Be honest, what was your first thought when you saw that picture? Did the fact that he might be a businessman even cross your mind? What about a CEO, a banker, or a doctor? Tattoos have made incredible strides in the past few years toward becoming more mainstream and accepted. But is the popularity of tattoos a passing trend or a shift in culture toward acceptance? Tattoos are not the taboo subject they once were, but how close are we to abolishing the social stereotyping that comes along with this particular brand of art?
I don't have a bunch of research showing the statistics of hundreds of people who were surveyed answers, but I honestly don't think it is needed. I have two eyes and ears and I know the reactions of people around me when they see or hear about a tattoo.
I am probably not the most impartial person to write a blog about tattoos considering the fact that my brother has four and I am in the process of mapping out the ones I plan on getting sometime in the not-so-distant future. But then again maybe that makes me the perfect person to discuss them, with an open mind, and a (currently) untarnished body. So what makes people so interested in getting tattoos? Is it the ultimate form of self expression? The (from what I hear) addicting pain? A need to distinguish themselves from the crowd? An unquenchable thirst for a life just a little bit left of center? The answer?
ALL OF THE ABOVE
Every person is different, each a completely unique artwork made by the perfect, defined brushstrokes of God, so of course their reasons for getting tattoos vary. For some it may be a way to show the world who they are and the rules they live by, for others it is a way to honor a culture, an ideal, or a person that has touched their life in a significant way. And maybe some people simply like something and want to keep it close to them always.
I used to be completely addicted to a show called "Miami Ink." It centered around four tattoo artists out of South Beach (Miami), Florida. They are four of the best tattoo artists in the world: Ami James, Chris Garver, Chris Nunez, and Darren Brass. And the reason that I fell in love with the show was the stories as well as the art. I found it fascinating learning about the various reasons that people had for deciding on something so permanent. For some it was the mark of triumph over a terrible illness. For others it marked the end of an era of their life, or was a memorial to those they loved that were no longer with them. And when I watched these tattoos unfold before my eyes I was fascinated, enthralled even. I couldn't have looked away if I had wanted to. They were beautiful pieces of art that people could walk around with daily. Little reminders of what they had gone through and would continue to go through until the came to rest. I had never guessed that something so beautiful could be seen as wrong. How could everyone be so opposed to something so incredible, so gorgeous? I made this inquiry to my parents where they explained to me that it just didn't look right for people to go around with so many visible tattoos, it just wasn't seen as classy. I still didn't understand, after all it was art. Movable, intricate, and unique in design. It was living, breathing art, put on a canvas that got way more looks than a piece of white board sitting in someone's house unable to move about, to display itself.
I think tattoos are a refined taste. Maybe they are like art in that way. Some people love going to museums, studying various artists from Cezanne or Monet to Renoir, but it just isn't for other people. They'd much rather watch a baseball game, or go fly fishing. I think tattoos are kind of like that. Some people fall in love with the intricacies of the art form, the way a piece of art can move on the human body in a way it can't on canvas. The way in which the colors fade and sharpen with time. And the way each artist brings their own unique flavor to a piece, giving a completely one of a kind feel. But just in the way that baseball or fly fishing isn't for everyone neither are tattoos, and that isn't a bad thing. It isn't even reprehensible. Tattoos aren't for everyone.
In this day and age you see more people with visible tattoos than ever before. It has become completely mundane for a housewife in suburbia to have one. A business man in Atlanta or a politician in Washington, D.C. So you would think with all the face time tattoos are getting the negative connotation that comes along with them would soon be banished off somewhere into the background, but it isn't true. People will probably always look at you twice if you have a neck tattoo peaking up over your collared shirt at a job interview. If you get pulled over by the cops and you are covered in tattoos, chances are the cop is looking at you twice and wondering if you have a rap sheet. Is this kind of stereotyping fair? Definitely not. Is it going to be abolished overnight because a few people get tired of it? No. It sucks to think that nothing anybody does is going to change things, and it isn't true. But as long as humans have roamed this Earth stereotyping has existed, and I honestly don't think it will change anytime in the near future. So get a tattoo, or don't get a tattoo, but make whatever choice you make for the right reasons. Not because you think it's the next cool thing to do, because like big hair and parachute pants, all trends eventually fade.
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