joakim urma

Very stoked! By the way, I heard there's a lot of extra material on the new Blue ray edition of Fire Walk With Me. Has anyone here seen that and if so was it worthwhile?

That's a beautiful looking back @Dennis! Seems like the old man still got it... ;) Maybe he's just not so savy with photos, or doesn't care about posting everything online. Over the past years when I've followed him on instragram I don't recall seeing anything that hit me the same way. Hats off to the master.

@Pugilist I don't think everyone who can type is seen, or should be seen, as having an equal opinion on the internet. And by now most people have realized that too, if not: a cold shower is to read the comments on 10 random youtube-videos of your choice hahaha :) I think this is the charm and frustration of the net, scrutinization of sources is necessary ALWAYS. So what I've written is from the perspective of, and holds the weight of, someone who has about 40 tattoos but has never made a single tattoo himself. Also, none of my tattoos are older than 5 years. These factors play a part when it comes my taste and knowledge in the art form, naturally. I also think that maybe I should have phrased it differently, "lost it" seems to carry some heavy connotations in english. I apologize if I made anyone engage in a discussion they felt provoked to take a defensive stance in. This whole side track about Eddy Deutsche (and Horiyoshi III) was just that. I enjoyed the discussion, learned and had fun. No hard feelings from my sides towards anyone. It's all a learning process! But maybe not as deterministic as to say that seasoned tattooers with 30 years under their belt are the ones with the supreme answers. I'm quite conservative too when it comes to tattoos but I believe in new blood and new fresh/naive/foolhardy ideas to stir it up every now and then. (Even if it proves that "bold will hold", and so on..) Thanks @Pugilist and all the others who debated this issue with me, it's been fruitful! I resign now from this discussion because it has gotten to meta for me. I hope there are other things in my original post and in what other people have written that we can still talk about. Peace and thanks!

Yeah, I agree it looks great and is very inspiring. I love those kinds of spaces. But personally I don't feel the need to live that way, takes up too much space and also it's expensive both on the wallet and the planet. In my utopian mind sharing is the way to go: big, well stocked public libraries or/and (better yet, dreamers) people living in shared spaces (house, appartment building, street) sharing their books in common rooms. Onwards to a brighter future, comrades! :cool:

Great post @exume, thanks for sharing! In my defense I have to say that I didn't say anything about Shige. It was someone else who said he had better artists at his local shop... (still want to know where that is) Also, I think I did say that I like some of Walter McDonalds stuff a lot (?), but that I was not as into how rough and loose his style is. His ideas, design and concepts are often way cool if you ask me! In the end, as with any art, it's a matter of preference. Someone mentioned that Chad Koeplinger tattoos in a looser style and he's in the bunch I'd consider favorite tattooers BUT I don't like the stuff that's very loose (yet). I think this could be a journey in itself, to learn to appriciate the rawness of things. A parallel could be to someone who gets into punk music by listening to, say, Bad Religion. After some years this persons taste might have refined/degraded (depending on you perspective) to the point where Discharge is his/hers favorite band, if you see the resemblence. I think it can be an obstacle to experience and enjoyment of any art form to judge it on scales of trashy - clean, dark - positive, energetic - static, and so on. There's no way to quantify the tattoo mojo and soul that is the most important ingredient. I don't know. For me tattoos are still mostly a visual thing and sometimes used to imprint/express an idea/feeling/concept I feel strongly about. I don't doubt that Walter has a smile on his face even when sleeping and that Eddy is one of the raddest guys, that Spotlight has bullet holes in the flash or whatever. Those are great things! But I am not sure that, for me, this would help me choose and artist to get work from. For some people it probably does, and I'm not going to say who is right or wrong in this. Tattoo culture is not a sport, I think it's totally fine that people have strongly oposing ideas and taste preference and I think it's fun and evolving in it's own to discuss without having to decide who is winning an argument. @Pugilist: I agree, it's always important to think twice about what you set in stone publicly (or set in HTML, in this case) And I absolutely think we should all try to be fair and not fall into gossip and trash talk. However, just because it's somebody's livelihood doesn't make it immune to criticism, in my opinion. One thing I like about this culture is that is participatory. You can't really be on the sidelines and still enjoy it (well you can watch Miami INK, but that's another story) Even getting just one tattoo means you have to make an active effort and become a, if tiny and shortlived, part of it. And I think one of the beautiful things is that it's not very hierarchical, no thrones of professional art critics who dictates what to think and feel about tattoos, what's good and who is not. I think there needs to be room for discussion, in a polite and civilized way about things we/you/I don't like and to voice some critical oppinions about people's work too. I am sure Deutsche has the kind of following where he's legacy will continue to grow still (and I also think he deserves it, I hope I made that clear). I also hope that people can make up their own minds and trust their own taste. I hope we don't get threads where the sole purpose is to talk shit about somebody's work, that would be really unfair and a lowmark for the forum. In this case it made for some interesting arguments that also lead to other ideas and perspectives comming through. As long as the tone is good and people behave I think it's benificial for everyone that we're not only giving eachother high 5's in the Latest Tattoo Lowdown-thread and joining into the choir whenever a respected tattooers name is mentioned. But yeah, thanks for pointing it out! "Think before you post!" is a good moto

