1
00:00:01,863 --> 00:00:07,007
♪

2
00:00:02,000 --> 00:00:07,000
Downloaded from
YTS.MX

3
00:00:07,007 --> 00:00:11,873
♪

4
00:00:08,000 --> 00:00:13,000
Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.MX

5
00:00:29,443 --> 00:00:31,031
With tattooing,
we're dealing with something

6
00:00:31,134 --> 00:00:34,137
that I term a "lingua calda,"

7
00:00:34,241 --> 00:00:36,277
tattooing is a hot language.

8
00:00:36,381 --> 00:00:39,315
It's the cellular semiotics
of communication

9
00:00:39,418 --> 00:00:42,628
that we're only now
beginning to realize exists

10
00:00:42,732 --> 00:00:46,046
across the world
and throughout history

11
00:00:46,149 --> 00:00:49,394
in a way that
no other medium functions.

12
00:00:49,497 --> 00:00:52,052
♪

13
00:00:52,155 --> 00:00:56,297
Almost all of my tattoos
have a story, a meaning,

14
00:00:56,401 --> 00:00:58,886
a reason for them
that inspire me

15
00:00:58,989 --> 00:01:00,508
and keep me going.

16
00:01:00,612 --> 00:01:02,993
♪

17
00:01:03,097 --> 00:01:04,271
I got involved with tattooing

18
00:01:04,374 --> 00:01:06,066
because I guess I had
a lot of things

19
00:01:06,169 --> 00:01:09,069
seeping underneath
my unconscious

20
00:01:09,172 --> 00:01:10,898
and I wanted
to give it expression.

21
00:01:11,001 --> 00:01:13,038
♪

22
00:01:13,142 --> 00:01:14,902
My tattoo is

23
00:01:15,005 --> 00:01:19,286
a visualization of myself

24
00:01:19,389 --> 00:01:23,324
that I gather energy from.

25
00:01:23,428 --> 00:01:26,189
When I look at it,
when I feel it,

26
00:01:26,293 --> 00:01:29,158
whether physically
or psychically,

27
00:01:29,261 --> 00:01:32,644
it allows me to be
my own person.

28
00:01:32,747 --> 00:01:37,890
♪

29
00:01:37,890 --> 00:01:42,757
♪

30
00:02:04,538 --> 00:02:09,025
♪ Well, we all come here
to the tattoo convention ♪

31
00:02:09,129 --> 00:02:11,683
♪ To show off
our tattooed hides ♪

32
00:02:11,786 --> 00:02:13,167
♪

33
00:02:13,271 --> 00:02:16,619
♪ We are the tattooed
world of the nations ♪

34
00:02:16,722 --> 00:02:20,795
♪ One family,
and tattoo is our bride ♪

35
00:02:20,899 --> 00:02:25,179
♪ If you ever come with us
to the tattoo convention ♪

36
00:02:25,283 --> 00:02:29,149
♪ You'll see
the world's oldest art ♪

37
00:02:29,252 --> 00:02:32,945
♪ And it is a time
of great celebration ♪

38
00:02:33,049 --> 00:02:35,810
♪ And everyone here
is a star ♪

39
00:02:35,914 --> 00:02:39,262
♪ It is a time
of great celebration ♪

40
00:02:39,366 --> 00:02:44,474
♪ And everyone here is a star ♪

41
00:02:44,578 --> 00:02:47,028
♪

42
00:02:47,132 --> 00:02:48,271
I know initials give you--

43
00:02:48,375 --> 00:02:49,893
Turn your chair around.

44
00:02:49,997 --> 00:02:52,517
Sit sideways to me here, buddy.

45
00:02:52,620 --> 00:02:54,484
Names or initials,
if you're a married man,

46
00:02:54,588 --> 00:02:56,693
-give you a fit.
-Well, I had to put on...

47
00:02:56,797 --> 00:02:59,075
I know it, but it's
some girl's name, ain't it?

48
00:02:59,179 --> 00:03:01,595
-Yeah.
-And your wife don't like it,

49
00:03:01,698 --> 00:03:02,389
is that what it is?

50
00:03:02,492 --> 00:03:03,907
Well, not really, I just...

51
00:03:04,011 --> 00:03:06,393
Here, put your hand
straight through here, buddy.

52
00:03:06,496 --> 00:03:09,154
There you go. Now you lean--
you lean right.

53
00:03:09,258 --> 00:03:10,535
A little--a little further now.

54
00:03:10,638 --> 00:03:12,709
All right, did somebody
send you to me?

55
00:03:12,813 --> 00:03:14,435
No, I'm just cruising
up the avenue.

56
00:03:14,539 --> 00:03:16,368
-You haven't heard of me?
-No, sir.

57
00:03:16,472 --> 00:03:18,198
Oh, raise your arm up.

58
00:03:18,301 --> 00:03:20,614
Well, I'm known
all over the world,

59
00:03:20,717 --> 00:03:22,132
so have faith in me.

60
00:03:22,236 --> 00:03:24,065
When I was a junior in college,

61
00:03:24,169 --> 00:03:26,240
I was taking a folklore course

62
00:03:26,344 --> 00:03:29,830
and needed to write
a fieldwork paper.

63
00:03:29,933 --> 00:03:32,281
♪

64
00:03:32,384 --> 00:03:35,698
One night, I was wandering
off-campus with a friend.

65
00:03:35,801 --> 00:03:39,391
In the distance,
I saw a sign that said,

66
00:03:39,495 --> 00:03:44,293
"Tattooing by the teacher
of the art since 1928.

67
00:03:44,396 --> 00:03:47,675
As ancient as time,
as modern as tomorrow."

68
00:03:47,779 --> 00:03:48,918
♪

69
00:03:49,021 --> 00:03:52,162
We got to the tattoo shop
and I looked inside,

70
00:03:52,266 --> 00:03:56,581
saw the silhouette of a man
hunched over in a wheelchair,

71
00:03:56,684 --> 00:04:00,343
electric eye
flashing on and off,

72
00:04:00,447 --> 00:04:04,554
a basset hound howling
as I looked in the window,

73
00:04:04,658 --> 00:04:08,006
and I felt like I was
in a different world.

74
00:04:08,109 --> 00:04:12,252
This was, for me, at that time,

75
00:04:12,355 --> 00:04:16,532
like being in the middle
of Franz Kafka novel.

76
00:04:16,635 --> 00:04:19,742
♪

77
00:04:19,845 --> 00:04:22,227
The next day, I went back
to the tattoo shop

78
00:04:22,331 --> 00:04:24,954
with my 35-millimeter camera.

79
00:04:25,057 --> 00:04:29,269
So, I took a few snapshots
outside the shop,

80
00:04:29,372 --> 00:04:31,512
and the man inside
yelled at me

81
00:04:31,616 --> 00:04:35,723
to stop taking pictures,
but he wanted me to come in.

82
00:04:35,827 --> 00:04:38,726
I went inside
and he scolded me

83
00:04:38,830 --> 00:04:41,867
for not asking permission
to make his picture.

84
00:04:42,868 --> 00:04:44,076
I apologized.

85
00:04:44,180 --> 00:04:46,286
I knew I was wrong.

86
00:04:46,389 --> 00:04:50,220
He asked me to feel
his muscle

87
00:04:50,324 --> 00:04:53,327
on his arm
and it was just bony.

88
00:04:53,431 --> 00:04:56,675
And then he pulled a pistol
out of his wheelchair

89
00:04:56,779 --> 00:04:59,057
that was hidden
and he put some bullets

90
00:04:59,160 --> 00:05:00,852
on the table in front of him

91
00:05:00,955 --> 00:05:02,854
and they were
hollow-point bullets.

92
00:05:02,957 --> 00:05:05,443
And he said, "Do you know
what hollow-point bullets do

93
00:05:05,546 --> 00:05:07,203
when they enter the body?

94
00:05:07,307 --> 00:05:08,515
They shatter."

95
00:05:08,618 --> 00:05:09,654
♪

96
00:05:09,757 --> 00:05:12,346
And then he reared back
and laughed, and said,

97
00:05:12,450 --> 00:05:15,315
"I can really take care
of myself.

98
00:05:16,246 --> 00:05:18,318
I'm not afraid of anyone.

99
00:05:18,421 --> 00:05:21,251
I've been doing this
a long time, buddy."

100
00:05:21,355 --> 00:05:23,357
Yeah, I was kind of shaking
in my shoes,

101
00:05:23,461 --> 00:05:27,637
and he started telling me
his life story.

102
00:05:27,741 --> 00:05:29,950
I kept coming back
to the shop.

103
00:05:30,053 --> 00:05:33,643
I went back every week
for the next seven years.

104
00:05:33,747 --> 00:05:36,266
-Who did that tattoo?
-This is all me.

105
00:05:36,370 --> 00:05:38,545
-The knee one.
-A friend of mine.

106
00:05:38,648 --> 00:05:40,788
When we was drinking
a lot of beer.

107
00:05:40,892 --> 00:05:43,343
We was young and putting
tattoos on each other.

108
00:05:43,446 --> 00:05:45,137
I tell you why I never like
to ask a guy

109
00:05:45,241 --> 00:05:46,898
who did his homemade job,

110
00:05:47,001 --> 00:05:51,730
because sometimes that's done
in some unfamiliar places.

111
00:05:51,834 --> 00:05:53,422
Yeah, so you don't want
to call the name

112
00:05:53,525 --> 00:05:54,837
and you don't want to tell
where you was at

113
00:05:54,940 --> 00:05:56,597
when you had it put on
so, therefore,

114
00:05:56,701 --> 00:05:59,497
I don't embarrass him
by asking him, you see?

115
00:05:59,600 --> 00:06:02,914
'Cause a lot of that
we call "chain gang tattooing."

116
00:06:03,017 --> 00:06:04,364
Did in jail, a lot of it.

117
00:06:04,467 --> 00:06:05,917
But you can do
the same thing at home

118
00:06:06,020 --> 00:06:07,677
or sitting in Sunday school.

119
00:06:07,781 --> 00:06:11,025
♪

120
00:06:11,129 --> 00:06:12,372
What makes a good tattoo?

121
00:06:12,475 --> 00:06:14,960
A good tattoo is something
the man studied

122
00:06:15,064 --> 00:06:18,032
and thought it out
long before he got it,

123
00:06:18,136 --> 00:06:19,206
then he got it.

124
00:06:19,309 --> 00:06:20,794
-Or as an artist?
-As an art,

125
00:06:20,897 --> 00:06:22,761
it's the shading,
it's not the color.

126
00:06:22,865 --> 00:06:25,868
You could put just
a minimum amount of color

127
00:06:25,971 --> 00:06:28,802
to real good shading
and it'll go over,

128
00:06:28,905 --> 00:06:30,010
it'll stand out.

129
00:06:30,113 --> 00:06:31,598
You take the old-timey tattooing

130
00:06:31,701 --> 00:06:34,117
that was did this way
with heavy shading.

131
00:06:34,221 --> 00:06:35,464
That's the way I was taught.

132
00:06:35,567 --> 00:06:37,569
And I've seen these people
grow older,

133
00:06:37,673 --> 00:06:39,571
their tattoos
still look better,

134
00:06:39,675 --> 00:06:43,748
and they were put on
over 50 years ago.

135
00:06:43,851 --> 00:06:47,683
In the making of the movie,
I wanted to bring

136
00:06:47,786 --> 00:06:50,513
contemporary tattooing
into the film.

137
00:06:50,617 --> 00:06:52,688
Stoney was averse.

138
00:06:52,791 --> 00:06:56,174
He felt there was
a big generation gap

139
00:06:56,277 --> 00:07:00,420
between the tattooing
that he made

140
00:07:00,523 --> 00:07:03,043
and younger tattoo artists
who were starting

141
00:07:03,146 --> 00:07:04,803
to come on to the scene.

142
00:07:04,907 --> 00:07:09,739
Stoney described himself as
being part of the old school.

143
00:07:09,843 --> 00:07:12,604
And Stoney felt that
most young tattoo artists

144
00:07:12,708 --> 00:07:15,642
had no respect
for this tradition.

145
00:07:15,745 --> 00:07:18,299
So, I'd keep suggesting people
that I read about

146
00:07:18,403 --> 00:07:20,232
in little magazines
and otherwise,

147
00:07:20,336 --> 00:07:22,372
tattooing was still very much

148
00:07:22,476 --> 00:07:25,445
kind of an underground art form
at that point,

149
00:07:25,548 --> 00:07:27,895
and came across an article
about a man

150
00:07:27,999 --> 00:07:30,380
by the name of Ed Hardy.

151
00:07:30,484 --> 00:07:33,245
And I talked to Stoney
about Ed Hardy,

152
00:07:33,349 --> 00:07:36,386
and Stoney looked at me
a little surprised

153
00:07:36,490 --> 00:07:38,768
that I knew about him
because I really was

154
00:07:38,872 --> 00:07:41,219
just learning about tattooing.

155
00:07:41,322 --> 00:07:43,359
And Stoney looked at me
and he said,

156
00:07:43,463 --> 00:07:46,327
"Ed Hardy is a prince."

157
00:07:46,431 --> 00:07:49,123
And he saw Ed Hardy
as being someone

158
00:07:49,227 --> 00:07:50,849
of a younger generation

159
00:07:50,953 --> 00:07:54,612
who really respected
the old school

160
00:07:54,715 --> 00:07:57,891
and was carrying forth
with skills

161
00:07:57,994 --> 00:08:00,307
that he didn't have.

162
00:08:00,410 --> 00:08:03,586
And he agreed

163
00:08:03,690 --> 00:08:06,037
to have Ed Hardy in the film.

164
00:08:06,140 --> 00:08:07,728
You got a fantastic shop here,
this is great.

165
00:08:07,832 --> 00:08:10,006
Oh, this is ancient stuff.

166
00:08:10,110 --> 00:08:13,838
I never was much of a hand
to change anything.

167
00:08:13,941 --> 00:08:16,150
Okay, so we'll build up
a design

168
00:08:16,254 --> 00:08:19,015
within this snake form
that's already here.

169
00:08:19,119 --> 00:08:20,465
This is like an infinity symbol

170
00:08:20,569 --> 00:08:23,157
of the world
coming back on itself.

171
00:08:23,261 --> 00:08:26,885
I'm gonna do a water principle
thing in here

172
00:08:26,989 --> 00:08:30,751
since she's a water sign

173
00:08:30,855 --> 00:08:35,169
and basically deal with
kind of a yin-yang form

174
00:08:35,273 --> 00:08:39,415
but not a rigid format
within this oval shape here,

175
00:08:39,519 --> 00:08:41,728
and make two opposing

176
00:08:41,831 --> 00:08:44,834
kind of wave forces
swirling around.

177
00:08:44,938 --> 00:08:47,941
I'm sort of a sucker
for recognizable imagery

178
00:08:48,044 --> 00:08:52,048
that has a symbology
behind it.

179
00:08:52,152 --> 00:08:53,878
You know, I'm into tattoos
and symbols too.

180
00:08:53,981 --> 00:08:56,536
All mine are pretty much
amulets that I'm wearing.

