Caroline Rocks an Awesome R.Crumb Tattoo

I'm rationing all the tattoos I spotted in Hawai'i, which allows me to share the amazing ones I've seen since returning to New York. A huge backlog of ink photos means I can be pickier and share the very best.

My first day back in the Big Apple I met Caroline, at the corner of 23rd and 6th, a stone's throw from the Hotel Chelsea.

When I asked her to share one of her many tattoos (she has around 30), she bared her upper arm to reveal this great piece:

I recognized it immediately as the popular "underground" comic artist R. Crumb. Not that he wasn't already popular, but he illustrated a couple of Charles Bukowski stories in the late '80s, and this image was one used in the Black Sparrow Press issue of his short story "Bring Me Your Love".

Caroline explained to me why this tattoo was essential to her tapestry. She would often, when angry or frustrated, say she was so mad she could punch herself in the face. When she saw the drawing, she knew it would be a perfect tattoo for her.

Joe at Saints & Sinners in Baltimore was the artist who transferred R. Crumb's genius onto Caroline's flesh.


Thanks again to Caroline for sharing this great tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Jeni's Cinematic Ankle

I spotted Jeni's ankle back in April in a store on 24th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues.

One of five tattoos, I thought this one was pretty cool:

Jeni had been working in film part-time but she had finally decided that movies were what she would devote her life to. That is why the camera points forward.

Jeni, a documentarian, who has worked as a unit production manager and on continuity, sees this tattoo as a symbol of her decision to make movie making her life.

The tattoo was done at an unremembered shop name in Denver.

Thanks to Jeni for sharing her tatto with us here on Tattoosday!

An Update from Victor

I don't often run into Tattoosday subjects more than once, but when one works in the same neighborhood, it's often tough NOT to run into them.

Case in point is my friend Victor, who I first met here in an example of what I call a tat-alog, when multiple tattoos are photographed and discussed.

We did a second post on some new cinematic signature ink he had obtained here, and that had been it for a while.

Then, last month, I spotted him again in Penn Plaza, and thought that this tattoo was new:

There's been a lot of hoopla this week as Jimmy Fallon did a whole Rolling Stones tribute over five days in honor of the reissue of Exile on Main Street.

I'll let Victor explain the history of this particular tattoo:

...[This was] done by my cousin Eddie Bonacore in his apartment...then he did it for me again when he got officially hired as a tattoo artist @ Funhouse Tattooing in the Poconos.  I love the Stones, and credit my mom for that one...she got me into them.  The Stones ooze rock n' roll and always will...even watching Shine a Light, the documentary [Martin] Scorsese recently did on them...it just further shows there commitment to rock n' roll...the least I could do was add some tongue to my wrist!

Thanks again to Victor for keeping us entertained with his rockin' tattoos here on Tattoosday!

Tattoosday Goes to Hawai'i: Reston's Expansive Ink

I've alluded, in previous posts, to a trip to Ala Moana Center, during which I was astounded by the amount of tattoos I saw, much more than I recall seeing on my previous trip, five years ago.

I was in the expansive food court section of the complex when I met Reston and his uncle. I was first intrigued by the work on his left arm:

but then, in one of those rare Tattoosday moments in which I see much more than I anticipated, his uncle convinced Reston to show me his back, which revealed this wonderful work:

For Reston, his tattoos are tributes to his heritage. The large Buddha on his back acknowledges the Buddhist faith that can be found on his father's side of the family. The tiki and tribal patterns are in honor of his mother's Pacific Islander lineage. This is apparent from the merging of the two styles (and the names "mom" and "dad" at the top of his back:

In addition, Reston shared this cool lizard on his left shoulder:

Actually, in Hawaiian tattoo styles, this is referred to more specifically as a mo'o, which can be defined (source here) as a "spirit guardian (lizard) that protects a resource, such as a fishpond, from overuse and other abuse". Mo'o are also referred to as geckos.

There's a lot going on with Reston's personal canvas, but you can see the geographic shapes of the mo'o design jumping off the skin.

  All the work was done in California. The Buddha back piece was inked by Jon Highland, owner of 12 Monkeys Tattoo in Tracy, California. The majority of the tribal/Polynesian work was tattooed by Orly at Humble Beginnings Tattoo Studio in San Jose.

A hearty mahalo to Reston for being bold enough to remove his shirt in the Ala Moana food court so we could all get to better appreciate his ink. We here at Tattoosday thank you for your contributions to the site!