Wow at the Body Art Expo

calendar April 1st, 2007 by md

I went to the Body Art Expo today at the Cow Palace in San Francisco. Wow.

Body Art is apparently the umbrella under which you find tattoos, piercings, and body modifications such as (I don’t know what the official names are) boring large holes in your ears, installing spikes under your skin that poke out around your neck for instance, or placing shapes, bumps, or rods under your skin. I don’t know what the research on all this says about why folks do these things. I will look into that and get back to you. The roots of it are clearly in the desire for self-expression, but I think that there is a continuum that goes way beyond that.

Tattoo seems to encompass some extremes that I didn’t know existed. The most common themes I saw on bodies, in catalogs of the artists, and being applied to the expo-goers seem be (a) pirates, (b) skulls and internal organs, and (c) women. There were definitely roses and tribal stuff, but the themes above had much higher share of skin.

Today they were awarding some prizes for tattoo: best sleeve (full arm tattoo), best back, best leg, best all-around (one for men, one for the ladies). It was pretty exciting to see the contestants in the competition. They had to go on stage, show their tattoos to the judges and then they walked a catwalk so the audience could see their bodies.

I’ve included pics of some of my favorites. The pics don’t do the art justice though.

But the most impressive was this woman who had the crowd worked into a huge frenzy… I give her a lot of credit for being so committed to her path and to her willingness to stand in front of the crowd to show it all (this is PG even though it might not look like it at first — she’s got coverings) –

tag Category : Current Affairs, Design, Stuff, Worth knowing

9 Responses to “Wow at the Body Art Expo”

  1. Scott E, on April 6th, 2007 at 8:16 am Said:

    Fascinating! So the $64k question — did you get any art yourself?!

  2. md, on April 6th, 2007 at 12:40 pm Said:

    You mean you didn’t recognize me from the photos above? :)

  3. Randy, on April 6th, 2007 at 10:17 pm Said:

    Mikey, Tat’s only are gonna’ go for ‘piercing’ too … ;-)

  4. md, on April 8th, 2007 at 7:44 am Said:

    Hey Randy! Piercing would be too much for me. Some of the folks I saw there had pierced their cheeks, arms, scalps. Yikes. The woman that got kicked off American Idol this week had a tongue piercing. I had a hard time looking at that every time she sang. I always imagined the needle going in. But she did have a nice voice and I think she was kicked off too early.

  5. Matilda, on April 8th, 2007 at 6:03 pm Said:

    I heard that tatoos are addicting.
    Once you get one, you have to keep getting more to keep the thrill alive. How many is too many?

  6. md, on April 8th, 2007 at 6:23 pm Said:

    I think that’s a personal decision, Matilda. Do you have tattoos? I think I would only get one. OK two or three at the most. :)

  7. GG, on April 9th, 2007 at 3:57 pm Said:

    WOW! the photos were amazing!
    As an older generation member, I will have to remain
    against this popular fad.

  8. yoda, on April 15th, 2007 at 7:31 am Said:

    WOW!
    Everyone is naked!
    Do you really think the tattoos keep people warm in the
    cold?

    Did anyone get a tattoo on their ear?or their armpit?or their nose?

    PS
    thanks for telling us about the blog.

  9. md, on April 15th, 2007 at 7:33 am Said:

    Hi Yoda,
    I don’t think they make you warm in the cold. I didn’t see ears or noses tattoo’d but I did see armpits. Ouch. Armpit flesh is tender and ticklish.

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