181
00:08:56,639 --> 00:08:58,538
So, if we could do something
to continue

182
00:08:58,641 --> 00:09:01,092
with that kind of
Oriental thing of...

183
00:09:01,195 --> 00:09:02,438
Maybe seasonal flowers.

184
00:09:02,542 --> 00:09:03,957
If I can do a few
small cherry blossoms

185
00:09:04,060 --> 00:09:05,683
and a few small maple leaves,
and that would stand

186
00:09:05,786 --> 00:09:08,478
for the turning seasons
of the winter/fall season

187
00:09:08,582 --> 00:09:10,619
and then the spring season,
which are both--

188
00:09:10,722 --> 00:09:12,655
Fall is a prelude to winter

189
00:09:12,759 --> 00:09:14,795
and then the spring
is a prelude to summer.

190
00:09:14,899 --> 00:09:16,486
So, we'd get kind of
a double layer

191
00:09:16,590 --> 00:09:17,557
of meaning that way.

192
00:09:17,660 --> 00:09:18,937
Is that all right?

193
00:09:19,041 --> 00:09:21,975
I just always thought
that flowers and trees

194
00:09:22,078 --> 00:09:25,806
and things like that
were somewhat typical tattoos.

195
00:09:25,910 --> 00:09:27,981
-Not the way I tattoo.
-No? Okay.

196
00:09:28,084 --> 00:09:29,569
You've got to remember
that a lot of images

197
00:09:29,672 --> 00:09:31,640
that have become popular
become kind of clichés,

198
00:09:31,743 --> 00:09:33,434
there's a reason
they got so popular

199
00:09:33,538 --> 00:09:36,403
'cause they're so well-suited
to being used as tattoos.

200
00:09:36,506 --> 00:09:38,923
I'm kind of into tattoos being

201
00:09:39,026 --> 00:09:42,409
you know, real one-of-a-kind
sort of things.

202
00:09:42,512 --> 00:09:44,756
I never had one yet
that didn't hurt.

203
00:09:44,860 --> 00:09:46,309
-Oh, don't say that.
-But...

204
00:09:46,413 --> 00:09:49,174
No, I'm not trying
to flip you out or anything.

205
00:09:49,278 --> 00:09:50,451
'Cause I'm really nervous.

206
00:09:50,555 --> 00:09:52,384
I know, yeah,
everybody is on these,

207
00:09:52,488 --> 00:09:54,524
but all you got to do
is, primarily,

208
00:09:54,628 --> 00:09:55,836
if you can really relax,

209
00:09:55,940 --> 00:09:57,769
I know that's easier
said than done.

210
00:09:57,873 --> 00:10:00,047
Okay, and I'll start out--
I'll start out real small,

211
00:10:00,151 --> 00:10:03,050
okay, with just a little bit,
all right?

212
00:10:03,154 --> 00:10:06,467
When I got into tattooing
professionally 26 years ago,

213
00:10:06,571 --> 00:10:09,574
I made a conscious move
to abandon the fine art

214
00:10:09,678 --> 00:10:12,094
or high art world
where I was a printmaker

215
00:10:12,197 --> 00:10:13,992
and was showing my works

216
00:10:14,096 --> 00:10:17,547
and never thought that
it would really return to that,

217
00:10:17,651 --> 00:10:20,378
but tattooing has gained
credibility

218
00:10:20,481 --> 00:10:22,207
within the fine art world.

219
00:10:22,311 --> 00:10:23,588
♪

220
00:10:23,692 --> 00:10:27,212
Ed Hardy, during the height
of his career

221
00:10:27,316 --> 00:10:29,421
as a tattoo artist,

222
00:10:29,525 --> 00:10:33,391
was the most important
practitioner

223
00:10:33,494 --> 00:10:36,739
of that art form
in the world.

224
00:10:36,843 --> 00:10:39,259
He had a studio
in San Francisco

225
00:10:39,362 --> 00:10:41,606
located on Van Ness Avenue

226
00:10:41,710 --> 00:10:43,470
in kind of an office building.

227
00:10:43,573 --> 00:10:45,368
Didn't have a sign out front.

228
00:10:45,472 --> 00:10:47,301
It was very nondescript.

229
00:10:47,405 --> 00:10:51,409
Ed Hardy clients were people
who were willing to spend

230
00:10:51,512 --> 00:10:54,757
thousands and thousands
of dollars on their tattoos

231
00:10:54,861 --> 00:10:56,828
but who generally kept

232
00:10:56,932 --> 00:10:59,866
a very private, low profile

233
00:10:59,969 --> 00:11:02,489
in terms of the presence
of their tattoos

234
00:11:02,592 --> 00:11:06,079
within their normal work life.

235
00:11:06,182 --> 00:11:10,048
They were bankers and lawyers
and artists and others.

236
00:11:10,152 --> 00:11:16,606
♪

237
00:11:16,710 --> 00:11:17,987
The first thing I remember
was Ed had

238
00:11:18,091 --> 00:11:21,232
a tengu on the wall,
over here it was.

239
00:11:21,335 --> 00:11:23,855
And it was the first thing
that I saw.

240
00:11:23,959 --> 00:11:26,030
He had just opened
a short time ago before that,

241
00:11:26,133 --> 00:11:27,548
and it was
the very first thing I saw

242
00:11:27,652 --> 00:11:29,067
and it popped out of my head.

243
00:11:29,171 --> 00:11:30,793
I went, "Oh, my God," I said,
"We got to get this,"

244
00:11:30,897 --> 00:11:32,692
you know,
or something like this.

245
00:11:32,795 --> 00:11:35,384
It's been growing ever since.

246
00:11:35,487 --> 00:11:37,697
The legend of the tengu
is all over.

247
00:11:39,181 --> 00:11:40,734
Yeah, these things,
I think, are so great,

248
00:11:40,838 --> 00:11:44,289
these kind of mythical,
part bird, part man.

249
00:11:44,393 --> 00:11:45,774
Well, they mean a lot to me.

250
00:11:45,877 --> 00:11:48,984
Their protection
and their beauty,

251
00:11:49,087 --> 00:11:50,433
and I like the Oriental art.

252
00:11:50,537 --> 00:11:51,814
I always have liked that.

253
00:11:51,918 --> 00:11:56,750
And to find
such a talented man to do it

254
00:11:56,854 --> 00:11:59,028
is even more of an honor.

255
00:11:59,132 --> 00:12:01,134
♪

256
00:12:01,237 --> 00:12:03,584
When you really realize
that you are changing yourself,

257
00:12:03,688 --> 00:12:05,172
that you're making
some kind of statement

258
00:12:05,276 --> 00:12:07,381
with the piece, you know,
even if it's not--

259
00:12:07,485 --> 00:12:10,108
not to be real serious
or overly mental about it,

260
00:12:10,212 --> 00:12:12,593
but I think a lot
of people now,

261
00:12:12,697 --> 00:12:13,733
the people that
I'm dealing with

262
00:12:13,836 --> 00:12:15,044
and that some of
the rest of us,

263
00:12:15,148 --> 00:12:18,082
you know, that are doing
more kind of conscious

264
00:12:18,185 --> 00:12:19,635
whatever you might
want to call it, you know,

265
00:12:19,739 --> 00:12:22,500
art tattooing
or more thought-out stuff,

266
00:12:22,603 --> 00:12:24,364
they think a lot about
what they're going to get

267
00:12:24,467 --> 00:12:27,643
and they're choosing something
that as a piece

268
00:12:27,747 --> 00:12:30,094
that will transform
aspects of their life.

269
00:12:30,197 --> 00:12:33,994
They're choosing it very--
tuning it down very finely,

270
00:12:34,098 --> 00:12:35,755
you know, choosing it
very carefully.

271
00:12:35,858 --> 00:12:38,378
And when you're able
to deal with an artist

272
00:12:38,481 --> 00:12:40,794
who can visualize
what you have in your mind,

273
00:12:40,898 --> 00:12:42,727
whose primary reason
for being there

274
00:12:42,831 --> 00:12:44,902
is to interpret these things,

275
00:12:45,005 --> 00:12:49,630
you get into a lot more
sophisticated kind of imagery.

276
00:12:49,734 --> 00:12:51,253
♪

277
00:12:51,356 --> 00:12:53,669
[whirring]

278
00:12:53,773 --> 00:12:55,326
♪

279
00:12:57,086 --> 00:12:58,778
-Are you okay?
-Oh, yeah.

280
00:12:58,881 --> 00:13:01,884
I'm--I'm so surprised
how little I feel it.

281
00:13:01,988 --> 00:13:06,061
It's, uh, it's amazing.

282
00:13:06,164 --> 00:13:08,580
The objective
always was, I guess,

283
00:13:08,684 --> 00:13:10,410
to get the most amount
of pigment in

284
00:13:10,513 --> 00:13:14,966
with the very least
possible damage to the cells.

285
00:13:15,070 --> 00:13:16,968
You know, before you started,

286
00:13:17,072 --> 00:13:19,315
he told you that
all tattoos hurt?

287
00:13:19,419 --> 00:13:21,524
-Yeah.
-They do.

288
00:13:21,628 --> 00:13:22,974
There's no use in lying
about it

289
00:13:23,078 --> 00:13:26,322
or buttered you all up, buddy.

290
00:13:26,426 --> 00:13:29,636
Get you all relaxed
and then wham.

291
00:13:29,739 --> 00:13:31,362
Don't get tattoos
just for the hell of it,

292
00:13:31,465 --> 00:13:34,814
just because somebody
calls you chicken.

293
00:13:34,917 --> 00:13:37,402
Maybe I was tattooing
in my last life or something

294
00:13:37,506 --> 00:13:39,888
and then--'cause I was
aimed at it so early,

295
00:13:39,991 --> 00:13:43,132
when I picked up on it
as a kid, I was just...

296
00:13:43,236 --> 00:13:45,272
You know, it just seemed
so right for me

297
00:13:45,376 --> 00:13:47,378
and I felt that that's what
I should do with my life.

298
00:13:47,481 --> 00:13:50,070
And, so, I was thinking
if I do good enough

299
00:13:50,174 --> 00:13:52,245
with it this time,
then maybe we'll really be out

300
00:13:52,348 --> 00:13:55,420
in the rocket phase
next time around.

301
00:13:55,524 --> 00:13:57,457
[whirring]

302
00:13:57,560 --> 00:13:59,493
But I'm not really actively
worried about that.

303
00:13:59,597 --> 00:14:01,357
I'm just having fun now.

304
00:14:01,461 --> 00:14:04,533
Tattooing is so great because
it's the most immediate art

305
00:14:04,636 --> 00:14:06,052
that there is,

306
00:14:06,155 --> 00:14:09,089
and it's something
that you have to get

307
00:14:09,193 --> 00:14:10,435
all the enjoyment out of.

308
00:14:10,539 --> 00:14:12,782
It forces you
as a creative individual,

309
00:14:12,886 --> 00:14:14,715
if you do it
when you can practice it

310
00:14:14,819 --> 00:14:16,338
in a creative kind of form.

311
00:14:16,441 --> 00:14:18,788
You can't always, you know,
depending on the person

312
00:14:18,892 --> 00:14:21,308
and the circumstances,

313
00:14:21,412 --> 00:14:23,448
but you have to do it--

314
00:14:23,552 --> 00:14:27,901
It's going on immediately
and there's no mistakes.

315
00:14:28,005 --> 00:14:29,799
You know, hopefully
you don't make any mistakes,

316
00:14:29,903 --> 00:14:32,181
and you have to get
everything out of it

317
00:14:32,285 --> 00:14:33,700
while you're doing it,
you can't--it can't be

318
00:14:33,803 --> 00:14:35,184
like a favorite drawing
that you leave around,

319
00:14:35,288 --> 00:14:36,772
you know, and look at
and decide

320
00:14:36,876 --> 00:14:38,394
not to send off
to the gallery or whatever

321
00:14:38,498 --> 00:14:39,913
'cause it just goes away.

322
00:14:40,017 --> 00:14:42,812
And it cuts through
on a lot of the preciousness

323
00:14:42,916 --> 00:14:44,090
and a lot of the bullshit
that I find

324
00:14:44,193 --> 00:14:45,332
in the straight art world,
you know,

325
00:14:45,436 --> 00:14:47,162
because with tattooing,
you just enjoy it

326
00:14:47,265 --> 00:14:49,026
for what it is,
and the person has it,

327
00:14:49,129 --> 00:14:51,891
then they leave,
and it's just--it's just now.

328
00:14:51,994 --> 00:14:53,720
It's like everything,
it's just now.

329
00:14:53,823 --> 00:14:56,965
♪

330
00:14:57,068 --> 00:15:00,140
Ed Hardy had such respect
for Stoney

331
00:15:00,244 --> 00:15:03,557
that he wanted a tattoo
from him.

332
00:15:03,661 --> 00:15:05,111
♪

333
00:15:05,214 --> 00:15:07,527
[whirring]

334
00:15:07,630 --> 00:15:20,022
♪

335
00:15:20,126 --> 00:15:21,748
You got a light touch, Stoney.

336
00:15:21,851 --> 00:15:23,474
Nah.

337
00:15:23,577 --> 00:15:25,510
♪

338
00:15:25,614 --> 00:15:27,202
-Why'd you pick that one?
-I don't know,

339
00:15:27,305 --> 00:15:29,100
I've always liked
cartoon rats, you know,

340
00:15:29,204 --> 00:15:31,206
and it used to be
a nickname of mine

341
00:15:31,309 --> 00:15:34,209
when I was a kid at the beach
and all that.

342
00:15:34,312 --> 00:15:36,901
I just--I really liked
the looks of that on the wall.

343
00:15:37,005 --> 00:15:38,799
It's like any of them,
you know, you just...

344
00:15:40,318 --> 00:15:44,529
It seems like something
that's necessary to have.

345
00:15:44,633 --> 00:15:45,875
This is great.

346
00:15:45,979 --> 00:15:47,774
Yeah, I know this is
the high--high point

347
00:15:47,877 --> 00:15:49,258
of my weekend here, I never--

348
00:15:49,362 --> 00:15:50,777
never thought I'd get
to go home

349
00:15:50,880 --> 00:15:52,365
with something to show
for the trip, you know?

350
00:15:53,435 --> 00:15:55,540
[whirring]

351
00:15:55,644 --> 00:15:57,957
I like Stoney's sense of humor
about his work

352
00:15:58,060 --> 00:15:59,303
and his ability to get...

353
00:15:59,406 --> 00:16:00,960
You know, his drawings
really got

354
00:16:01,063 --> 00:16:02,685
a real, real good feeling to me,

355
00:16:02,789 --> 00:16:05,136
and I wanted to get something
that had a real--

356
00:16:05,240 --> 00:16:09,313
a happy feeling to it,
you know?

357
00:16:09,416 --> 00:16:11,936
[whirring]

358
00:16:19,840 --> 00:16:21,256
It's up there on the wall.

359
00:16:23,775 --> 00:16:26,295
[whirring]

360
00:16:39,860 --> 00:16:41,310
That's a Columbus rat.

361
00:16:41,414 --> 00:16:42,622
They don't have
them kind of rats

362
00:16:42,725 --> 00:16:45,211
-in San Francisco.
-Bring something back home

363
00:16:45,314 --> 00:16:46,729
that's a little unusual,
you know?