This thread has been great so far with many interesting opinions and insight, I think we can all learn from it. Thanks people! I probably should have specified what I meant by "it" when I wrote that Eddy had "lost it". The it is for me in this case something that would make me feel strongly that I want work from him. Lacking it does not make him a bad tattooer, I didn't mean to say that. For me, compared to his older work (that I have seen in photos only, a problem in it's own as we've discussed in this thread) the newer stuff is just not as nice. This might have to do with that the old work that I've seen could have been very selected over years and also well made photographs, where as now: he is more likely to post instagram photos of a bigger portion of his work, and also worse photographic renditions of the tattoos. Tattooing is special in that way that it's mostly commisioned pieces, and in most cases it's hard to see how much of the tattoo comes from the tattooer and how much was brought in by the client. That's another thing to factor in when trying to judge someones work. (Some very orginal tattooers might be blessed by having very original clients with interesting ideas. It doesn't have to result in the most mind blowing tattoos and I still think some of the best ones are just slightly new renditions of the classic panther dagger rose-reportoir. But the client base is still one of the materials that are used in making tattoos. ) And also, some of the things that Deutsche is doing now doesn't resonate with me at all and I have a hard time grasping why he, as a veteran in the industry, would tattoo that way. (Maybe I will learn to like these things too, as time passes.) Of course it's impossible to tell that this is what I meant, by just reading the he "lost it"... Sorry about the confusion. The example with Eddy Deutsche was just something used to for illustration of what I wanted to discuss. I think this side-track was interesting to talk about, but I am happy that other topics are ventilated in this thread as well. Keep 'em comming!

Also: thanks @Pugilist for making some really important points. I'm going to try to look for this looseness that helps tattoos sits well on the body. I for sure don't wish everybody would tattoo like Tony Nilsson, but I guess I have a different standard of how much roughness, for lack of better word, that I like in my tattoos. One thing I learned to see by watching Robert Ryans stuff is that if he cleaned it up (like he probably can) it would lose that vibration that makes it go "aaahhhhhhhh" I agree that pictures are not the ideal way to look at tattoos, far from. In a way tattoos are like graffiti, they belong in real life. I see some fantastic stuff online but it doesn't compare to seeing pieces for real, even pieces objectively not as nice still grabs me more. I often see fantastic tattoos that I don't think I'd be as into if presented like a photo. Real Life rules, ya'll... Edit: to me that what makes tattooing such a strong and interesting art form. It's meant to age with you and to be viewed in all kinds of situations, not to be hanged on a wall in ideal light. For me the net is where I go looking to see the best work, if not visiting a convention. But some of the coolest tattoos I've seen have been on people I met in the metro. I'm happy @Pugilist broke these factors down. I feel we got a bit derailed on a part of what I brought up in the original post but it's been full of insight anyhow. One of the reasons why this forum is such a great place

Yeah the mojo is important of course. Some tattooers seem to have it all right, yet that crucial mysterious part is lacking. I'm not saying that I don't feel it in for exampel Bob Roberts current stuff, but compared to his older stuff the current falls short and I go looking for someone else. Then people like Sway do super solid stuff, but it feels like a balloon somehow. For me I think it relates to the "big names" thing, if someone showed me a new Eddy Deutsche piece and I didn't know it was his (keep using the same example names) I think theres I big chance I'd go "Yeeeeah that's a fucking great tattoo idea! Wish someone made it look stronger!" I guess I'm a bit of a slave to the type of stuff that I like, and also that I got into tattoos only five years ago. I can look at 90's work and be really into the concepts but not the look

