While it's not even out on newsstands yet, the "Skin Deep" cover by Barry Blitt for next week's The New Yorker magazine is getting tons of buzz. The image is a play on Norman Rockwell's classic painting, The Tattoo Artist (1944). The traditional sailor flash background is replaced with tongue-in-cheek critiques of Mitt Romney; for example, the pin-up is styled as a "Binder of Babes," and the classic schooner tattoo reads "Cayman or Bust." And of course, Blitt has fun by taking the crossed-out names of the sailor's old girlfriends and changing them to political positions. [If this was a Bill Clinton satire, I'm sure the girls' names would've stayed.]

For some history on the original painting, check the Tattoo Archive's page on Norman Rockwell, which offers insight into the work, including the following info:

Rockwell worked from various photographs while painting The Tattooist, which was used as The Post cover on the March 4, 1944 issue. In fact, Rockwell used photographs as an aid in doing most of his paintings. For The Tattooist, Rockwell borrowed a tattoo machine from the Bowery tattooist Al Neville. Tattoo shop signs seen here is from the Rockwell collection. Rockwell obviously consulted with Al Neville along with former sailors to insure accuracy in his painting of The Tattooist.

The Selvedge Yard also has a great post on the painting, with photos like the one below.

Photo of Miya Bailey by Nick Burchell.

Atlanta-based tattooist and painter, Miya Bailey of City of Ink, is no stranger to this blog. Last month, we posted on the screening and DVD of Color Outside the Lines, the first documentary to explore the experiences of professional black tattoo artists in America -- a film I highly recommend. And back in 2009, Miguel Collins interviewed Miya about his art and career, and also techniques special to tattooing black skin.

I had the pleasure of interviewing Miya myself a couple of months ago for Inked magazine, and that Q&A is featured in the August issue, on newsstands now and available as a digital download. Let's just pretend that "television personality" JWow-whatever from the Jersey Shore is not on the cover (classing up the image of tattooed women, of course) and focus on our talk, which touched on how art got Miya out of the projects, how he developed his tattoo craft, racism in the tattoo community, and what Color Outside the Lines is about.

Here's a taste:

In the film, you also say that you were really attracted to tattooing artistically and even took a needle and thread and starting poking your own skin at a young age. What was the main attraction?

It wasn't just one thing. I'd see my father with tattoos growing up and that was really the spark of it because every young boy wants to be like his father growing up. As I got older and came into my own, I was really into music and the first people I noticed who had really artistic work on them was a rock group called Fishbone. When I saw these brothers, it blew my mind. I'm from North Carolina, this country boy, seeing a rock band that's black with tattoos that weren't just names or stereotypical stuff. And just imagine what they had to go through from their own community. People didn't have sleeves or work like that in the eighties in the black community. When I started tattooing in the early nineties, the people dogging me the most were my own people saying, "Why are you doing that?" "Are you trying to be white?" Wow. But it's part of our culture. Tribes did it. I always knew this.

What was your start like, professionally?

I started off as a scratcher like everyone else because I couldn't get an apprenticeship then, but I wasn't satisfied. So I moved to Atlanta, which I considered a big city at the time, and took a chance and knocked on every tattoo shop I found. Everybody told me no until I got to West End and Julia Alphonso said, "Come on in; let me see your portfolio." She trained me for three years. Back then, I didn't understand none of the stuff she was putting me through, but I appreciate it now. She gave up so much. She was blackballed in the industry for teaching black people how to tattoo. I would hear at tattoo conventions, "She's a nigger lover." This was in the nineties! When we'd go to conventions, they would call us so many racial slurs it was unbelievable. That was some Rosa Parks shit. The first time I ever faced hard racism at a convention was in Philadelphia in '95. The people who stood out were the people who were nice to me. Paul Booth, out of everybody, was super nice to us. He said, "Y'all can sit and watch me work." And Cap Szumski too. He made me watch him do a portrait for two hours straight at the tattoo convention. He said, "I know Julia. She told me to keep an eye on you. Sit your ass down and watch me do this tattoo." You had to see people's facial expressions when they saw black kids, teenagers, sitting in his booth and watching him work. The looks on their faces inspired me forever.

In this latest Inked magazine (the Rock-n-Roll issue), I interviewed veteran tattooist (and rock star in her own right) Annette LaRue of Electric Ladyland Tattoo in New Orleans. We had a fun time chatting about everything, from inking her first tattoo at 13 years old to handling French Quarter drunks to her upcoming retirement. Here's a taste:

You must tattoo a lot of characters. Any favorites?

