Author(s): Jo Waterhouse

Performing Arts

Tattoos and tattoo artwork have become part of mainstream culture and more so over the last few years with popular TV shows taking the viewer inside the tattoo studio for the first time. Many tattooists are also highly skilled artists in their own right and have moved beyond the artwork they tattoo onto skin to creating bodies of personal artwork more likely to be viewed in a gallery than a tattoo studio. Art by Tattooists is the first book to showcase this art. The book features twenty-six international artists who use a variety of media, from ink, watercolour, acrylic paint and oil to lino printing, painting on wood and board and even examples of tattoo-style skateboard graphics. Many of the artists are heavily influenced by the imagery they use as tattooists - roses, hearts, skulls, scrolls, birds, pin-ups, etc. - and carry this into their personal work. Other work features colours, themes or subject matter that is more subtly related to tattooing.