364
00:16:46,833 --> 00:16:49,077
That rat is right there.

365
00:16:52,218 --> 00:16:53,943
I sure like the way
you blend colors in.

366
00:16:54,047 --> 00:16:55,393
That's really, really...

367
00:16:55,497 --> 00:16:57,119
I mean, I know you're
the old-school style,

368
00:16:57,223 --> 00:16:59,190
but it's rare that
I've seen anybody--

369
00:16:59,294 --> 00:17:02,297
I haven't really seen anybody
work in the old-school style,

370
00:17:02,400 --> 00:17:05,024
the tradition you came out of
and using color and that,

371
00:17:05,127 --> 00:17:07,026
the way that you've been
doing it.

372
00:17:08,544 --> 00:17:09,925
I think that'll do,
that'll hold me

373
00:17:10,029 --> 00:17:10,960
until the next one, won't it?

374
00:17:11,064 --> 00:17:13,480
We got it solid on that, boss.

375
00:17:13,584 --> 00:17:16,207
Yeah, that's not gonna
go anywhere.

376
00:17:16,311 --> 00:17:19,900
Les Blank, a filmmaker
I'd long admired,

377
00:17:20,004 --> 00:17:22,144
shot Stoney Knows How.

378
00:17:22,248 --> 00:17:24,836
He really connected with Stoney.

379
00:17:24,940 --> 00:17:27,322
In addition,
he really liked Ed Hardy

380
00:17:27,425 --> 00:17:29,772
'cause he had thought
about getting tattoos.

381
00:17:29,876 --> 00:17:31,395
♪

382
00:17:31,498 --> 00:17:34,743
Before he left Columbus
and before Ed left,

383
00:17:34,846 --> 00:17:38,126
they got together
in my backyard in Columbus.

384
00:17:38,229 --> 00:17:42,544
Les got tattooed
with two carnival masks.

385
00:17:42,647 --> 00:17:52,692
♪

386
00:17:52,692 --> 00:18:01,218
♪

387
00:18:01,321 --> 00:18:05,222
Les loved the tattoo
he got from Ed Hardy.

388
00:18:05,325 --> 00:18:06,844
He was very proud of it.

389
00:18:06,947 --> 00:18:08,535
He showed it to everyone.

390
00:18:08,639 --> 00:18:11,711
And Les had gotten to know
Werner Herzog,

391
00:18:11,814 --> 00:18:14,231
who saw his tattoo

392
00:18:14,334 --> 00:18:18,752
and decided he wanted
an Ed Hardy tattoo himself.

393
00:18:18,856 --> 00:18:24,241
♪

394
00:18:24,344 --> 00:18:26,760
At that time,
Les was working on a film

395
00:18:26,864 --> 00:18:28,486
called Burden of Dreams,

396
00:18:28,590 --> 00:18:32,352
which was about the making
of Werner's film Fitzcarraldo,

397
00:18:32,456 --> 00:18:35,252
which was being shot
in the Amazon jungle.

398
00:18:35,355 --> 00:18:36,667
♪

399
00:18:36,770 --> 00:18:39,635
Pacho Lane, who was one
of my collaborators

400
00:18:39,739 --> 00:18:41,913
on the making
of the Stoney film,

401
00:18:42,017 --> 00:18:44,640
was asked to be a translator.

402
00:18:44,744 --> 00:18:48,541
We talked about him,
if he had an opportunity,

403
00:18:48,644 --> 00:18:52,786
filming an interview
with Werner about his tattoo.

404
00:18:52,890 --> 00:18:56,894
♪

405
00:18:56,997 --> 00:18:57,964
Well, where are we?

406
00:18:58,067 --> 00:19:00,449
We are in the jungle.

407
00:19:00,553 --> 00:19:05,972
To specify it,
this is Rio Camisea.

408
00:19:06,075 --> 00:19:09,320
The camp that you see,
I named

409
00:19:09,424 --> 00:19:12,496
"película de muerte,"
"film of death."

410
00:19:12,599 --> 00:19:14,843
We are doing
a pretty crazy film here

411
00:19:14,946 --> 00:19:16,293
named Fitzcarraldo.

412
00:19:16,396 --> 00:19:17,466
♪

413
00:19:17,570 --> 00:19:21,160
And what you see down here
is Rio Camisea.

414
00:19:21,263 --> 00:19:24,784
It's near the confluence
of Rio Urubamba

415
00:19:24,887 --> 00:19:27,304
in southern Peru,

416
00:19:27,407 --> 00:19:31,170
on the eastern slope
of the Andes.

417
00:19:31,273 --> 00:19:32,930
So, you have to look on a map
to find it.

418
00:19:33,033 --> 00:19:37,486
The next civilization is about
600, 700 miles away from here.

419
00:19:37,590 --> 00:19:47,634
♪

420
00:19:47,634 --> 00:19:55,746
♪

421
00:19:55,849 --> 00:19:58,335
And I never thought of having
any tattoo in my life

422
00:19:58,438 --> 00:20:01,200
and then, finally,
Les showed me his--

423
00:20:01,303 --> 00:20:03,340
the man who operates
the camera right now,

424
00:20:03,443 --> 00:20:05,997
we can't see him
because he's behind,

425
00:20:06,101 --> 00:20:07,620
he showed me
a very beautiful tattoo,

426
00:20:07,723 --> 00:20:10,692
and the next week,
I went to the same man.

427
00:20:10,795 --> 00:20:11,969
I was in San Francisco.

428
00:20:12,072 --> 00:20:15,352
His name is Ed Hardy,
whom I found very strange

429
00:20:15,455 --> 00:20:17,043
but very intriguing.

430
00:20:17,146 --> 00:20:19,183
A good man.
I liked him instantly.

431
00:20:19,287 --> 00:20:22,635
He's quite weird,
but a very great master,

432
00:20:22,738 --> 00:20:26,052
probably the greatest master
of his art.

433
00:20:26,155 --> 00:20:27,778
And it is a real art.

434
00:20:27,881 --> 00:20:28,986
♪

435
00:20:29,089 --> 00:20:31,091
It has to do with ritual.

436
00:20:31,195 --> 00:20:33,059
It is a very,
very deep-rooted

437
00:20:33,162 --> 00:20:37,891
kind of atavistic,
archetypical

438
00:20:37,995 --> 00:20:41,067
kind of self-expression,
I think.

439
00:20:41,170 --> 00:20:42,862
And our modern civilization

440
00:20:42,965 --> 00:20:45,244
is one of the few civilizations,

441
00:20:45,347 --> 00:20:50,801
of societies that
does not know tattoos

442
00:20:50,904 --> 00:20:53,838
as such a deep-rooted ritual.

443
00:20:53,942 --> 00:20:56,462
♪

444
00:20:56,565 --> 00:20:58,533
Whether you like tattoos
or not,

445
00:20:58,636 --> 00:21:00,604
your primitive ancestors
were tattooed,

446
00:21:00,707 --> 00:21:02,261
whether you be
from the white race,

447
00:21:02,364 --> 00:21:04,228
the yellow race,
the red race, the brown race,

448
00:21:04,332 --> 00:21:05,988
whatever race you came from,

449
00:21:06,092 --> 00:21:08,197
everywhere the anthropologist
has gone in this world,

450
00:21:08,301 --> 00:21:11,546
he's found tattooing prevalent
or it's been there and gone.

451
00:21:11,649 --> 00:21:14,825
Your primitive ancestors
were tattooed, like it or not.

452
00:21:19,864 --> 00:21:24,110
♪

453
00:21:24,213 --> 00:21:26,699
[whooshing]

454
00:21:26,802 --> 00:21:28,321
♪

455
00:21:28,425 --> 00:21:31,497
I was first a fire-eater,
then a sword swallower.

456
00:21:31,600 --> 00:21:34,085
Then I got tattooed,
was the tattooed man.

457
00:21:34,189 --> 00:21:36,881
And with what little bit
of tattooing I have on me,

458
00:21:36,985 --> 00:21:39,159
it was a lot of tattooing
in the '50s.

459
00:21:39,263 --> 00:21:40,885
It just blew people away.

460
00:21:40,989 --> 00:21:43,129
And, nowadays, I look out
into the audience

461
00:21:43,232 --> 00:21:44,579
and there's people
in the audience

462
00:21:44,682 --> 00:21:47,167
who have much more tattooing
on them than I have.

463
00:21:47,271 --> 00:21:50,688
♪

464
00:21:50,792 --> 00:21:52,828
The most dangerous part
is eating fire,

465
00:21:52,932 --> 00:21:55,659
not blowing the fireballs,

466
00:21:55,762 --> 00:21:57,868
because your lungs
are like an empty gas tank,

467
00:21:57,971 --> 00:22:01,699
and if you should inhale
while you have those fumes

468
00:22:01,803 --> 00:22:03,908
near your mouth, the next time
you put a torch there,

469
00:22:04,012 --> 00:22:06,877
your lungs could literally
explode inside of you.

470
00:22:06,980 --> 00:22:09,224
[exploding]

471
00:22:09,328 --> 00:22:10,432
♪

472
00:22:10,536 --> 00:22:12,538
And you see
when I put out a torch

473
00:22:12,641 --> 00:22:13,953
and close my mouth around it,

474
00:22:14,056 --> 00:22:16,265
I'm trapping the fumes
inside the mouth,

475
00:22:16,369 --> 00:22:18,233
so when I bring
another lit torch here

476
00:22:18,337 --> 00:22:19,683
and, boom, it explodes
and I blow it

477
00:22:19,786 --> 00:22:21,685
to the next torch
before it does anything.

478
00:22:21,788 --> 00:22:34,491
♪

479
00:22:34,594 --> 00:22:36,596
[forceful exhalation]

480
00:22:36,700 --> 00:22:39,047
We haven't left
our primitive roots.

481
00:22:39,150 --> 00:22:41,567
We belong to tribes.

482
00:22:41,670 --> 00:22:43,431
And the circus/carnival
people are my--

483
00:22:43,534 --> 00:22:45,260
that's my tribe, my family.

484
00:22:45,364 --> 00:22:46,744
That's who I relate to.

485
00:22:46,848 --> 00:22:47,745
Outside of that,

486
00:22:47,849 --> 00:22:50,783
the tattoo community
is my tribe.

487
00:22:50,886 --> 00:22:53,372
I don't understand
the general public.

488
00:22:53,475 --> 00:22:56,823
I do, but I don't understand
their way of life.

489
00:22:56,927 --> 00:22:58,998
When I was being tattooed,
I wanted to get

490
00:22:59,101 --> 00:23:03,692
a lot of tattooing done fast.

491
00:23:03,796 --> 00:23:06,695
And never knew anything
that long lines

492
00:23:06,799 --> 00:23:08,387
are a son of a bitch,
you know,

493
00:23:08,490 --> 00:23:10,285
but I figured, you know,
a spiderweb covers

494
00:23:10,389 --> 00:23:12,287
a lot of territory,
but I didn't realize

495
00:23:12,391 --> 00:23:13,288
what I was in for
and all this...

496
00:23:13,392 --> 00:23:14,358
[mimicking whirring]

497
00:23:14,462 --> 00:23:15,532
All these long lines,

498
00:23:15,635 --> 00:23:17,292
you know, on the side here.

499
00:23:17,396 --> 00:23:18,569
I'm an atheist,
but when I had this done,

500
00:23:18,673 --> 00:23:21,400
I saw Jesus in person.

501
00:23:21,503 --> 00:23:23,091
If there are
ten qualifications

502
00:23:23,194 --> 00:23:27,267
to make you a tattoo artist,
making money is number ten.

503
00:23:27,371 --> 00:23:28,752
Number nine is
being an artist.

504
00:23:28,855 --> 00:23:30,719
And if you have no idea
what the other eight are,

505
00:23:30,823 --> 00:23:32,963
you don't belong
in the business.

506
00:23:33,066 --> 00:23:43,111
♪

507
00:23:43,111 --> 00:23:49,117
♪

508
00:23:49,220 --> 00:23:50,981
♪ Have you ever noticed

509
00:23:51,084 --> 00:23:55,744
when the other fellow
doesn't think or act like us ♪

510
00:23:55,848 --> 00:23:57,574
♪

511
00:23:57,677 --> 00:23:59,438
♪ Some of the rest of us

512
00:23:59,541 --> 00:24:02,993
won't even sit beside him
on the bus ♪

513
00:24:03,096 --> 00:24:04,477
♪

514
00:24:04,581 --> 00:24:06,962
♪ We say that
he's a little strange

515
00:24:07,066 --> 00:24:11,726
and brand him with
some hateful made-up name ♪

516
00:24:11,829 --> 00:24:14,073
♪ Why can't
we all be different

517
00:24:14,176 --> 00:24:18,387
and still respect each other
just the same ♪

518
00:24:19,388 --> 00:24:21,701
♪ Oh, down through the ages,

519
00:24:21,805 --> 00:24:26,395
the self-appointed righteous
make the rules ♪

520
00:24:26,499 --> 00:24:28,777
♪ All those in opposition

521
00:24:28,881 --> 00:24:32,712
are said to be
the evil heathen fools ♪

522
00:24:32,816 --> 00:24:33,886
♪

523
00:24:33,989 --> 00:24:36,475
♪ Tattooed people
have been around

524
00:24:36,578 --> 00:24:39,478
for many thousand years ♪

525
00:24:39,581 --> 00:24:41,859
♪ And they've been murdered,
scorned, and hated

526
00:24:41,963 --> 00:24:46,726
by politicians and religions
out of fear ♪

527
00:24:46,830 --> 00:24:48,935
♪ In the South Pacific Islands

528
00:24:49,039 --> 00:24:53,664
lived the Polynesian peoples
long ago ♪

529
00:24:53,768 --> 00:24:57,288
♪ Happy stories were told
on their drums

530
00:24:57,392 --> 00:25:00,809
as they danced to and fro ♪

531
00:25:00,913 --> 00:25:02,880
♪ Their tattooed legs
and bodies

532
00:25:02,984 --> 00:25:07,506
bore the symbols of
their honest ties with life ♪

533
00:25:07,609 --> 00:25:10,854
♪ Every mark and every line
told the truth

534
00:25:10,957 --> 00:25:13,408
of their history and strife ♪

535
00:25:13,512 --> 00:25:14,858
♪

536
00:25:14,961 --> 00:25:17,757
♪ Out of the sea's horizon
came the ships

537
00:25:17,861 --> 00:25:21,036
of the earth's other end ♪

538
00:25:21,140 --> 00:25:24,557
♪ With the foreign people
who thought they had

539
00:25:24,661 --> 00:25:27,905
life's answers for all men ♪

540
00:25:28,009 --> 00:25:29,942
♪ They stepped
upon the beaches

541
00:25:30,045 --> 00:25:34,533
of the Polynesian people's
sacred land ♪

542
00:25:34,636 --> 00:25:36,604
♪ And in time
they tried to kill them,

543
00:25:36,707 --> 00:25:41,056
every woman, every child,
and every man ♪

544
00:25:41,160 --> 00:25:43,438
♪ Yes, these Christian
missionaries

545
00:25:43,542 --> 00:25:46,993
who forgot about
the golden rule ♪

546
00:25:47,097 --> 00:25:51,895
♪ Claimed any Polynesian
with a tattoo was a fool ♪

547
00:25:51,998 --> 00:25:55,933
♪ And not one theologian
to this very day

548
00:25:56,037 --> 00:25:58,004
wants to preach ♪

549
00:25:58,108 --> 00:26:01,214
♪ How these tattooed people
were slaughtered

550
00:26:01,318 --> 00:26:04,286
in the name of
the Prince of Peace ♪♪

551
00:26:04,390 --> 00:26:07,773
♪

552
00:26:09,153 --> 00:26:10,948
True story.