Well, we had this one guy we called "The Sheriff of Frenchmen Street." He sat outside on the bench all day long and drank draft beer. I had an apprentice and told him, "You got to go out there and tattoo that guy. He's out there every day, he's got tattoos and you can do better than what he's got." So he went over and got the guy, Dave (The Sheriff), to come in. He became one of our favorite customers. All our apprentices tattooed him. For every five apprentice tattoos, I'd do one good tattoo on him. He was awesome. After Katrina, he moved away and couldn't get back. We found out a couple of years later that he drank himself to death. There are a lot of characters like him who we don't see anymore.

With Katrina and the oil spill, and the people of the Gulf experiencing a lot of heartache, how does this translate in the tattoo business? Do you see a lot of people getting memorial tattoos for example?

Oh yes. People here like to wear their strong emotions. And they do it through tattoos.

That's got to be heavy.

It was horrible the first year or two after Katrina. Everyone who came in had a tragic story. Three guys who worked for me lost everything they owned. So yeah, it changed everything. But it made business great. We never had an appointment book before that; we were a walk-in shop. A couple of guys would have appointments a couple of times a week, but now over half of our tattoos are by appointment. It shocks me everyday just how many people come in. I'm not trying to brag, and I'm sorry for other people not doing well, but we've been blessed and really lucky. It's also been a lot of hard work. I'd like to give my crew the credit. These guys are really the life of the shop.
...

Read more in the latest issue of Inked on newsstands now and available for download online.

One of my must-read tattoo artist blogs is that of Electric Pick. Beyond his posts of sexy illustrations and trippy tattoo work, his writing on politics and culture are eye-opening reads. Since the beginning of February, he's been sharing his adventures from sailing on a container vessel to Cape Town and now trekking throughout Africa.

We first wrote about Pick in our feature on Conspiracy Inc. in Copenhagen, his home for the last three years (which is the longest he's ever stayed in one studio). His next move, after his African tour, is to Hong Kong--a city he describes as "a constantly busy, evolving and magical environment."

I interviewed Pick about his life as tattooist/part-time spy for my next tattoo tome (on illustrative comic/cartoon work). Here's a taste from our talk:

Your adventures seem to be reflected in your drawings and sketches, but do they also impact your tattoo work?

My tattooing and illustration are tightly bound together but on more of a technical level, to transfer personal ideas is not as easy in tattooing as in illustration. I mean it's on someone else and even though I'm pretty lucky to have most of my customers just come to me with very general ideas, at the end of the day, it's still on them forever and I try to limit the amount of spontaneous personal ideas I put on them. But ultimately my work (whether illustration, painting or tattooing) is me; it's a part of me, and as I change from my travels, it changes too. The more I see weird new things, the more I change my vision of the world and the more I change myself, so it's only natural that my work changes too. It's also kind of why I do it too.

Tell me about your clients. Is there a certain type of person attracted to your work?

Absolutely. I tattoo 'tattoo geeks,' people who will look around for years to find what they truly like, who will go on countless websites and become highly critical, and even though they have never tattooed, will know exactly what they're talking about. I could not be luckier and appreciate the dedication of a huge majority of my customers so much. I think the type of people my work attracts is much more for artistic reasons too rather than technical ones. Most people who start writing to me for possible pieces are more inclined to my work because of the look and the feel and the stylization of my work and because it's not really part of any specific 'tattoo scene.' They are people who are usually in artistic professional fields themselves, and also (maybe even most importantly) they can connect with my vision of things, i.e., space chicks usually don't wear much; most robots from the future are evil and very destructive; cities are endless; the worlds beyond our own hold many dangerous and evil contraptions; and well, zombies and mutants are everywhere.

Read more on Pick's vision of things here and check his tattoo portfolio here.
 

On New York's Long Island, there's a treasure trove of tattoo history: flash that dates back to the Civil War era, vintage machines, sideshow memorabilia, a file cabinet filled with acetate stencils from the 1930s and so much more. The real treasure is the collector himself, Cliff White of Cliff's Tattoo in Centereach, LI.

When Skin & Ink Magazine asked me to interview Cliff, I jumped at the chance to hear his stories of a time when tattooing was raw and rough but a respect for the craft prevailed. I also spoke with Cliff's son Rob White who carries on the tattoo traditional and is a collector himself. [He's also a comedian.] Part 1 of the article in the February issue is on newsstands now. Here's a taste:

Happy New Year to all you beautiful freaks!

