The Collest Art: Tattooing

I'm sure the ancient tribes and the naval seafarers who were tattooed for tribal identification or so that their bodies could be identified after death had no idea that centuries later wearing a tattoo would be so culturally significant. What started out as marking only in certain classes is now a socially accepted symbol of identity and individuality.

I got my first tattoo about fifteen minutes after I turned 18 years of age in Hollywood, California. I knew I wanted to get a tattoo, but had no reason why. I suppose, like many because I was a rebellious kid looking to grow up too soon and too fast. Or maybe part of it was because I was trying to find and express my own identity. I didn't even know what I wanted to place on my body. I knew it was permanent and I wanted something that was "cool." I walked into the parlor with a few of my buddies (one of which already had a tattoo) in the mid evening and started looking at all the panels of flash. I came into something that struck me, pointed to it, and told the Artist, "Yeah I want this one...." I turned over my driver's license, paid a fee, and signed a waiver. About 45 minutes later I had my first 'tat. I walked out proud with cellophane on my arm, a sticker from the parlor, and aftercare instructions. That was my first cosmetic tattoo. A little less than a year later I returned to the same Artist and asked that he tattoo my body so it could be identified if I was killed. I have five tattoos total, and hope to get more in the future. However, it has been some years since my last.

There's a certain intimacy with tattoos. People get tattooed for many reasons. Some get tattoos to remember periods of time in their life, to commemorate people or places, to show they belong to a group, because they appreciate the artistry behind the mind and hand of the artist, as rites of passage, and for so many other reasons I can't go on to explain here. It's an individual choice like no other. You have to wake up and look at yourself each day and accept and live with your 'tat. You also have to trust the Artist. There's a rapport that is built and meeting of the souls between the person getting inked and the Artist. You are trusting them to change your body for life. The Artist will step on a pedal to activate a tattoo gun that will inject a needle dipped in commercial pigmentation into your body 80-150 times a second. You're going to do this by choice. And while the Artist is working you're going to sit there and hold a conversation with them that you're probably going to remember the rest of your life regardless of whether that conversation last 15 minutes or takes multiple sessions to complete. Once the process starts there's no turning back. Have you ever seen somebody wearing a tattoo of half a heat and only one "M" of the word, Mom? Either have I....

I'm often asked, "Did it hurt?" The answer is, no, not really. Your body kicks in naturally by producing its endorphins to help you through. Some people ask me if I knew whether the needles were clean or not. Yes, I did.

In fact, when you get tattooed at a parlor you should be cautious of a few things. One, is the parlor clean? Is the Artist wearing surgical gloves? Are they using clean new needles that were taken from a package right there in front of you? Are the areas of the chair or table your body is touching wrapped in disposable cellophane and changed after each new person tattooed? Is the parlor appropriately licensed? Is the "Body Art Technician" (as they are titled in Los Angeles County, California) licensed?

And remember this: Tattoos are addicting!