553
00:26:11,052 --> 00:26:14,676
Well, normally, I wouldn't
expose a tattoo so easily.

554
00:26:15,815 --> 00:26:18,922
It also has to do with
discretion a little bit,

555
00:26:19,025 --> 00:26:22,235
but when you go swimming or so,
it shows.

556
00:26:22,339 --> 00:26:24,203
But I'll show it to you.

557
00:26:24,306 --> 00:26:25,722
It's here.

558
00:26:27,689 --> 00:26:30,796
Yeah, that's death laughing
or singing

559
00:26:30,899 --> 00:26:33,177
and, here, it's a microphone
of the '30s,

560
00:26:33,281 --> 00:26:36,284
and it's CDF,
which is the second channel

561
00:26:36,387 --> 00:26:39,701
of German television
and they have been my partners

562
00:26:39,805 --> 00:26:42,635
in several of
my movie productions.

563
00:26:42,739 --> 00:26:45,224
And I like it very much.

564
00:26:45,327 --> 00:26:47,191
Do you think you might
get another tattoo,

565
00:26:47,295 --> 00:26:49,090
you know, on your other arm
or some other part

566
00:26:49,193 --> 00:26:50,988
of your body later on?

567
00:26:51,092 --> 00:26:54,647
Yeah, I'm thinking about it,
but I don't know.

568
00:26:54,751 --> 00:26:57,236
I don't know yet
what I should put there.

569
00:26:57,339 --> 00:26:58,893
-You don't have an image yet?
-Well, I have seen

570
00:26:58,996 --> 00:27:02,241
a very beautiful design
at Ed Hardy's place.

571
00:27:02,344 --> 00:27:04,726
It was a coach of horses,

572
00:27:04,830 --> 00:27:08,419
four or six horses
pulling a coach

573
00:27:08,523 --> 00:27:10,249
and they were rushing
towards you

574
00:27:10,352 --> 00:27:12,458
in almost three-dimensional,

575
00:27:12,561 --> 00:27:16,048
and death was sitting
and whipping the horses.

576
00:27:16,151 --> 00:27:17,636
I like that very much.

577
00:27:20,569 --> 00:27:23,434
Which one do you like better,
Werner?

578
00:27:23,538 --> 00:27:26,437
-Uh, my own.
-Why?

579
00:27:26,541 --> 00:27:27,991
Because it's more elaborate,

580
00:27:28,094 --> 00:27:30,752
and all the ladies,
for example, find it better.

581
00:27:30,856 --> 00:27:33,099
I put it as a comparison here.

582
00:27:34,722 --> 00:27:37,897
It's more elaborate somehow.

583
00:27:38,001 --> 00:27:40,762
But that's a very,
very beautiful one.

584
00:27:40,866 --> 00:27:43,316
I like it, I must say.

585
00:27:43,420 --> 00:27:45,491
Les's--Les's was
very intriguing

586
00:27:45,594 --> 00:27:47,493
because it's such a good idea,

587
00:27:47,596 --> 00:27:50,703
death laughing
and death crying.

588
00:27:50,807 --> 00:27:52,498
Why would you want
two death heads?

589
00:27:52,601 --> 00:27:55,190
I mean, you say you want
another one maybe.

590
00:27:55,294 --> 00:27:58,262
That's always--that should
be always included...

591
00:27:59,539 --> 00:28:01,472
...on, uh, on a tattoo.

592
00:28:01,576 --> 00:28:02,681
Every tattoo?

593
00:28:03,785 --> 00:28:05,166
Well, you shouldn't have it...

594
00:28:05,269 --> 00:28:07,858
You shouldn't have
your body tattooed

595
00:28:07,962 --> 00:28:10,861
without at least one death.

596
00:28:10,965 --> 00:28:14,658
♪

597
00:28:14,762 --> 00:28:17,765
I learned so much about
tattooing from Ed Hardy.

598
00:28:17,868 --> 00:28:19,663
And I was
particularly interested

599
00:28:19,767 --> 00:28:22,908
in this fine line
black tattooing

600
00:28:23,011 --> 00:28:25,911
that was being done
in East L.A.

601
00:28:26,014 --> 00:28:35,403
♪

602
00:28:35,506 --> 00:28:38,578
I learned that
this fine line black tattooing

603
00:28:38,682 --> 00:28:41,133
had originated in prisons.

604
00:28:41,236 --> 00:28:44,895
♪

605
00:28:44,999 --> 00:28:49,037
It was a new style,
a new approach to tattooing

606
00:28:49,141 --> 00:28:51,246
which was beginning
to take hold

607
00:28:51,350 --> 00:28:53,110
in the tattoo world.

608
00:28:53,214 --> 00:28:58,564
♪

609
00:28:58,667 --> 00:29:00,980
And I did a series
of photographs

610
00:29:01,084 --> 00:29:04,328
that I later called
the Hand of the Murderer.

611
00:29:04,432 --> 00:29:08,470
These were men who had
committed violent crimes,

612
00:29:08,574 --> 00:29:09,782
but they were young.

613
00:29:09,886 --> 00:29:13,096
They were between the ages
of 19 and 21.

614
00:29:13,199 --> 00:29:17,756
And their hands were, for me,
almost effeminate.

615
00:29:17,859 --> 00:29:22,208
And they had tattoos
of seductive women

616
00:29:22,312 --> 00:29:25,177
in this fine line style.

617
00:29:25,280 --> 00:29:26,247
♪

618
00:29:26,350 --> 00:29:29,733
Tattooing in prison
was illegal,

619
00:29:29,837 --> 00:29:31,700
and inmates,

620
00:29:31,804 --> 00:29:35,152
particularly
Mexican-American inmates,

621
00:29:35,256 --> 00:29:38,431
were very ingenious
in the way in which

622
00:29:38,535 --> 00:29:41,124
they created tattoo machines.

623
00:29:41,227 --> 00:29:43,782
They usually get electric motor
of a cassette player,

624
00:29:43,885 --> 00:29:45,266
like, for instance,
that would be a good one.

625
00:29:45,369 --> 00:29:49,097
Any radio or anything
that has a cassette,

626
00:29:49,201 --> 00:29:51,548
you could use and tear out,
break it down

627
00:29:51,651 --> 00:29:53,930
and make a tattoo machine
of it,

628
00:29:54,033 --> 00:29:56,346
and you use homemade things
such as pens, you know,

629
00:29:56,449 --> 00:29:57,899
for a tunnel for the needle.

630
00:29:58,003 --> 00:30:00,419
Homemade needles coming in
from the guitar strings.

631
00:30:00,522 --> 00:30:03,008
[whirring]

632
00:30:03,111 --> 00:30:07,322
♪

633
00:30:07,426 --> 00:30:11,016
The prison tattoo machine does
a certain type of tattooing

634
00:30:11,119 --> 00:30:14,709
that you use what you have,
and the end result

635
00:30:14,813 --> 00:30:16,124
is a little bit different.

636
00:30:16,228 --> 00:30:17,850
People are taking
these tattoo machines

637
00:30:17,954 --> 00:30:19,610
and are actually tattooing
with them professionally.

638
00:30:19,714 --> 00:30:22,821
There's certain tattoo artists
that are making their living

639
00:30:22,924 --> 00:30:24,512
using these prison
tattoo machines

640
00:30:24,615 --> 00:30:27,239
even though they have
standard tattoo machines,

641
00:30:27,342 --> 00:30:29,034
coil machines available.

642
00:30:29,137 --> 00:30:31,450
[whirring]

643
00:30:31,553 --> 00:30:39,630
♪

644
00:30:39,734 --> 00:30:42,944
You'll see a lot of Hispanic
people wear tattoos more

645
00:30:43,048 --> 00:30:45,705
than any other
kind of people, you know.

646
00:30:45,809 --> 00:30:47,466
It's just like part
of the culture, I guess,

647
00:30:47,569 --> 00:30:50,538
and it runs in the families
of [unintelligible].

648
00:30:50,641 --> 00:30:52,643
♪

649
00:30:52,747 --> 00:30:54,059
Well, they're done
usually anytime,

650
00:30:54,162 --> 00:30:56,371
but more or less,
like, when...

651
00:30:56,475 --> 00:30:59,478
Evenings, in the evenings,
at night.

652
00:30:59,581 --> 00:31:01,273
You know, you got
to watch out for the man.

653
00:31:01,376 --> 00:31:03,413
If he walks in, you're gonna
lose all your equipment,

654
00:31:03,516 --> 00:31:05,967
the machine, your ink, needles

655
00:31:06,071 --> 00:31:09,350
and, also, on top of that,
get a misconduct report.

656
00:31:09,453 --> 00:31:14,838
♪

657
00:31:14,942 --> 00:31:16,909
Uh, there's idle time
and everything

658
00:31:17,013 --> 00:31:19,670
and, you know,
inside a penitentiary,

659
00:31:19,774 --> 00:31:21,327
just like anywhere,
I think it's only human

660
00:31:21,431 --> 00:31:23,778
to get involved
in doing some type of thing.

661
00:31:23,882 --> 00:31:25,159
♪

662
00:31:25,262 --> 00:31:27,955
I do some of
the artwork myself.

663
00:31:28,058 --> 00:31:29,991
I do a lot of tattooing
and, to me,

664
00:31:30,095 --> 00:31:33,270
I see it as a piece of art,
as a work of art.

665
00:32:02,817 --> 00:32:04,060
It's just a skin art, man.

666
00:32:04,163 --> 00:32:05,371
You know, instead of
putting it on paper,

667
00:32:05,475 --> 00:32:07,270
you put it on your skin
and show it, you know.

668
00:32:07,373 --> 00:32:09,237
It's not for sale, you can't
go and hang it on a wall

669
00:32:09,341 --> 00:32:11,515
but, you know,
everybody could see it.

670
00:32:11,619 --> 00:32:14,001
And there's some that like it
and some that disapprove,

671
00:32:14,104 --> 00:32:16,348
but there's nothing wrong
with them.

672
00:32:16,451 --> 00:32:17,556
To me, there ain't.

673
00:32:34,124 --> 00:32:36,092
In here, this is a whole
different world, man.

674
00:32:36,195 --> 00:32:37,956
You know, a person puts on
a certain tattoo,

675
00:32:38,059 --> 00:32:39,819
it's for a certain reason.

676
00:32:39,923 --> 00:32:41,511
You've got to know
what you're gonna put on

677
00:32:41,614 --> 00:32:43,754
'cause it's gonna be there
for the rest of your life.

678
00:32:43,858 --> 00:32:51,210
♪

679
00:32:51,314 --> 00:32:54,006
One of Ed Hardy's clients,
Duke, was the owner

680
00:32:54,110 --> 00:32:58,321
of Ten Thousand Waves,
a chic hot tub resort,

681
00:32:58,424 --> 00:33:01,324
a Japanese themed spa
in Santa Fe.

682
00:33:02,842 --> 00:33:04,258
A couple of ex-cons

683
00:33:04,361 --> 00:33:06,398
from the New Mexico
State Penitentiary

684
00:33:06,501 --> 00:33:09,056
were now living on the outside
on parole.

685
00:33:10,022 --> 00:33:12,645
So, I asked Duke--

686
00:33:12,749 --> 00:33:14,751
it was a wild idea--

687
00:33:14,854 --> 00:33:18,134
"Can we film a scene
with these men

688
00:33:18,237 --> 00:33:22,517
showing their tattoos
in a steaming hot tub

689
00:33:22,621 --> 00:33:24,519
in the winter?"

690
00:33:24,623 --> 00:33:26,383
And he said, "Sure."

691
00:33:26,487 --> 00:33:40,397
♪

692
00:33:40,501 --> 00:33:44,332
Most of them that I have
were done in the joint.

693
00:33:44,436 --> 00:33:48,371
It's, uh, just part
of prison life.

694
00:33:48,474 --> 00:33:50,718
You see, that's the whole idea
of my back.

695
00:33:50,821 --> 00:33:52,513
The back, I guess, was done

696
00:33:52,616 --> 00:33:55,447
to symbolize my suffering.

697
00:33:55,550 --> 00:33:57,621
Uh, getting busted,

698
00:33:57,725 --> 00:33:59,761
and being in prison

699
00:33:59,865 --> 00:34:02,040
was like the crucification.

700
00:34:02,143 --> 00:34:06,182
And the bottom part,

701
00:34:06,285 --> 00:34:08,460
this bottom part
where the guy is finally

702
00:34:08,563 --> 00:34:12,878
busting out of the bars
and just taking off,

703
00:34:12,981 --> 00:34:15,398
als--it symbolizes my freedom.

704
00:34:15,501 --> 00:34:17,055
♪

705
00:34:17,158 --> 00:34:21,335
And the tattoo on his chest
of Jesus

706
00:34:21,438 --> 00:34:23,785
ties the whole thing
into the suffering.

707
00:34:23,889 --> 00:34:26,754
And you'll notice that the bar
is through his hand

708
00:34:26,857 --> 00:34:29,170
and he's crucified with that.

709
00:34:29,274 --> 00:34:31,069
♪

710
00:34:31,172 --> 00:34:33,450
The more I study tattooing,

711
00:34:33,554 --> 00:34:37,385
the more I realized
that there were areas

712
00:34:37,489 --> 00:34:40,250
in the history
of this amazing art form

713
00:34:40,354 --> 00:34:44,427
that were so totally
misunderstood,

714
00:34:44,530 --> 00:34:46,394
misrepresented,

715
00:34:46,498 --> 00:34:50,295
subjected to intense
cultural bias.

716
00:34:51,365 --> 00:34:53,850
One area that attracted
my interest

717
00:34:53,953 --> 00:34:56,404
was early Christian tattooing.

718
00:34:56,508 --> 00:34:58,993
♪

719
00:34:59,097 --> 00:35:02,203
I found a book
on Coptic tattoo

720
00:35:02,307 --> 00:35:06,518
and was just in awe

721
00:35:06,621 --> 00:35:08,278
of what was there.

722
00:35:08,382 --> 00:35:09,935
♪

723
00:35:10,038 --> 00:35:11,937
According to the author,

724
00:35:12,040 --> 00:35:15,768
Coptic Christians
had practiced tattooing

725
00:35:15,872 --> 00:35:20,359
since the founding
of the Coptic Church in 50 AD.

726
00:35:20,463 --> 00:35:21,395
♪

727
00:35:21,498 --> 00:35:25,157
It had images made
from wood blocks

728
00:35:25,261 --> 00:35:29,782
that were carved
with these tattoo designs.

