Tattoos on Pigs: A Work of Art or Sick Artist’s Imagination?

” We make money not art”. It is a logo of Wim Delvoye - a Belgian conceptual artist, who thinks that Art doesn’t bring any practical use. That’s why he decided to create unusual works of art, and earn money by selling them. I should say that Wim has rather unconventional imagination and utalitarial perception of art and its function. Drawing tattoos on pigs - is one of his popular projects.

He has such a called “Art-Farm” in the suburbs of Beijing with a whole army of farmers, breeding pigs, and painters, drawing tattoos on pigs’ backs. Now Wim has 18 pigs on his Art Farm and 3 artists. Every pig has its own name and the works of art on their backs have the same titles.

The tattoos, which you can see on pigs’ skin reflect the heroes from Disney movies, symbols from Chinese legends and Louis Vuitton designs. Of course, he also draws his own pictures on pigs’ backs and is famous for doing it very quickly.

When a pig becomes mature, it means that time for it to be tattooed has come. To tattoo a pig it’s necessary to sedate it, shave and apply Vaseline to its skin. After the death of such an object of art, pig’s skin turnes into a real masterpiece, which can decorate your house. The dead pigs are skinned and the pictures from their backs in future will be represented on the canvas.

Those, who desire to possess such a work of art, don’t need to buy an alive pig, they can just obtain pig’s skin, which is sold at auction and evaluated rather high. The price for such original sample of modern art is nearly 150.000$. This may strike and even shock you, but there are people who buy these painted skins and feel very proud of them, hanging them on the walls in their bedrooms.

The results of Wim’s work are usually exhibited in Art Galleries. An extraordinary artist prefers to show the tattoos, using his alive art objects. The collectors choose the work of art they like most of all and buy it.
Many people think it’s a kind of violence to use pigs in this way. But Wim considers, that he saves Chinese pigs from butchers.

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Feminine Tattoos

Although men’s tattoo patterns prevail nowadays, nobody would be surprised and shocked on seeing a woman wearing a tattoo. But the tendency still remains and there exist superstitions that a tattooed woman is a rebellion against society.

Don’t be surprised, in past it was really so. For the first 50 or 60 years of tattoos’ growing popularity and prestige among people only some women have tattooed themselves. And this was an exception; this was the display of eccentricity. But about 20 years ago the situation changed. Tattoo art was finally accepted by society, basically thanks to the fact that lots of celebrities – both men and women! – showed their tattoos in public. That’s why the representatives of fair sex got interested in tattoo art and eventually applied it to themselves.

But as a matter of fact, tattoos are viewed nowadays as a cool detail that adds spice to a person’s appearance. Moreover, women don’t have to wear rough masculine tattoos, but there appeared lots of feminine tattoo pattern and their designs are still being created.

Feminine Tattoos

Feminine tattoos have gained tremendous popularity among girls and women. It is just natural, as most women are physically smaller and slimmer than men, that’s why they tend to prefer little and refined tattoos. A completely tattooed woman’s arm is a not very often to see, isn’t it? Well, you may come across it, but as a rule women would mould more eagerly choose 1-2 isolated tattoos.

As I mentioned before, there’s some special thrill in this work of art. So a woman – and women long so much to stand out of the crowds and to be noticed – resorts to tattoo art as to the means of drawing men’s attention to her. She adorns her most seducing parts of body namely décolleté, buttocks, navel and shin with tattoos. Their patterns may vary from hieroglyphs and to animals and flowers; they may be simple as well as intricate.

So, feminine tattoos are the best way to underline your individuality and originality. They also give you a chance to show you imagination and make your wishes come true.

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The Ancient Tradition of Tattoos

The Ancient Tradition of Tattoos It is not recently that tattoo art appeared, I mean in the two or three previous centuries – it has already existed in ancient times. Before architecture, music and fashion entered people’s lives, they adorned their bodies with pictures. So tattoo art is a part of global culture and was widespread all over the world.

During archeological excavations ice-bound and mummified body of tattooed men even from the Bronze Era were found. At those remote times our ancestors tattooed themselves possibly to show their social status, for instance warriors painted their bodies with hunting scenes, tribe leaders marked their bodies with some symbols of power, or to show their belonging to a certain tribe. Supposedly tattoos were also used as a means of treatment.

Ancient Egyptian mummies are likely to hit the Guinness book as their tattoos date back to the forth thousand of years B.C., being thus the oldest in the world. The diversity of their designs and pattern would be enough for a picture gallery. It is interesting that Sarcophagi are painted with the same pictures as their hosts. What for? As you know, Egyptians believed in afterlife and that social ladder remains even after death, so tattoos were as if to provide of documentary evidence of their wearers’ lifetime position.

The ancient tradition of tattoos is also observed in China, where a tattoo was one of the Five Classic Punishments. For a first crime ever committed an offender’s forehead was tattooed with a horizontal line, for a second one an arched line was drawn as well as for a third one. All this resulted in a hieroglyph with the meaning of a “dog.” Also, slaves and captives were marked in such a way to male it harder for them to run away.

In Japan the ancient tattoo art is called “iredzumi.” At first tattoos were used as a part of ritual, then they helped distinguish between social classes, and from the 17th century they turned into a mere means of decoration. It is funny how conservative Japanese managed to bypass various bans and prohibitions with the help of tattoos. For instance, geishas, who were not allowed (like all women) to show naked body, tattooed themselves so as to imitate clothing when they wore none.

Luckily, present-day women as well as men are masters of their tattoos, and not vice versa.

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Stocking Seam Tattoo - Returning of the Past

Stocking Seam Tattoo - Returning of the Past Stocking seam tattoo is a very brave and unusual one to wear and it reminds about the fashion of wearing seamed silk stockings in times when nylon was not yet discovered. They costed much and from the beginning of World War II were in very short supply. But someone thought: “Why not draw a line down my leg to simulate the wearing of that pricey hosiery?” That’s how the idea of ? stocking seam tattoo appeared.

Soon after the war the idea fell out of fashion, but it came back in the 90-s in the form of the same stocking lines but tattooed permanently on the back of the legs. It was a part of the Rockabilly trend in culture that was widespread on the west coast of America. And fetish models of that time played not the least role in it.

Now stocking seam tattoos are less but still popular. Its design mimics the seam of vintage seam stoking and stops nearly above the ankle in their bottom part. At the top the line comes close to the thighs and ends usually in ribbons, though you may choose your own pattern. As you’ve noticed, the line does not go its way down to the heel to allow the woman to wear shoes while the tattoo is heeling tattoo and to make sure that is receives enough air and doesn’t get infected.

Stocking Seam Tattoo - Returning of the Past

This is a very exciting tattoo design, but at the same time it is the one you will regret about most and will long for tattoo removal procedure. It is visible whatever you wear unless it is long skirts or pants. If your body stretches, for instance, you put on weight the line will stretch too and loose their elegance. So think it over carefully before making a decision.

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