@Pugilist I agree about what you said about instagram, totally. However in, dare I say most, of Horiyoshi III's older work it IS possible to see that his lines are getting really quite squiggly. I don't think his strenght ever was in doing the cleanest tattoos but the shading now.. even in a fresh, bloody and low res picture you can see that it's not "right". What I mean to say is that no one touches his legacy and importance in the field (!) but I can't get my head around how people are so very into his newer work despite the flaws that I point out. But then again I don't see the appeal of the new work from Stuart Cripwell (and others) who also seem to have went down the route of making quite rough tattoos on purpose. Not the kind of look that I'm into, but I guess to each his own. Horiyoshi III is excused of course, he's old and sick. I find it amazing that he still makes tattoos at all. Given the chance I might feel the need to get a tiny thing from him as a souvenir from a great visionary. I just don't get people who are up for giving him their whole back, now, and act like it's going to be the best tattoo ever.. </blasphemy>

And also @CultExciter: No I really really like some of the older work that I've seen by Eddy, I'm not saying anything about his influence. But it seems to me, like with Horiyoshi III and a bunch of other legends, that he got a bit too fuzzy and loose with the technical aspects. I appriciate originality, good designs and solid tattooing and I think that in the last part he has gotten soft now. To put it one way, I like Walter McDonald A LOT for some of his crazy ideas and cool concepts, but I don't think it out weights how trashy most of his tattoos look. So I wouldn't get tattooed by him. Very happy with the response in this thread so far, I think it's going to be a great one!

OK, so this is going to be a bit hard to follow I'm sure.. A few weeks ago I mentioned to Iain Mullen that I wanted to get some kind of geometric dotworky type of tattoo and I wondered who he thought I should get it from. After just a second he said "Xed Le Head! He's the originator of that whole style". And I thought: Yeah, that would be cool! Out of this short trade of words came some thoughts that later began to formulate. I easily find myself soft to the idea of getting tattooed by well known tattooers. I'm not the type of person that show of my tattoos or brag about them to friends and strangers. Pants drop and shirt goes off in tattoo shops when tattooers show interest in seeing what I have, but that's about it. Still I have some notion of wanting to get work from big name tattooers that I admire. Of course the style of the tattoo goes first, but even among tattooers of "equal" skill and in the same style I'd easily choose the one that seems most well respected in the craft. If the tattooer an interesting character it's also a big plus. I gues it has to do with the added "value" of the tattoo: the circumstances around getting it, the shop or convention, the mode that day and the person making the tattoo. I've always by interested in people so I want original folks to mark me too. I also have this belief that people who spent a lot of time and energy doing their craft will have a very refined taste. That their added years and position "in the game" will leave me with a tattoos that I will learn to appriciate even more as time passes, as I too go deeper into the culture. There are limits however. I wouldn't get a tattoo by Horiyoshi III or even someone like Bob Roberts or Eddy Deutsche, I think they lost it a long time ago. (Come on, send a lynch mob..) I was set up to get tattooed by Henk last autumn in Amsterdam but I don't think I care about it anymore. Getting heavily tattooed is a hard process, there is only so much skin to cover. I also think sometimes about WHY we go to the lenghts of getting tattooed by people from across seas for example. Hopefully we can be honest to ourselves and do it because we want this particular person to leave their mark on us and grace us with art, and not do it be part of some "I got tattooed by the Smith ST-crew club". (I got a tattoo by Eli Quinters by the way...) But what if everyone who wanted a particular style tattoo saved up all their money and went to the master of this style? Everybody. Would someone like Jondix have the chance to blossom if we all went to Mike The Athens? Would the tattoo world not have El Carlo if people where picky enough to only see El Monga? Maybe we should be less elitist and let the small dogs get their chance a bit more, to help push the art further? A tattooer that I know told me about one of his visible tattoos. It was made by one of the absolutely biggest names in this part of the culture, someone I bet a lot of you look up too beacause of his art (so do I). But this experience was so bad, the big shot tattooer turned out to be really rude and bossy/macho-y and this was one of the reasons that this guy now gets tattooed by friends almost strictly. And this is someone who loves tattoos, who looks up to Theo Mindell as his favorite tattooer and who really struggle to improve his own work. After all it's just tattoos, and if the process is not fun for you, why bother chasing "collectors items"? For a while I was really into getting only one piece per tattooer but this story made me loosen up a bit and now I get more work from people that I got a good vibe with. I kind of want to get something from Jelle Neleman mostly because he seems like such a PMA dude. His work is really nice but I can name at least 5 tattooers that do the same tattoos. I don't know.. I hope you got something out of this rambling. Feel free to write down your thoughts and associations! Bless