729
00:35:29,886 --> 00:35:34,028
Copts made annual pilgrimages
to the Holy Land

730
00:35:34,132 --> 00:35:36,203
to be tattooed at Easter

731
00:35:36,306 --> 00:35:38,929
with different stations
of the cross.

732
00:35:39,033 --> 00:35:43,382
♪

733
00:35:43,486 --> 00:35:47,628
It was a sign,
a symbol of devotion

734
00:35:47,731 --> 00:35:50,355
carried on for centuries.

735
00:35:50,458 --> 00:36:00,123
♪

736
00:36:00,227 --> 00:36:02,919
These images reveal
the deep history

737
00:36:03,022 --> 00:36:06,405
of an area of Christianity
that was little known,

738
00:36:06,509 --> 00:36:08,614
so I began studying
this further

739
00:36:08,718 --> 00:36:11,341
and looked more deeply
into why.

740
00:36:11,445 --> 00:36:13,101
And through that,
I discovered that much

741
00:36:13,205 --> 00:36:15,000
of the Coptic
tattooing tradition

742
00:36:15,103 --> 00:36:18,141
dated back to references
in the Old Testament

743
00:36:18,245 --> 00:36:20,799
but also to the New Testament.

744
00:36:20,902 --> 00:36:26,736
♪

745
00:36:26,839 --> 00:36:30,257
Leviticus 19:28 states,
"You shall not make

746
00:36:30,360 --> 00:36:32,949
any cuttings in your flesh
for the dead,

747
00:36:33,052 --> 00:36:35,572
nor print any marks upon you."

748
00:36:36,953 --> 00:36:38,334
In the New Testament,

749
00:36:38,437 --> 00:36:42,959
the references to tattooing
are more complex.

750
00:36:43,062 --> 00:36:46,238
In Galatians 6:17, Paul says,

751
00:36:46,342 --> 00:36:49,137
"Henceforth,
let no man trouble me.

752
00:36:49,241 --> 00:36:53,694
I bear on my body
the marks of Jesus."

753
00:36:53,797 --> 00:36:56,524
In looking more deeply
into the etymology

754
00:36:56,628 --> 00:36:59,147
of the word "mark"
as it was translated

755
00:36:59,251 --> 00:37:01,495
from the ancient Greek,

756
00:37:01,598 --> 00:37:06,293
I realized that the word
in Greek was "stigma."

757
00:37:06,396 --> 00:37:08,467
"Stigma" literally means

758
00:37:08,571 --> 00:37:11,850
"the permanent marking
of the skin."

759
00:37:11,953 --> 00:37:16,406
In Greece, it tends to be
associated with the status

760
00:37:16,510 --> 00:37:19,478
of being an outsider,
being stigmatized.

761
00:37:19,582 --> 00:37:23,482
Criminals were marked
with stigma.

762
00:37:23,586 --> 00:37:28,315
They were marked with tattoos,
both in Greece and in Rome,

763
00:37:28,418 --> 00:37:30,627
with little marks
on their forehead.

764
00:37:31,801 --> 00:37:35,114
Then there are the stigmata
of Christ,

765
00:37:35,218 --> 00:37:37,703
and then one thinks about
the idea

766
00:37:37,807 --> 00:37:41,155
of what Paul
might've been saying,

767
00:37:41,259 --> 00:37:44,020
which was that he bore
on his body

768
00:37:44,123 --> 00:37:47,748
the tattoos of Christ,
the stigma.

769
00:37:47,851 --> 00:37:50,164
[ethereal vocalizing]

770
00:37:50,268 --> 00:37:51,683
♪

771
00:37:51,786 --> 00:37:54,375
There are many
anecdotal accounts

772
00:37:54,479 --> 00:37:56,446
that during the Crusades,

773
00:37:56,550 --> 00:37:58,448
there were people
in the Holy Land

774
00:37:58,552 --> 00:38:01,348
who had tattoos of crosses

775
00:38:01,451 --> 00:38:04,661
on their wrist, on their hands,

776
00:38:04,765 --> 00:38:07,975
so that they could be shown
to the Crusaders

777
00:38:08,078 --> 00:38:10,633
to prove that
they were not infidels,

778
00:38:10,736 --> 00:38:13,946
that they were Christians
and should be spared.

779
00:38:14,050 --> 00:38:17,018
♪

780
00:38:17,122 --> 00:38:18,330
Now, what about the one
on your hand?

781
00:38:18,434 --> 00:38:20,401
-That little cross.
-This little cross?

782
00:38:20,505 --> 00:38:22,127
Guys in la barrio
where I grew up

783
00:38:22,230 --> 00:38:24,405
were all putting crosses
here on their hand,

784
00:38:24,509 --> 00:38:27,684
and we were in this gang
called The Project Roamers.

785
00:38:28,927 --> 00:38:30,377
Yeah.

786
00:38:30,480 --> 00:38:33,103
I think I put this on
when I was 13 or something.

787
00:38:33,207 --> 00:38:35,623
-What's that right below it?
-Here?

788
00:38:35,727 --> 00:38:38,902
It was an S for an old
girlfriend that I used to have.

789
00:38:39,006 --> 00:38:40,318
Shirley.

790
00:38:41,871 --> 00:38:43,528
Have you ever felt
like you wanted

791
00:38:43,631 --> 00:38:44,839
to get any of them removed

792
00:38:44,943 --> 00:38:46,151
or do you feel happy
with what you got?

793
00:38:46,254 --> 00:38:48,326
Yeah, I feel real happy.

794
00:38:48,429 --> 00:38:49,948
I'm looking forward
to putting some more on

795
00:38:50,051 --> 00:38:51,294
and just tying it all together

796
00:38:51,398 --> 00:38:54,366
so it doesn't look
so spaced out.

797
00:38:54,470 --> 00:38:57,714
And this way everything
will just be one tattoo.

798
00:38:57,818 --> 00:38:59,647
Was there a book or something
you could choose these from?

799
00:38:59,751 --> 00:39:02,374
How did you know which ones
that you wanted?

800
00:39:02,478 --> 00:39:05,343
Well, these I had
designed myself.

801
00:39:05,446 --> 00:39:06,551
I gave someone the idea.

802
00:39:06,654 --> 00:39:08,069
I told them,
"This is what I want,"

803
00:39:08,173 --> 00:39:10,382
and we sat down
and looked at different cars,

804
00:39:10,486 --> 00:39:13,143
and from there we put
the patterns together

805
00:39:13,247 --> 00:39:14,559
that I wanted.

806
00:39:15,525 --> 00:39:17,113
Are you a lowrider yourself?

807
00:39:17,216 --> 00:39:18,632
I used to be, yeah.

808
00:39:18,735 --> 00:39:20,358
I've had a few, not anymore.

809
00:39:20,461 --> 00:39:21,876
-In L.A.?
-Yeah, in Cali, yeah,

810
00:39:21,980 --> 00:39:23,188
California, where I grew up.

811
00:39:23,291 --> 00:39:24,292
What're you doing here?

812
00:39:24,396 --> 00:39:26,502
I go to the College of Santa Fe.

813
00:39:26,605 --> 00:39:28,952
I'm a student there,
Criminal Justice student.

814
00:39:29,056 --> 00:39:32,300
Having thought about reasons
why people get tattoos,

815
00:39:32,404 --> 00:39:34,372
and the way they get tattoos,

816
00:39:34,475 --> 00:39:37,754
I started to put together
a philosophy about it.

817
00:39:37,858 --> 00:39:42,310
The Japanese basic approved way
of tattoo

818
00:39:42,414 --> 00:39:44,658
is that they contract
with an artist

819
00:39:44,761 --> 00:39:47,177
and he does their whole body,

820
00:39:47,281 --> 00:39:50,422
neck to ankles.

821
00:39:50,526 --> 00:39:53,321
American tattoo
has traditionally, I think,

822
00:39:53,425 --> 00:39:57,395
been a real scattershot
individualistic

823
00:39:57,498 --> 00:39:59,914
type of approach where people

824
00:40:00,018 --> 00:40:04,332
just get the tattoo
as their mood strikes them.

825
00:40:04,436 --> 00:40:06,369
So, what I've tried to do
with my tattoo

826
00:40:06,473 --> 00:40:10,511
is sort of combine
the two philosophies

827
00:40:10,615 --> 00:40:14,377
and have a general overall plan

828
00:40:14,481 --> 00:40:18,416
where the tattoo is always
complete in itself,

829
00:40:18,519 --> 00:40:22,799
but it has always
got more work to do on it.

830
00:40:22,903 --> 00:40:25,077
I was attracted
to the tattoo field

831
00:40:25,181 --> 00:40:27,425
because of what I'd seen done
in Japanese tattooing,

832
00:40:27,528 --> 00:40:30,220
which is probably the singular
place in the world

833
00:40:30,324 --> 00:40:31,636
that it had been developed

834
00:40:31,739 --> 00:40:34,777
as a very complex aesthetic
unto itself.

835
00:40:35,881 --> 00:40:38,263
The Japanese aesthetic
in tattooing

836
00:40:38,366 --> 00:40:40,230
builds on the imagery

837
00:40:40,334 --> 00:40:42,923
of the ukiyo-e woodcut prints

838
00:40:43,026 --> 00:40:45,097
of the 19th century.

839
00:40:45,201 --> 00:40:48,963
They feature scenes
of what was thought of

840
00:40:49,067 --> 00:40:51,345
to be the floating world.

841
00:40:51,449 --> 00:40:53,623
♪

842
00:40:53,727 --> 00:40:55,763
The man singularly responsible
for the birth

843
00:40:55,867 --> 00:40:58,456
of modern tattooing
was Sailor Jerry Collins,

844
00:40:58,559 --> 00:41:01,631
a Honolulu based tattoo artist
who died in 1973.

845
00:41:01,735 --> 00:41:03,253
He was a traditional
American artist,

846
00:41:03,357 --> 00:41:06,671
a fantastic strong stylist
within the American tradition

847
00:41:06,774 --> 00:41:08,880
who began to really explore
Asian art,

848
00:41:08,983 --> 00:41:11,469
and specifically the Japanese
tattoo tradition

849
00:41:11,572 --> 00:41:13,298
in the early 1960s.

850
00:41:13,401 --> 00:41:17,026
♪

851
00:41:17,129 --> 00:41:20,167
Ed Hardy corresponded
with Sailor Jerry,

852
00:41:20,270 --> 00:41:21,755
worked with Sailor Jerry,

853
00:41:21,858 --> 00:41:24,792
and he brought
that aesthetic further.

854
00:41:26,207 --> 00:41:27,830
At the height of his career,

855
00:41:27,933 --> 00:41:32,213
Ed made annual trips
to Tokyo to tattoo.

856
00:41:32,317 --> 00:41:36,563
He was very interested
in the Japanese aesthetic

857
00:41:36,666 --> 00:41:40,256
of the body suit,
of the unified tattoo,

858
00:41:40,359 --> 00:41:43,535
reflective of
the unified thinking

859
00:41:43,639 --> 00:41:46,745
of the person
wearing the tattoo.

860
00:41:46,849 --> 00:41:49,645
And I hoped to fuse that in
and create something similar

861
00:41:49,748 --> 00:41:52,026
to that in a Western context

862
00:41:52,130 --> 00:41:55,478
using our unique
American experience.

863
00:41:55,582 --> 00:41:57,515
And it has succeeded
beyond my wildest dreams

864
00:41:57,618 --> 00:42:00,034
in terms of the interest level

865
00:42:00,138 --> 00:42:02,692
and the ability and enthusiasm
of the people

866
00:42:02,796 --> 00:42:05,453
entering the field
both as tattoo artists

867
00:42:05,557 --> 00:42:08,284
and what the tattoo clients,

868
00:42:08,387 --> 00:42:10,044
the tattooees are bringing to it

869
00:42:10,148 --> 00:42:13,634
as they see
the possibilities extended.

870
00:42:13,738 --> 00:42:23,748
♪

871
00:42:23,851 --> 00:42:27,752
Beyond the visible meaning
of a tattoo or subject matter,

872
00:42:27,855 --> 00:42:30,478
the formal compositional
abstract qualities

873
00:42:30,582 --> 00:42:32,998
were always of paramount
importance to me.

874
00:42:33,102 --> 00:42:35,449
And this was true
especially in the Asian work,

875
00:42:35,553 --> 00:42:39,453
the Japanese work that was
my primary initial influence,

876
00:42:39,557 --> 00:42:41,144
and these began to be
more and more important

877
00:42:41,248 --> 00:42:43,215
I think in the late '70s
and into the early '80s

878
00:42:43,319 --> 00:42:48,117
as purely abstract tattoo
patterns begin to be used.

879
00:42:48,220 --> 00:42:51,430
But in terms of minimalist
or abstract tattoo work,

880
00:42:51,534 --> 00:42:53,950
some of the first works
in that field

881
00:42:54,054 --> 00:42:55,952
that were really
the most beautifully done

882
00:42:56,056 --> 00:42:57,989
and profoundly thought out
and executed

883
00:42:58,092 --> 00:42:59,646
were by a woman
named Jamie Summers

884
00:42:59,749 --> 00:43:01,855
who tattooed under the name
of La Palma.

885
00:43:01,958 --> 00:43:04,651
♪

886
00:43:04,754 --> 00:43:07,205
Beginning in the late 1970s,
she and I were associated

887
00:43:07,308 --> 00:43:10,588
and she learned to tattoo
basically in my studio.

888
00:43:10,691 --> 00:43:14,005
She was an installation artist
and a sculptor,

889
00:43:14,108 --> 00:43:17,767
and she was interested
in making tattoos

890
00:43:17,871 --> 00:43:21,322
that redefined
the affecting presence

891
00:43:21,426 --> 00:43:23,221
of the human body.

892
00:43:23,324 --> 00:43:24,981
Her tattoos were sculptural.

893
00:43:25,085 --> 00:43:29,710
They were often abstract
or organic forms and shapes.

894
00:43:29,814 --> 00:43:33,058
She saw the person
who got her tattoos

895
00:43:33,162 --> 00:43:35,164
as a living sculpture.

896
00:43:35,267 --> 00:43:38,650
She was a strong believer
in tattooing

897
00:43:38,754 --> 00:43:42,136
as a therapeutic art form
in a sense.

898
00:43:42,240 --> 00:43:46,520
She felt that individuals
could use the tattoo

899
00:43:46,624 --> 00:43:50,213
to help discover
their inner psyche.

900
00:43:50,317 --> 00:43:54,390
It could drive them
to deeper intuitive thinking,

901
00:43:54,493 --> 00:43:58,497
greater and more profound
appreciation of themselves

902
00:43:58,601 --> 00:44:01,880
and their relationship
to art, culture,

903
00:44:01,984 --> 00:44:06,574
society, their place
in the world.

904
00:44:06,678 --> 00:44:09,267
Jamie's really into
what she refers to

905
00:44:09,370 --> 00:44:10,682
as biographical tattoos

906
00:44:10,786 --> 00:44:13,133
and tattoos about
as closely linked to nature

907
00:44:13,236 --> 00:44:14,721
as one can get.

908
00:44:14,824 --> 00:44:16,481
I said, "Jamie,
I want some wings,

909
00:44:16,584 --> 00:44:17,862
but I don't the typical
tattoo wings

910
00:44:17,965 --> 00:44:19,657
with the fire
and all the color."

