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************************ hella sikk tattz thread?


Fist 666

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Burk and Fink are two of my favorites. Super fucking stellar shit on a consistent basis.

 

 

i mean... i guess cap proved 'bold will hold'.

im not sure what it will hold, but something is there.

 

i did a tattoo recently. it was a big hit on instagram. got more 'likes' than anything I've ever put on there. personally, i thought it was kind of crap. never the less amusing, because i know in 20 years it will be an indecipherable black blob. people love that shit though. tattooing is such a mindless genre. for idiots, by idiots. fuck us all.

 

If you see Seeks in a fight with a bear, don't help Seeks--help the bear!

 

Although I have to say that you sound dangerously close to one of those "OMG wut r u gonna do when ur 80?" people right now. Yes, you should think about the future when you're getting tattooed, but they're to be enjoyed now. I have a few little Ben Grillo tats. They might not look perfect in 30 years, but 3.5 years in and they look great and I enjoy them a lot.

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im not really taking a side either way, just being honest about the hypocrisy that exists in tattooing.

 

theres just been such a resurgence of the idea that if something isn't 3/4's black, it sucks and it won't 'hold up'. people see work by BHR or similar folks and they're stoked on how dark things are. and yes, it looks cool now, but to a lot of people hyper realistic color stuff looks 'cool' now. in 10 years they'll probably both look pretty beat, just on opposite ends of the spectrum. why is one better than the other? because dudes who do super realistic shit are usually eye-brow pierced douche bags, where as dudes who do super dark traditional stuff are ye-olde brooklyn douche bags? both thinks the other is totally out of touch. both proclaim to be the truth. i'm not taking a side, just laughing at the extremes.

 

few people will slam grillo because his things won't hold, but they love to slam aneil gupta. they're basically doing the same tattoos, but one is more respected for some reason. such is life.

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Well, there are lots of differences between Grillo and Gupta, namely that the former has been getting tattooed for a long time. Ben also stipples his tiny tattoos so that they'll hold up a LITTLE longer. And his micro tats aren't douchey shit like The Scream or Mona Lisa stamps.

 

Then again, Ben doesn't have a tribe-tastic logo.

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the former has been getting tattooed for a long time?

the latter was tattooing before the former was born, if we're discussing irrelevant 'facts' i'd think that one kind of trumps.

also, those tattoos from anil were mostly done in the 90s when everyone was getting chromed out spark plugs and big eyed swallows. 'douchey' was pretty much par for the course. ;)

 

im not concerned with the 'ethics' or lifespan of a certain style of tattooing, I'm talking about the hypocrisy of the herd mentality which claims one death is inherently better than the other.

it's easy to say 'fuck anil gupta and his corny ass mini tattoos. that shit is irresponsible and will look like shit in 5 years'. you could say that in any crowd and no one will disagree, never mind the fact that gupta is actually a really fucking good tattooer, people don't even know that, they just repeat things. replace the names though, and people will freak out and make excuses. they're all eventually blobs, who cares.

 

hypocrisy in any form bothers me because it perpetuates ignorance. when you condemn and defend based on nepotism/status/insecurity it gives falsities an air of legitimacy they do not deserve, which pushes understanding further from the middle where it tends to do the most good.

 

I'm not 'arguing' with you, so don't take it personally, just using the opportunity to discuss ideas.

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Nah, I don't take any of this personally. It's a good convo, and you make some valid points.

 

When I said that the former has been getting tattooed for a long time, I was referencing the fact that Anal (sic) tattooed for almost 20 years without having any tattoos himself. I think that's extra fucked. He was at a convention in 2001 and Jack Rudy basically shamed him into getting something. In Gupta's own words:

 

The best convention that I ever attended was in Boston, Massachusetts, 2001, where I got my first tattoo by 4 of my favorite tattoo artists (all at once) Guy Aitchison, Paul Booth, Filip Leu and Jack Rudy.

 

So he got gangbanged by four world-class artists--and what did he get? Earth, air, fire and water ON HIS THIGH. How fucking softhands is that shit?

 

So I'll just close with "Fuck Anil Gupta and his one large-ish tattoo, as well."

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i agree, its lame that anil didn't have tattoos, which i imagine is where all the hate really comes from. its not really about the dumb tattoos he did, its about the idea of someone taking from tattooing without giving back. but again, IMO thats a bit of an over simplification. tattooed or not, he was working at a level waaaay above the vast majority of tattooers. that in itself has some merit. certainly when you fast forward to today and you see all these chinese supply companies, ebay machine makers, 100 scratcher shops per city... just cause they have tattoos, are they 'giving' anything more back? are they any more deserving of respect?

 

tattooing without having tattoos is definitely lame but personally I'm finding that judging anything on such simple terms tends to leave a lot out. i'd be much more inclined to judge him on that god awful logo and the fact that he just looks fucking creepy.

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i normally don't chime in around here and just look at the hecka sick tats but what's the big deal about dude not having any tattoos? if he understands the craft and does it well how is that a valid point for knocking his art? i make art, doesn't mean that i necessarily want your art in my house. i'll readily admit that i don't know shit about tattooing, so i'm more curious than looking to argue with anyone.

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On the other hand if Gupta was getting tattooed when he was younger he might have learned not to do postage stamp reproductions of giant paintings. I he might not have, but he certainly would have been less likely to, and MORE likely to know better and to move on to desert chrome toasters. I mean...that's the real shit.

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Dude has skill for sure, lot of tattooers talk shit but he contributes in his own way. Theres a lot of shit talking about these tattoo schools and people like Gupta who dont fit the culture so to speak but a lot of those shit talkers are buying knockoff machines and power supplys and not supporting the original builders thats worse IMHO

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anil gupta's a boss. look at his work apart from the micro tats he kills it. i saw him getting tattooed by guy/filip/booth/jack. if the only tattoo i had was from those 4 dudes i wouldnt be rushing out to get covered in a bunch of other rubbish either.

 

also nice bob shaw pic!

 

wanted to add i think ben grillo is one of the best doing it right now. both deserve respect. grillo's stuff might be more what's "in" or something maybe that's another reason he gets a pass for tiny tats and anil gets crumbed on.

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