While I do love book in many ways I don't see the point of having a collection. I buy pocket books that I want to read, and mostly I give them away to friends or charity as soon as I'm done. I keep a few selected, bigger, art books but think three times before buying new ones. In Stockholm we have huge libraries, to browse or borrow from. I seldom read books more than once anyways and if I want to keep an image I can take a photo. It's mostly to get an experience and save the idea in my head anyway, I don't feel the need to own things like this in a material way. Buying and keeping books in quantities would be a waste of space, natural resources and money, in my oppinion. I feel this way about a lot of things. Too bad that we have an economy where, often, the main way to support art/people you love is to buy shit from them. I really try to limit my need to aquire things. Tattoos is the only thing I collect and pay top money for. They don't take any space and they don't weight anything, they're with me till I die and can't be stole from me. True value. I'll post a list of the few books I do keep later.

I live in a comune house and right now anther guy in the house is out travelling for two months so I let an old friend move into his tiny room. Also a girl in the house decided to share her big room with one of her friends who where looking for a place to stay for some time. So now we are six people, four women & two men, in a two-storey family house and I'm loving it. Can't understand why anyone would want to live alone.

@MrToby That rabbit sure is sweet! I've seen some other pieces by him with plenty of white in them. I ask you now since you are familiar with the technique: do you think tebori is especially good for white, that it stays in there more solid? General comment: I so wish I'd been there for the convention this year! Seen so many pictures all over instagram of cool people and rad tattoos being made. Would have love to have been part of it and meet some of you guys!

Booked in with El Monga and Alvaro Llorar for middle of october in Barcelona. Will be a fun trip and great tattoos! Going down to hang out with some Italian people that I know. Getting a mudra hand from Monga and a chrysanthemum from Llorar.

So.. I just decided not to go to London for the convention this year. Going there tomorrow actually and had planned to stick around for two weeks but life changes and I don't feel like it anymore. Also need to save some of my cash for future adventures. So anyone who expressed interest in seeing Rudy Fritsch work on my back piece (collaboration with Iain Mullen) don't have to look for me. We will probably continue in Trieste, Italy, where Rudys shop is on the middle of november instead. Have a great convention everyone, wish I could be there!

Upon showing a picture of my backpiece to a girl: - Is that on you right now?!

Nope.

Third session on my back today, with my friend Iain Mullen. Rudy Fritsch does the next one at the London Convention, mid day on the 27:th. Come say hello.

@Rikhall @dcostello Tattooed yogis unite! :) I'm very happy I got started and looking forward to next session in a few days.

Just went to my first ever yoga class. It was fun and felt good!

I'm with @Mick Weder on this. Go for the pain and the experience, not because you love it but because you hate it. I'm happy I sat through some the worst sessions, it's only temporary anyway and pushing through is learning to cope.

@ThatGuy Yeah last year they only did arms and hands. Good luck! I'm having the fourth session on my back with Rudy Fritsch on the saturday, around 1 pm

Hey! I've been thinking about this for a while, I bet there are more LST-members on https://www.couchsurfing.org Let us link together and help each other out! Good for finding sleeping spots and company when visiting other cities for conventions or getting tattooed. Great idea? Yes. Here's my profile: https://www.couchsurfing.org/profile.html?id=5HBY048N0 I'm in Stockholm, Sweden. Also made a group for us that we can join and find each other easily: https://www.couchsurfing.org/group.html?gid=95733

Todays action. Tibet dagger-thing, or it could look like some other things depending on your imagination capacity. By super great guy Adde Ramstedt - - - Updated - - - @RickSanchez Seek out Michael Aul and have him conjure up something based on that photo, I bet he'd make it work.