911
00:44:19,760 --> 00:44:21,900
So what she did was photograph

912
00:44:22,004 --> 00:44:25,352
some of her geese's wings,

913
00:44:25,455 --> 00:44:27,492
and brought it in

914
00:44:27,595 --> 00:44:28,907
and showed me
three different types

915
00:44:29,011 --> 00:44:30,771
and I picked out what I liked.

916
00:44:30,875 --> 00:44:32,842
And just by trade
I happen to be a messenger,

917
00:44:32,946 --> 00:44:34,982
but there's no Hermes
implications there.

918
00:44:35,086 --> 00:44:37,019
I am kind of light on my feet.

919
00:44:37,122 --> 00:44:40,367
I am kind of light on my feet,
and, well,

920
00:44:40,470 --> 00:44:43,404
the first day after I had
these wings put on

921
00:44:43,508 --> 00:44:45,406
I bowled a 215, so.

922
00:44:45,510 --> 00:44:48,582
[laughing]

923
00:44:48,686 --> 00:44:50,204
Here they are.

924
00:44:50,308 --> 00:44:52,379
This is the ribbing.

925
00:44:52,482 --> 00:44:53,691
It's a two-dimensional wing.

926
00:44:53,794 --> 00:44:55,313
This is the inside of the wing

927
00:44:55,416 --> 00:44:58,385
and this is the feathered effect
on the outside of the wing.

928
00:44:58,488 --> 00:44:59,938
So, if you look at them
like this

929
00:45:00,042 --> 00:45:03,217
you can sort of almost feel
the flow of 'em.

930
00:45:03,321 --> 00:45:05,323
Yeah, I really like 'em.

931
00:45:05,426 --> 00:45:07,808
In the course of her work,
she influenced

932
00:45:07,912 --> 00:45:09,983
a great many of us
with her concepts

933
00:45:10,086 --> 00:45:11,916
and the pieces that she was able
to complete.

934
00:45:12,019 --> 00:45:15,471
She tragically died
a very young death.

935
00:45:15,574 --> 00:45:17,266
♪

936
00:45:17,369 --> 00:45:21,339
Jamie was really advancing
in the art world

937
00:45:21,442 --> 00:45:24,652
when she tragically was killed.

938
00:45:24,756 --> 00:45:26,585
She had a studio in SoHo.

939
00:45:26,689 --> 00:45:28,311
She was on her bicycle,

940
00:45:28,415 --> 00:45:31,729
and a garbage truck
ran up over the curb

941
00:45:31,832 --> 00:45:33,351
and she died.

942
00:45:33,454 --> 00:45:37,320
♪

943
00:45:37,424 --> 00:45:39,184
And Jamie's ideas and execution

944
00:45:39,288 --> 00:45:42,843
and method of working
influenced a lot of us.

945
00:45:42,947 --> 00:45:44,672
She particularly did some work

946
00:45:44,776 --> 00:45:46,847
on an artist
named Cynthia Witkin

947
00:45:46,951 --> 00:45:49,091
who's centered
in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

948
00:45:49,194 --> 00:45:50,748
Did a large piece
on Cynthia's back

949
00:45:50,851 --> 00:45:52,301
and inspired Cynthia
to take the tack

950
00:45:52,404 --> 00:45:56,305
that she has developed into
with her own tattoo work.

951
00:45:56,408 --> 00:45:58,963
I had been to previous
tattoo parlors

952
00:45:59,066 --> 00:46:01,828
and I'd been looking for
somebody to do something

953
00:46:01,931 --> 00:46:03,588
very different looking,

954
00:46:03,691 --> 00:46:06,556
and there wasn't a great deal

955
00:46:06,660 --> 00:46:08,351
of black work being done
at the time,

956
00:46:08,455 --> 00:46:12,735
and so when I met with Jamie
she was very excited.

957
00:46:12,839 --> 00:46:14,944
We had a very good connection.

958
00:46:15,048 --> 00:46:16,808
We talked about the tattoo,

959
00:46:16,912 --> 00:46:18,189
and I came back the next day

960
00:46:18,292 --> 00:46:21,709
and she did 11 hours
of work on me.

961
00:46:21,813 --> 00:46:24,643
And that was the only time
I saw her.

962
00:46:24,747 --> 00:46:27,646
We kept really close
correspondence.

963
00:46:27,750 --> 00:46:29,200
We talked on the telephone,

964
00:46:29,303 --> 00:46:33,066
and she was a great mentor
for me

965
00:46:33,169 --> 00:46:36,207
to make the transition from

966
00:46:36,310 --> 00:46:40,142
my initial long life dream
of being a doctor

967
00:46:40,245 --> 00:46:44,629
to my new ambition
of being an artist.

968
00:46:44,732 --> 00:46:46,976
♪

969
00:46:47,080 --> 00:46:49,737
And Cynthia's probably working

970
00:46:49,841 --> 00:46:52,879
to the greatest extent of any
of the younger tattoo artists

971
00:46:52,982 --> 00:46:56,503
with this minimal, very intense
abstracted imagery

972
00:46:56,606 --> 00:46:59,886
that comes from--drawing from
a spiritual tradition

973
00:46:59,989 --> 00:47:02,371
that is very much her own,
that's centered

974
00:47:02,474 --> 00:47:03,890
on the New Mexico landscape,

975
00:47:03,993 --> 00:47:05,684
that's centered
on her experiences

976
00:47:05,788 --> 00:47:08,032
and sensibilities
as a working artist.

977
00:47:08,135 --> 00:47:09,827
♪

978
00:47:09,930 --> 00:47:12,484
The idea of the white tattoo

979
00:47:12,588 --> 00:47:16,730
that would blush pink
when a person was hot,

980
00:47:16,834 --> 00:47:19,802
the idea
of the conceptual tattoo,

981
00:47:19,906 --> 00:47:22,184
geometric forms,

982
00:47:22,287 --> 00:47:26,360
art forms that related
to other art forms

983
00:47:26,464 --> 00:47:28,466
to make connections.

984
00:47:28,569 --> 00:47:35,128
♪

985
00:47:35,231 --> 00:47:37,233
She's drawing from
a lot of these deep springs

986
00:47:37,337 --> 00:47:39,132
of artistic inspiration
and bringing

987
00:47:39,235 --> 00:47:41,651
a really unique sensibility
to her tattoos.

988
00:47:41,755 --> 00:47:44,965
♪

989
00:47:45,069 --> 00:47:46,967
Cynthia, at that time,
was married

990
00:47:47,071 --> 00:47:49,867
to the photographer
Joel-Peter Witkin

991
00:47:49,970 --> 00:47:51,834
and was very much involved
in helping

992
00:47:51,938 --> 00:47:54,181
to style his photographs.

993
00:47:54,285 --> 00:48:06,884
♪

994
00:48:06,987 --> 00:48:09,472
Cynthia is in Albuquerque

995
00:48:09,576 --> 00:48:11,992
and has done her best

996
00:48:12,096 --> 00:48:15,099
to carry forth tattooing

997
00:48:15,202 --> 00:48:19,068
as Jamie Summers
helped to redefine it.

998
00:48:19,172 --> 00:48:29,216
♪

999
00:48:29,216 --> 00:48:36,085
♪

1000
00:48:36,189 --> 00:48:39,157
Tattoos mean a lot of things
to different people.

1001
00:48:39,261 --> 00:48:43,230
Mine mean to me
the essence of life,

1002
00:48:43,334 --> 00:48:47,027
freedom,
my religious background.

1003
00:48:47,131 --> 00:48:48,960
I was never really a Catholic.

1004
00:48:49,064 --> 00:48:51,376
I was very non-denominational.

1005
00:48:51,480 --> 00:48:54,862
I believed in God,
but I didn't know His son,

1006
00:48:54,966 --> 00:48:56,934
but my tattoos,

1007
00:48:57,037 --> 00:48:59,108
they speak for themselves.

1008
00:49:00,109 --> 00:49:02,663
I got 'em in prison.

1009
00:49:02,767 --> 00:49:05,632
It was a homemade tattoo gun

1010
00:49:05,735 --> 00:49:09,222
and homemade ink.

1011
00:49:09,325 --> 00:49:11,189
We used shampoo

1012
00:49:11,293 --> 00:49:14,330
and other stuff to do it with.

1013
00:49:15,918 --> 00:49:18,058
It took a grand total

1014
00:49:18,162 --> 00:49:21,993
of 18 hours to make the ink

1015
00:49:22,097 --> 00:49:25,307
and it took two days
to do the tattoos.

1016
00:49:25,410 --> 00:49:29,621
This would happen when a guard
was up at the front

1017
00:49:29,725 --> 00:49:32,762
and we would use another inmate

1018
00:49:32,866 --> 00:49:35,041
to get his attention

1019
00:49:35,144 --> 00:49:39,286
or the officer knew what
we were doing and didn't care.

1020
00:49:39,390 --> 00:49:42,220
I put that tattoo in there
because that eagle,

1021
00:49:42,324 --> 00:49:45,016
he's free, but that doesn't mean

1022
00:49:45,120 --> 00:49:48,330
that he always gets to eat

1023
00:49:48,433 --> 00:49:51,126
because he's the king
of the sky.

1024
00:49:51,229 --> 00:49:53,921
The one I have on here
dove into the water

1025
00:49:54,025 --> 00:49:55,958
and came out with nothing,

1026
00:49:56,062 --> 00:49:58,029
and it's the same with me.

1027
00:49:58,133 --> 00:50:01,101
I came out of prison
with nothing.

1028
00:50:01,205 --> 00:50:05,485
I dove into this world
and came up empty-handed.

1029
00:50:05,588 --> 00:50:10,317
Death disguised,
looking around the corner

1030
00:50:10,421 --> 00:50:13,562
like a person out there
on the street.

1031
00:50:13,665 --> 00:50:16,634
He doesn't know when
his next meal's coming from.

1032
00:50:16,737 --> 00:50:19,188
He doesn't know where he'll be

1033
00:50:19,292 --> 00:50:22,674
within the next hour or so
or the next--

1034
00:50:22,778 --> 00:50:24,538
if he'll wake up in the morning.

1035
00:50:24,642 --> 00:50:29,785
♪

1036
00:50:29,785 --> 00:50:34,652
♪

1037
00:50:50,185 --> 00:50:52,049
Who's that
on the right arm there?

1038
00:50:52,152 --> 00:50:53,326
That's Walt Whitman.

1039
00:50:53,429 --> 00:50:55,431
It's a portrait
of Walt Whitman, 1887,

1040
00:50:55,535 --> 00:50:58,296
and he called it
The Laughing Philosopher,

1041
00:50:58,400 --> 00:50:59,815
although other people
have called it

1042
00:50:59,918 --> 00:51:01,299
the Santa Claus Whitman.

1043
00:51:01,403 --> 00:51:04,095
Tattoo was done right here
by Bob Roberts.

1044
00:51:04,199 --> 00:51:06,097
It's a very personal tattoo.

1045
00:51:06,201 --> 00:51:07,719
Been reading Whitman
for many years

1046
00:51:07,823 --> 00:51:12,448
and it's just one way I identify
a little bit closer with him.

1047
00:51:12,552 --> 00:51:15,072
What's your favorite poem
by Whitman?

1048
00:51:15,175 --> 00:51:17,143
Probably Song of the Open Road.

1049
00:51:17,246 --> 00:51:18,627
Can you recite part of it?

1050
00:51:18,730 --> 00:51:21,043
No, I can't,
I'm not that well-versed.

1051
00:51:21,147 --> 00:51:22,631
Pardon the pun.

1052
00:51:22,734 --> 00:51:25,220
[laughing]

1053
00:51:26,704 --> 00:51:28,982
This arm is my Oriental arm,

1054
00:51:29,086 --> 00:51:30,501
and that's the way I wanted it

1055
00:51:30,604 --> 00:51:32,744
'cause I've always had
a pretty deep fascination

1056
00:51:32,848 --> 00:51:36,610
with Oriental symbols and images

1057
00:51:36,714 --> 00:51:39,820
and landscapes and stuff.

1058
00:51:39,924 --> 00:51:41,581
Good deal of it was done
by Bob Roberts

1059
00:51:41,684 --> 00:51:45,481
and I was lucky enough to have
Ed Hardy finish it off.

1060
00:51:45,585 --> 00:51:47,242
Originally just had
a tiger here,

1061
00:51:47,345 --> 00:51:49,485
and then I realized
when I stepped over the line

1062
00:51:49,589 --> 00:51:51,246
and I wanted continuity,
I wanted theme,

1063
00:51:51,349 --> 00:51:53,075
I didn't wanna just have
a piece here,

1064
00:51:53,179 --> 00:51:54,870
a piece there, a piece there.

1065
00:51:54,973 --> 00:51:56,182
I wanted the thing
to be drawn in,

1066
00:51:56,285 --> 00:51:58,632
to have some kind of a theme,
you know?

1067
00:51:58,736 --> 00:52:01,325
So, I just had a tiger there
and Bob--

1068
00:52:01,428 --> 00:52:03,810
I came back and said,
"Bob, fill it up."

1069
00:52:03,913 --> 00:52:06,502
He said, "I knew you
were gonna do that to me."

1070
00:52:06,606 --> 00:52:09,091
♪

1071
00:52:09,195 --> 00:52:12,094
I was always fascinated
by tattoos

1072
00:52:12,198 --> 00:52:14,993
but I wasn't gonna go in
and just,

1073
00:52:15,097 --> 00:52:18,618
you know, just get one
and, you know,

1074
00:52:18,721 --> 00:52:21,897
I didn't find the work
that I'd seen

1075
00:52:22,000 --> 00:52:24,002
or the shops very attractive
at all

1076
00:52:24,106 --> 00:52:25,659
until I'd seen the work
of Ed Hardy

1077
00:52:25,763 --> 00:52:28,179
and seen there was
a whole different world

1078
00:52:28,283 --> 00:52:30,457
that was just starting.

1079
00:52:30,561 --> 00:52:32,632
This was from a Walter Crane
illustration,

1080
00:52:32,735 --> 00:52:35,876
another turn of the century
British illustrator.

1081
00:52:35,980 --> 00:52:38,534
Basically the idea behind it
is sort of surrealistic

1082
00:52:38,638 --> 00:52:42,228
tiger lilies
turning into tigers.

1083
00:52:42,331 --> 00:52:44,299
The mouths of the tigers
are a part of the flower,

1084
00:52:44,402 --> 00:52:47,819
and the woman in a little
tiger robe coming out of there.

1085
00:52:47,923 --> 00:52:51,029
But this was also planned
one whole idea.

1086
00:52:51,133 --> 00:52:52,686
You know, my chest piece.

1087
00:52:52,790 --> 00:52:55,275
This rather peaceful scene
goes into this,

1088
00:52:55,379 --> 00:52:57,243
you know, not so peaceful.

1089
00:52:57,346 --> 00:52:59,624
It's just busting out.

1090
00:52:59,728 --> 00:53:01,316
I really like that whole concept
of that piece,

1091
00:53:01,419 --> 00:53:03,904
both because of the
transformative nature of it.

