictures for a show on Japanese tattoo in LA next Spring at the Japanese American National Museum (see event info here, Facebook page here).  The guys at Kings Avenue Tattoo setup a little area in back for photography, and we did our thing.  Excited to see the show and accompanying book, and grateful that Shinji, Taki, and Kip would have me involved! Will post an update as I hear more.

Shot of the setup, from Taki's Instagram account

I finished my munewari and I completely dropped the ball on this blog! Sorry guys, I suppose mentally I've moved on to other things. Being distracted by my recent wedding may have also had something to do with it. I say "finished" but we'll see - I'm still considering something around my neck, if we come up with an interesting take on the standard juzu border that may happen. Since I don't have any more work planned, this could very well be my last post! Seems like an opportune time to share a picture of my face, I don't believe I've ever done that all this time. Thanks for sharing the last 7 years with me, it's been an experience! Pics pulled from the Adorned site, Shinji took these.

 

In the Spring 2012 issue of i-D Magazine, hitting newsstands now! I joked with Carolyn Murphy that I was more than happy to be an uncredited armrest in this photo-shoot, but it's true.  Some cool pics in this series by Iango Henzi and Daniele Duella , everything seemed very promising from what I saw in the studio.  Hopefully I can get my hands on a hard-copy soon.

Heck of a way to start the Year of the Dragon.

What's next? All that's left is something for the center of my chest..to be decided.

Happy New Year! This year is the year of the Dragon, and mine are coming along beautifully.

This is my left wrist, almost done! Next week we'll put the finishing touches on this one, and I wouldn't be surprised if we finished the other dragon as well.
On New Year's Day I went to the annual Coney Island Polar Bear Swim, which was a lot of fun.  My first time, and the mild weather this year made it much easier than I imagined.  Still, the Atlantic is chilly in January!

There was a large crowd gathered and as soon as I stripped down to my trunks there was plenty of curiosity.  I didn't expect it, but old women were the most straightforward.  Not afraid to touch and ask lots of questions! I'm plenty happy to talk to nice old ladies though.

Finally got my copy of the Bloodwork book. Wow! I'm blown away. The first surprise was when the two volume set was handed to me.  It's so damn heavy I almost dropped it on my foot.  I'd say about 30lbs of great tattoo pics.

Wonderful design on the cover, as you can see. The second surprise was when I opened the book - they used one of my pictures for the inside cover! Guess they liked it.

These books cover many different artists from all over the world, and the general format is a cover page with a portrait of the artist and a map showing their location, and then several pages devoted to each tattoo collector associated with that artist.  Each collector gets a smaller portrait, a fold-out three page spread with  a couple of views, as well as a few more pages devoted to more full-page views and several detail shots. These are all full body tattoos, hence the "Bodies" name.

My name is actually misspelled on my title page, but I'm not mad.  I was actually reconsidering giving my full name in the first place.  Problem solved! My bare ass is all over the damn place, is it wrong to hope for a modicum of anonymity?

Here's my three-page foldout.  Trying to suck in my gut. ;)

Another view of my back, and some detail shots.
I don't want to share photos of the other artwork, but trust me, there is plenty of tremendous artwork showcased in these two books.  This is absolutely the best tattoo book I own as far as quality of subjects, pictures, and overall design and packaging.  If you're an appreciator of tattoo art like me, do yourself a favor and check out this book. I'm honored to be a part of it.