Our resolutions have been made and we're looking forward to bringing more art into our lives, revamping the site (including getting back the comment forums), and also doing some good. For this last goal, we were inspired by the philanthropic work of tattoo artist Mike Mendes whose Love Everyday organization seeks to increase poverty awareness and inspire people to get involved and make changes in our communities and beyond. The cause also serves as a reminder to be grateful and appreciate what we have in our own lives, and "pass on the positive mental attitude."

Love Everyday raises money through endeavors like their Clothing for a Cause and New Threat apparel sales. [At the moment, t-shirt orders are temporarily on hold.] All of the proceeds directly go to helping people on the streets with food, clothing, blankets, etc. (particularly those in Toronto but in other communities as well). Mike also does non-profit art workshops as well as educational talks & discussions for other charities, youth groups as well as schools.

Here's a clip from an interview with Mike on what inspired him to create Love Everyday and where it has taken him:

How did you go about starting Love Everyday?

Love Everyday originally just started as an outlet for my art. I was selling T-shirts I designed at concerts, events, music festivals like Warped Tour and Wakestock, and online through the web site. After traveling a bit and seeing cases of poverty all over the world, as well as right in my own city, I decided to try to do something about it. I started helping out people on the street with all the proceeds from the shirts. After spending a lot of time with a lot of people on the street, I guess I just developed pretty strong relationships with a lot of them and it just motivated me to keep getting more involved. I started doing non profit art workshops and talks with youth groups & schools. Now Love Everyday has led me all over the world, helping out a little bit here & there and it's been a pretty wild adventure.

Any particular events that stand out from the adventure so far?

Seeing the incredible amount of poverty in Venezuela was a huge deal for me. Families living in alleys and sheet metal shacks, with their kids running around clothesless. It was pretty heavy. I went around and gave out bags of Love Everyday shirts to kids in these areas and it got to the point where I ran out of clothes to give. A little girl was still tugging at me asking where my shirt was for her. I ended up giving away the clothes I was wearing and some clothes I brought just to last me for the trip. Somewhere during my time lost in South America, between getting stranded there with no clothes, missing flights, being registered as a missing-person, and getting chased by wild dogs and someone with a machete, I realized my life can get pretty hectic at times but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Where are you located right now?

I'm in Vancouver for a bit right now working on some things with Love Everyday, then probably off to California. I also tattoo at Dark Day Studios here in Vancouver on Main St. I'm incredibly lucky to have a trade that allows me to just drop down anywhere in the world and work. My tattooing sort of supports my wanderlust and helps Love Everyday get around.

We can spread the love online by posting the Love Everyday site on Facebook or inviting others to the Love Everyday FB page, and offline, bring our kindness to the streets.

For the December/January issue of Inked magazine, I had the pleasure of interviewing tattoo artist, painter, and now sculptor BUGS, whose blend of cubism and art deco inspired tattoos have earned him international acclaim as an innovator in the industry. You can pick up a copy at local news sellers in the US & Canada or download the digital mag via Zinio. Here's a taste of our Q&A:

Because there's such a demand for your work, how do you keep things fresh and find new ideas to answer this demand?
Well, it's been about fourteen or fifteen years since I started doing my own style. I've been improving my style over these years and now it's kind of strong and powerful. When people see my work on others, they recognize it right away. I reached what I was looking for. To keep it fresh is a lot of work. You take a lot of time to progress but to stay on top of your game is the hardest part. Every day I draw. I paint a lot. I practice, and the more I do it, I discover new things.

How do you find the balance between very angular design and the contours of the body?
That's hard to explain. It has become natural to me--it's the way I draw things. When it comes to designs like flowers or women (there are a lot of women in my work), I try to avoid too much detail and information. I try, in just one outline, to show the silhouette of the body, for example.

What do you think is one of the biggest challenges?
It is to be creative every single time. Consider that all my work is custom and original--that's where it becomes complicated. When you do flash, you can do the same design ten or a hundred times with little variation, but when it comes to my kind of work, people are expecting original art. It's a lot of work. How many cubic women or flowers can I do? They all have to be different--in my style--but different. I never do the same tattoo twice.

Read more in Inked. You can make an appointment with Bug's at The Tattoo Lounge in LA.