1092
00:53:04,008 --> 00:53:06,700
I think that lends itself
real well to tattoo imagery

1093
00:53:06,804 --> 00:53:10,083
since tattooing
is a transformative process.

1094
00:53:10,187 --> 00:53:12,154
The work of Ed Hardy
really inspired me

1095
00:53:12,258 --> 00:53:16,434
and him as a person,
he really inspired me,

1096
00:53:16,538 --> 00:53:20,300
and I was lucky enough to get
offered an apprenticeship

1097
00:53:20,404 --> 00:53:23,855
with another tattooer
who was a friend of his,

1098
00:53:23,959 --> 00:53:25,305
Dean Dennis,

1099
00:53:25,409 --> 00:53:27,859
and it was a very special thing,

1100
00:53:27,963 --> 00:53:30,310
because there were very few
women tattooing.

1101
00:53:30,414 --> 00:53:32,105
So, it was kind of a--

1102
00:53:32,209 --> 00:53:34,487
I was in the right place
at the right time.

1103
00:53:34,590 --> 00:53:42,598
♪

1104
00:53:42,702 --> 00:53:45,394
We used to talk about
what our tattoos meant to us

1105
00:53:45,498 --> 00:53:49,329
and how you just--
some of 'em you'd had so long

1106
00:53:49,433 --> 00:53:50,951
you don't even
look at 'em anymore,

1107
00:53:51,055 --> 00:53:54,058
but really what they are is a--

1108
00:53:54,161 --> 00:53:55,818
they are a part of you.

1109
00:53:55,922 --> 00:54:00,754
I used to say, "Your brains
spilled out on your skin

1110
00:54:00,858 --> 00:54:02,377
and now you're wearing it,"

1111
00:54:02,480 --> 00:54:05,345
and that's why I'm comfortable
with the work that I have,

1112
00:54:05,449 --> 00:54:10,523
because I thought a lot
about every one I got

1113
00:54:10,626 --> 00:54:12,973
and they're my friends,
just like my books are.

1114
00:54:13,077 --> 00:54:18,393
♪

1115
00:54:18,496 --> 00:54:22,983
Tattoos are--just the way
they say you are what you eat,

1116
00:54:23,087 --> 00:54:25,158
you are what you wear, too.

1117
00:54:25,262 --> 00:54:35,272
♪

1118
00:54:35,272 --> 00:54:46,386
♪

1119
00:54:46,490 --> 00:54:48,526
Since the 19th century,

1120
00:54:48,630 --> 00:54:53,186
tattoo artists have done
drawings and paintings

1121
00:54:53,290 --> 00:54:56,189
to show the public what images

1122
00:54:56,293 --> 00:54:59,296
were available for tattoos.

1123
00:54:59,399 --> 00:55:03,058
These drawings and paintings
became known as flash

1124
00:55:03,161 --> 00:55:05,129
for their immediate appeal.

1125
00:55:05,232 --> 00:55:06,751
They were colorful,

1126
00:55:06,855 --> 00:55:12,343
they illustrated the thinking
of tattoo artists.

1127
00:55:12,447 --> 00:55:16,105
In some cases,
tattoo artists made stencils

1128
00:55:16,209 --> 00:55:18,625
from these drawings
and paintings

1129
00:55:18,729 --> 00:55:21,145
and then used the stencil
as an outline

1130
00:55:21,248 --> 00:55:23,837
to follow when making a tattoo.

1131
00:55:23,941 --> 00:55:26,530
♪

1132
00:55:26,633 --> 00:55:28,842
In other cases, tattoo artists

1133
00:55:28,946 --> 00:55:31,500
only used these
as an inspiration,

1134
00:55:31,604 --> 00:55:35,124
as a way of showing their public
what they could do.

1135
00:55:35,228 --> 00:55:37,334
And then when they made
the tattoos

1136
00:55:37,437 --> 00:55:39,853
they were done free-hand.

1137
00:55:41,130 --> 00:55:43,650
In the early 1990s,

1138
00:55:43,754 --> 00:55:47,344
Ed Hardy and I began talking
about the need

1139
00:55:47,447 --> 00:55:50,277
to exhibit these drawings
and paintings

1140
00:55:50,381 --> 00:55:52,832
that had been made
for more than a century

1141
00:55:52,935 --> 00:55:54,696
by tattoo artists.

1142
00:55:54,799 --> 00:55:58,424
We organized a show
called Flash from the Past

1143
00:55:58,527 --> 00:56:02,393
that was at the Hertzberg Museum
in San Antonio.

1144
00:56:02,497 --> 00:56:05,810
This became the basis
of a much larger

1145
00:56:05,914 --> 00:56:07,191
and more important show

1146
00:56:07,294 --> 00:56:08,848
at the Drawing Center
in New York

1147
00:56:08,951 --> 00:56:11,471
called Pierced Hearts
and True Love.

1148
00:56:11,575 --> 00:56:13,646
♪

1149
00:56:13,749 --> 00:56:17,891
In the process of curating
and organizing,

1150
00:56:17,995 --> 00:56:21,412
Ed Hardy and Chuck Eldridge
came to Arlington, Texas

1151
00:56:21,516 --> 00:56:23,414
for a tattoo convention.

1152
00:56:23,518 --> 00:56:25,796
There they met a woman
by the name

1153
00:56:25,899 --> 00:56:28,315
of Lotteva Wagner-Davis.

1154
00:56:28,419 --> 00:56:31,491
Lotteva was the daughter
of Gus Wagner

1155
00:56:31,595 --> 00:56:34,908
who billed himself
as a world champion tattooist,

1156
00:56:35,012 --> 00:56:39,844
globetrotter,
last of the hand tattooists.

1157
00:56:39,948 --> 00:56:43,434
Just prior to
the Hertzberg exhibition,

1158
00:56:43,538 --> 00:56:45,298
Lotteva died.

1159
00:56:45,402 --> 00:56:49,198
I went to West Texas
and I met with her heir,

1160
00:56:49,302 --> 00:56:50,717
Rocky Reisner.

1161
00:56:50,821 --> 00:56:55,550
Rocky was very nervous about
what to do with this collection.

1162
00:56:55,653 --> 00:56:58,276
It quickly became apparent to me

1163
00:56:58,380 --> 00:57:00,313
that this was the oldest

1164
00:57:00,417 --> 00:57:03,661
American tattoo collection
ever found.

1165
00:57:03,765 --> 00:57:05,456
♪

1166
00:57:05,560 --> 00:57:08,770
Gus Wagner's tattoo flash
amazed me.

1167
00:57:08,873 --> 00:57:11,842
He was a figure out of
the novels of Herman Melville.

1168
00:57:11,945 --> 00:57:14,569
He was a merchant seaman
who learned to tattoo

1169
00:57:14,672 --> 00:57:17,330
in Java and Borneo.

1170
00:57:17,434 --> 00:57:20,160
He made his own tattoo
instruments

1171
00:57:20,264 --> 00:57:23,854
hand-carved out of wood
and ivory.

1172
00:57:23,957 --> 00:57:26,581
His tattoo flash was contained
in little books

1173
00:57:26,684 --> 00:57:28,479
that he carried with him.

1174
00:57:28,583 --> 00:57:32,069
Hand-painted designs
on canvas pages

1175
00:57:32,172 --> 00:57:36,349
that showed the iconography
of the popular culture,

1176
00:57:36,453 --> 00:57:39,525
the folk culture
of the 19th century.

1177
00:57:39,628 --> 00:57:44,391
This was the root of this
tradition in American tattooing

1178
00:57:44,495 --> 00:57:47,187
as it had not been known before.

1179
00:57:47,291 --> 00:57:48,982
♪

1180
00:57:49,086 --> 00:57:52,917
My wife, Kaleta Doolin, and I
acquired this collection,

1181
00:57:53,021 --> 00:57:55,472
not for the purposes
of keeping it,

1182
00:57:55,575 --> 00:57:58,820
but as a means to bring it
into the world.

1183
00:57:58,923 --> 00:58:02,617
I promised Rocky that the work
would never be sold,

1184
00:58:02,720 --> 00:58:06,137
and ultimately,
we donated this collection

1185
00:58:06,241 --> 00:58:09,347
to the South Street Seaport
Museum in New York.

1186
00:58:09,451 --> 00:58:15,630
♪

1187
00:58:15,733 --> 00:58:17,908
When I was interviewing Stoney

1188
00:58:18,011 --> 00:58:21,498
I marveled at the series
of photographs

1189
00:58:21,601 --> 00:58:24,328
that were stapled on the wall

1190
00:58:24,431 --> 00:58:27,365
on the perimeter of the interior
of his shop.

1191
00:58:27,469 --> 00:58:29,954
♪

1192
00:58:30,058 --> 00:58:33,579
What I learned was that
these photographs,

1193
00:58:33,682 --> 00:58:37,479
these snapshots,
were sold by Bernard Kobel

1194
00:58:37,583 --> 00:58:39,999
in Florida in a catalog.

1195
00:58:40,102 --> 00:58:42,242
♪

1196
00:58:42,346 --> 00:58:44,762
In the 1950s and '60s,

1197
00:58:44,866 --> 00:58:48,110
there were not a lot
of photographs available

1198
00:58:48,214 --> 00:58:49,871
of tattooed people.

1199
00:58:49,974 --> 00:58:53,322
Bernard Kobel, who was
a collector of photographs

1200
00:58:53,426 --> 00:58:55,842
of heavily tattooed men
and women,

1201
00:58:55,946 --> 00:59:00,502
developed a catalog through
which he sold snapshots

1202
00:59:00,606 --> 00:59:04,368
that were sent to him
by tattoo collectors,

1203
00:59:04,471 --> 00:59:06,439
people who had tattoos,

1204
00:59:06,543 --> 00:59:09,546
people who were married
to people with tattoos.

1205
00:59:09,649 --> 00:59:12,549
Looking at these
photographs today,

1206
00:59:12,652 --> 00:59:15,310
one can only wonder
who these people are.

1207
00:59:15,413 --> 00:59:22,559
♪

1208
00:59:22,662 --> 00:59:25,285
They were people who were proud
of their tattoos,

1209
00:59:25,389 --> 00:59:29,842
but could only show them
in black and white photography.

1210
00:59:29,945 --> 00:59:32,120
These were photographs
that apparently

1211
00:59:32,223 --> 00:59:34,916
people traded among themselves.

1212
00:59:35,019 --> 00:59:39,196
They very much anticipated
the explosion

1213
00:59:39,299 --> 00:59:41,785
of tattoo magazines today

1214
00:59:41,888 --> 00:59:46,721
where there are thousands
of images

1215
00:59:46,824 --> 00:59:49,793
of tattooed people.

1216
00:59:49,896 --> 00:59:51,553
The photography is better,

1217
00:59:51,657 --> 00:59:53,279
they're in color,

1218
00:59:53,382 --> 00:59:55,108
but the spirit of them,

1219
00:59:55,212 --> 00:59:58,698
the mystery of them remains.

1220
00:59:58,802 --> 01:00:03,116
♪

1221
01:00:04,393 --> 01:00:08,915
♪

1222
01:00:35,873 --> 01:00:49,266
♪

1223
01:01:30,859 --> 01:01:36,796
♪

1224
01:02:32,231 --> 01:02:34,854
[waves crashing]

1225
01:02:34,958 --> 01:02:39,134
The seeds of the tattoo uprising
were sown in the 1760s...

1226
01:02:39,238 --> 01:02:42,034
♪

1227
01:02:42,137 --> 01:02:45,140
...when French and British
explorers discovered

1228
01:02:45,244 --> 01:02:48,592
in Polynesia and the cultures
of the South Sea Islands

1229
01:02:48,695 --> 01:02:51,940
tattooing on a scale
never seen before

1230
01:02:52,044 --> 01:02:53,977
in the Western world.

1231
01:02:54,080 --> 01:02:56,427
♪

1232
01:02:56,531 --> 01:02:58,947
The British Captain James Cook

1233
01:02:59,051 --> 01:03:02,779
is credited with introducing
the word "tattoo"

1234
01:03:02,882 --> 01:03:05,022
into the English language.

1235
01:03:05,126 --> 01:03:08,370
Prior to the voyages
of Captain Cook,

1236
01:03:08,474 --> 01:03:12,927
the word "tattoo"
meant a drum rhythm.

1237
01:03:13,030 --> 01:03:17,069
Cook, upon hearing
the word "tatau,"

1238
01:03:17,172 --> 01:03:19,657
which was a Polynesian word
that he found

1239
01:03:19,761 --> 01:03:21,798
in the Marquesas Islands,

1240
01:03:21,901 --> 01:03:24,179
coined the word "tattoo"

1241
01:03:24,283 --> 01:03:29,322
to describe this practice
of permanently marking the skin.

1242
01:03:29,426 --> 01:03:31,773
♪

1243
01:03:31,877 --> 01:03:34,569
On his expedition,
Cook brought the naturalist

1244
01:03:34,672 --> 01:03:36,951
Sydney Parkinson with him.

1245
01:03:37,054 --> 01:03:39,091
Parkinson did drawings

1246
01:03:39,194 --> 01:03:42,025
of plant life and vegetation,

1247
01:03:42,128 --> 01:03:46,753
but also did drawings of some
of the heavily tattooed people

1248
01:03:46,857 --> 01:03:48,928
that he encountered with Cook.

1249
01:03:49,032 --> 01:03:51,586
♪

1250
01:03:51,689 --> 01:03:55,417
In 1769, Captain James Cook

1251
01:03:55,521 --> 01:03:57,454
met a heavily tattooed man

1252
01:03:57,557 --> 01:04:01,630
who was called Omai in Tahiti.

1253
01:04:01,734 --> 01:04:07,671
In 1773, Cook brought Omai
to England

1254
01:04:07,774 --> 01:04:10,847
and introduced him
to British society.

1255
01:04:10,950 --> 01:04:14,402
People who had never
seen tattooing

1256
01:04:14,505 --> 01:04:18,820
of this magnitude
were introduced to the art form

1257
01:04:18,924 --> 01:04:21,098
in a way that, for them,

1258
01:04:21,202 --> 01:04:24,930
was likely strange and exotic.

1259
01:04:26,517 --> 01:04:28,347
Prior to this time,

1260
01:04:28,450 --> 01:04:32,799
tattooed people
were seen as savages.

1261
01:04:32,903 --> 01:04:35,595
But in the portrait
of Sir Joshua Reynolds,

1262
01:04:35,699 --> 01:04:38,460
we see a man of great dignity.

1263
01:04:38,564 --> 01:04:50,369
♪

1264
01:04:50,472 --> 01:04:52,785
Tattooing, for me, is a--

1265
01:04:52,889 --> 01:04:55,339
it's not just the art,
it's the liberty

1266
01:04:55,443 --> 01:04:58,687
to be able to do as you feel,
to be your own boss.

1267
01:04:58,791 --> 01:05:00,448
More importantly,
it's the clients

1268
01:05:00,551 --> 01:05:02,726
and it's the stories
that each of those clients

1269
01:05:02,829 --> 01:05:04,038
brings to the table.

