Working-Class Folk Art: The Art Of Tattooing

Tattooing has existed for thousands of years. In places such as Irezumi in Japan, Ta Moko in New Zealand and the Pe'a and Malu in Samoa. Contemporary tattooing has evolved from a practice that was initially imported from the islands of Polynesia and later transformed into a form of working-class folk art. Tattooing is a centuries old art form with various styles, purposes, and applications.

The first tattoos consisted of a simplistic design. Repeating straight lines and series of dots done in black were ubiquitous. The geometric designs slowly became more abstract with the use of specific colors, patterns, and ornamental items. These are known as tribal tattoos. This style of tattooing began as styles unique to a particular culture or subculture,

This style has made an appearance as early as the 1970’s. These tattoos commonly display more advanced techniques such as many colors with lots of blending, realism, and three dimensional effect. Better ink quality allows variant hues to be obtained. Many modern designs include colorful characters with exaggerated features such as a larger head and over sized eyes. High levels of blending are used to accomplish depth in the image Another popular use of the new methods is fine line. Fine like work is most commonly used when executing portraits, or realism. To get the tattoo as realistic to the subject, shading is important to create a three dimensional effect on the skin. When looking at the images depicted in tattoos there is a visible correlation between them and the era they were

To reach the dermis, needles are used. In ancient cultures needles were made of items such as like rose thorns, sharks' teeth and pelican bones. The needles were attached to a handle made of chiseled bone which formed a rake like structure. Before adding ink, lines and shapes were cut into skin. Natural pigments like red ochre and soot were later included into the design. This tattooing practice required two people. The artist used the rake like object with the ink, while holding a hammer which was tapped to push the needles into the skin. The assistant would hold the skin tight so the vibrations would not alter the