1270
01:05:04,141 --> 01:05:06,833
Every day it's a new client,
a new story,

1271
01:05:06,937 --> 01:05:08,387
and it's a new adventure.

1272
01:05:08,490 --> 01:05:12,529
♪

1273
01:05:12,632 --> 01:05:16,498
I first started coming to Paris
about 15 years ago.

1274
01:05:16,602 --> 01:05:18,086
♪

1275
01:05:18,190 --> 01:05:20,468
And I fell in love
with the architecture,

1276
01:05:20,571 --> 01:05:23,678
the art, and I started
coming back and forth

1277
01:05:23,781 --> 01:05:25,024
from California,

1278
01:05:25,128 --> 01:05:28,062
and I got lucky
and met my wonderful wife.

1279
01:05:28,165 --> 01:05:31,824
♪

1280
01:05:31,928 --> 01:05:35,034
I think that the younger
generation has less fear

1281
01:05:35,138 --> 01:05:36,933
about expressing themselves.

1282
01:05:37,036 --> 01:05:40,591
Also their image
is very important to them.

1283
01:05:40,695 --> 01:05:41,972
You can look at the,

1284
01:05:42,076 --> 01:05:43,629
in French we say
"le réseaux sociaux,"

1285
01:05:43,732 --> 01:05:46,218
the Instagram, Facebook.

1286
01:05:46,321 --> 01:05:49,324
Nowadays, when I do a tattoo,
when I finish the tattoo,

1287
01:05:49,428 --> 01:05:51,948
not only do I take a picture
for myself,

1288
01:05:52,051 --> 01:05:54,329
I take the photograph
with the client's phone

1289
01:05:54,433 --> 01:05:55,882
so that they're able
to use that.

1290
01:05:55,986 --> 01:05:58,057
And a lot of the time
they're more interested

1291
01:05:58,161 --> 01:06:00,059
in looking at it on their phone

1292
01:06:00,163 --> 01:06:02,544
than they are looking at it
on their own body.

1293
01:06:02,648 --> 01:06:04,857
♪

1294
01:06:04,961 --> 01:06:07,964
I manage Handmade
Fine Tattoo Studio.

1295
01:06:08,067 --> 01:06:11,243
I do the social network
for them.

1296
01:06:11,346 --> 01:06:15,868
I also work with tattoo artists
when they need me to,

1297
01:06:15,972 --> 01:06:18,388
and I'm journalist
for [unintelligible]

1298
01:06:18,491 --> 01:06:22,599
which is a media
about tattoo artists.

1299
01:06:22,702 --> 01:06:27,707
I chose the name Stigma
because of a famous sociologist

1300
01:06:27,811 --> 01:06:29,675
who made a book
named Stigmata

1301
01:06:29,778 --> 01:06:34,059
about every stigma that
can you have, like tattoo,

1302
01:06:34,162 --> 01:06:36,544
and you choose them.

1303
01:06:36,647 --> 01:06:38,442
♪

1304
01:06:38,546 --> 01:06:40,548
I like to work
with found objects.

1305
01:06:40,651 --> 01:06:41,790
I go to the flea market.

1306
01:06:41,894 --> 01:06:44,793
I like to find
old brass fixtures

1307
01:06:44,897 --> 01:06:48,383
and I take those and I recreate
them into a tattoo machine.

1308
01:06:48,487 --> 01:06:50,454
♪

1309
01:06:50,558 --> 01:06:51,766
Yes, it is a tool,

1310
01:06:51,869 --> 01:06:53,595
but we can also take this tool

1311
01:06:53,699 --> 01:06:56,426
and turn it into an art object.

1312
01:06:56,529 --> 01:06:57,220
It has to work.

1313
01:06:57,323 --> 01:06:58,462
If it doesn't work anymore

1314
01:06:58,566 --> 01:07:00,844
it's just a beautiful
paperweight.

1315
01:07:00,947 --> 01:07:02,708
But I do believe
that it's something

1316
01:07:02,811 --> 01:07:05,676
that can be beautiful
as well as functional.

1317
01:07:05,780 --> 01:07:09,922
♪

1318
01:07:10,026 --> 01:07:14,030
In the early 1990s,
my wife, Kaleta Doolin,

1319
01:07:14,133 --> 01:07:16,549
an artist and feminist
arts advocate,

1320
01:07:16,653 --> 01:07:19,690
became interested
in utilizing tattoo imagery

1321
01:07:19,794 --> 01:07:22,279
in her sculpture.

1322
01:07:22,383 --> 01:07:26,180
When Ed Hardy saw these new
pieces that Kaleta was making

1323
01:07:26,283 --> 01:07:28,803
he invited her to become part
of an exhibition

1324
01:07:28,906 --> 01:07:30,839
that he was curating in Chicago

1325
01:07:30,943 --> 01:07:33,463
called Eye Tattooed America,

1326
01:07:33,566 --> 01:07:36,224
which involved artists
from around the country

1327
01:07:36,328 --> 01:07:41,160
who were incorporating
tattoo imagery in new forms.

1328
01:07:41,264 --> 01:07:51,308
♪

1329
01:07:51,308 --> 01:07:59,040
♪

1330
01:07:59,144 --> 01:08:02,699
By the early 1970s,
the momentum for the recognition

1331
01:08:02,802 --> 01:08:04,459
of tattooing as an art form

1332
01:08:04,563 --> 01:08:07,083
was beginning to build.

1333
01:08:07,186 --> 01:08:10,603
Lyle Tuttle emerged as the first
pop star tattoo artist,

1334
01:08:10,707 --> 01:08:14,159
appearing on the cover
of Rolling Stone in 1970.

1335
01:08:14,262 --> 01:08:16,368
In 1979, Chuck Eldridge

1336
01:08:16,471 --> 01:08:19,129
started the Tattoo Archive
in Berkeley.

1337
01:08:19,233 --> 01:08:23,271
In 1981, Marcia Tucker published
a groundbreaking article

1338
01:08:23,375 --> 01:08:25,722
on tattooing
for Artforum Magazine

1339
01:08:25,825 --> 01:08:29,208
in which she talked about
tattooing and its relationship

1340
01:08:29,312 --> 01:08:31,969
to new directions
in contemporary art.

1341
01:08:32,073 --> 01:08:35,766
Also in 1981, MTV launched

1342
01:08:35,870 --> 01:08:38,114
as a television channel.

1343
01:08:38,217 --> 01:08:40,599
For the first time,
the general public

1344
01:08:40,702 --> 01:08:44,913
was able to see tattoos
on rock stars, musicians,

1345
01:08:45,017 --> 01:08:50,126
and other icons of popular
culture as never before.

1346
01:08:50,229 --> 01:08:53,991
In 1982,
two important publications

1347
01:08:54,095 --> 01:08:56,201
on tattooing appeared.

1348
01:08:56,304 --> 01:08:59,480
One was Lyle Tuttle's
Tattoo Historian

1349
01:08:59,583 --> 01:09:03,449
and the other was
Ed Hardy's Tattootime.

1350
01:09:03,553 --> 01:09:07,522
♪

1351
01:09:07,626 --> 01:09:11,008
All of this builds
to Tattoo Expo '82,

1352
01:09:11,112 --> 01:09:13,183
spearheaded by Ed Hardy

1353
01:09:13,287 --> 01:09:15,599
on the ocean liner
the Queen Mary

1354
01:09:15,703 --> 01:09:18,671
docked at Long Beach,
California.

1355
01:09:18,775 --> 01:09:21,364
♪

1356
01:09:21,467 --> 01:09:25,195
This was the most amazing
gathering of tattooed people

1357
01:09:25,299 --> 01:09:28,474
and tattoo artists
ever assembled.

1358
01:09:28,578 --> 01:09:31,615
Tattoo artists came
from around the world.

1359
01:09:31,719 --> 01:09:34,653
It occurred in this
amazing setting.

1360
01:09:34,756 --> 01:09:37,207
There were seminars,
there were workshops,

1361
01:09:37,311 --> 01:09:39,589
there were film screenings
on the lower deck

1362
01:09:39,692 --> 01:09:41,177
of the Queen Mary.

1363
01:09:41,280 --> 01:09:43,040
People were proud
of their tattoos.

1364
01:09:43,144 --> 01:09:47,424
People were comparing the images
that they had on their bodies.

1365
01:09:47,528 --> 01:09:49,288
They were competing
with each other,

1366
01:09:49,392 --> 01:09:51,221
driving each other forward.

1367
01:09:51,325 --> 01:09:52,567
There was a whole energy

1368
01:09:52,671 --> 01:09:56,813
that was beginning
to manifest itself.

1369
01:09:56,916 --> 01:09:59,160
It was a community of people

1370
01:09:59,264 --> 01:10:03,199
dedicated to a shared mission
and vision.

1371
01:10:03,302 --> 01:10:07,582
Tattooing was emerging
as a global phenomenon.

1372
01:10:07,686 --> 01:10:15,556
♪

1373
01:10:17,178 --> 01:10:19,732
Ed Hardy, in my opinion,

1374
01:10:19,836 --> 01:10:23,184
helps to bridge the gap
between generations.

1375
01:10:23,288 --> 01:10:27,292
You have the older generation,
which was a--

1376
01:10:27,395 --> 01:10:29,328
I would say that tattooing
at that time

1377
01:10:29,432 --> 01:10:31,606
was more of a craft,
and Ed Hardy,

1378
01:10:31,710 --> 01:10:35,265
because of his background,
was able to bring in

1379
01:10:35,369 --> 01:10:38,061
actual art into tattooing.

1380
01:10:38,164 --> 01:10:42,238
♪

1381
01:11:00,325 --> 01:11:03,604
Ed Hardy, for us,
the younger generation,

1382
01:11:03,707 --> 01:11:06,262
he's a mythical figure
in a sense.

1383
01:11:06,365 --> 01:11:08,919
He's able to take
many different styles of art,

1384
01:11:09,023 --> 01:11:11,025
mix them together,
and come up with something

1385
01:11:11,128 --> 01:11:13,269
that's entirely new.

1386
01:11:13,372 --> 01:11:17,480
As a tattoo artist,
he was always ahead

1387
01:11:17,583 --> 01:11:20,310
of what was happening next,

1388
01:11:20,414 --> 01:11:24,107
and he continues
to own a tattoo shop

1389
01:11:24,210 --> 01:11:25,764
in San Francisco.

1390
01:11:27,041 --> 01:11:29,319
He isn't tattooing himself.

1391
01:11:29,423 --> 01:11:32,288
He's now devoting himself
to painting

1392
01:11:32,391 --> 01:11:34,773
and printmaking
and other artwork.

1393
01:11:34,876 --> 01:11:36,533
He's done ceramics.

1394
01:11:36,637 --> 01:11:47,303
♪

1395
01:11:47,406 --> 01:11:49,097
When I started
studying tattooing

1396
01:11:49,201 --> 01:11:53,930
I could never have imagined what
it was going to become today.

1397
01:11:54,033 --> 01:11:57,382
How tattooing went from being
one of the most forbidden

1398
01:11:57,485 --> 01:11:59,798
art forms in the Western world

1399
01:11:59,901 --> 01:12:01,627
to one of the most common.

1400
01:12:02,490 --> 01:12:04,423
Tattoos are everywhere.

1401
01:12:04,527 --> 01:12:06,460
We see them in the fine arts.

1402
01:12:06,563 --> 01:12:08,393
We see them in folk culture

1403
01:12:08,496 --> 01:12:10,118
and in popular culture.

1404
01:12:10,222 --> 01:12:14,191
We see them in advertising,
television, and movies.

1405
01:12:14,295 --> 01:12:16,608
♪

1406
01:12:16,711 --> 01:12:19,473
And most importantly,
we see the history of tattooing

1407
01:12:19,576 --> 01:12:21,440
being explored and represented

1408
01:12:21,544 --> 01:12:23,753
in gallery
and museum exhibitions

1409
01:12:23,856 --> 01:12:26,859
in the United States
and around the world.

1410
01:12:26,963 --> 01:12:34,039
♪

1411
01:12:34,142 --> 01:12:37,111
I think that tattooing is going
to continue to evolve

1412
01:12:37,214 --> 01:12:38,768
and surprise us in many ways.

1413
01:12:38,871 --> 01:12:41,080
Things that we wouldn't even
think of today

1414
01:12:41,184 --> 01:12:42,875
will end up being done.

1415
01:12:42,979 --> 01:12:44,083
Because of computers,

1416
01:12:44,187 --> 01:12:47,501
because of all the tools
we have at hand

1417
01:12:47,604 --> 01:12:49,882
I think it's gonna go in a lot
of different directions.

1418
01:12:49,986 --> 01:12:52,851
♪

1419
01:12:52,954 --> 01:12:54,370
I mean, the tattooing today,
you know,

1420
01:12:54,473 --> 01:12:56,095
it's ahead of everybody
probably around here.

1421
01:12:56,199 --> 01:12:58,443
Old timers and new people
in the business alike,

1422
01:12:58,546 --> 01:13:00,583
we've all seen, you know,
these changes come down

1423
01:13:00,686 --> 01:13:02,378
and there's more happening now.

1424
01:13:02,481 --> 01:13:03,862
A lot of what's happening
maybe won't last.

1425
01:13:03,965 --> 01:13:05,691
Maybe a lot of it's kind of
a flash in the pan

1426
01:13:05,795 --> 01:13:08,107
with techniques and designs
and that,

1427
01:13:08,211 --> 01:13:10,247
but at least it's something new,
there's some new blood in it.

1428
01:13:10,351 --> 01:13:11,594
I think there's more kinds
of people

1429
01:13:11,697 --> 01:13:13,630
interested in tattooing now

1430
01:13:13,734 --> 01:13:15,908
than there ever were before,
and I think that's good.

1431
01:13:16,012 --> 01:13:18,601
The more of 'em we can get out
and the people that see,

1432
01:13:18,704 --> 01:13:21,535
I mean, things like this movie
and magazine articles and that,

1433
01:13:21,638 --> 01:13:23,606
anything that's showing it
in a positive light

1434
01:13:23,709 --> 01:13:25,987
and presenting us as people
that are doing a craft

1435
01:13:26,091 --> 01:13:28,127
and not just showing it off
as something completely

1436
01:13:28,231 --> 01:13:30,682
off the wall, well,
people read that and they say,

1437
01:13:30,785 --> 01:13:32,580
"Well, I always have thought
about getting a tattoo

1438
01:13:32,684 --> 01:13:34,410
and maybe it's all right now
to do it."

1439
01:13:34,513 --> 01:13:35,756
They see that people
are working cleaner

1440
01:13:35,859 --> 01:13:37,654
and there's more colors
and that there's--

1441
01:13:37,758 --> 01:13:39,380
you know, it just gets it out
in the open more.

1442
01:13:39,484 --> 01:13:40,933
So, I think the renaissance
is on.

1443
01:13:41,037 --> 01:13:43,004
I think there's more exciting
tattooing being done now

1444
01:13:43,108 --> 01:13:44,868
than there ever was
in the history of the world.

1445
01:13:44,972 --> 01:13:47,388
You know, it's really--
it's just exploding.

1446
01:13:48,907 --> 01:13:54,050
♪

1447
01:13:54,050 --> 01:13:58,917
♪