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Tattoos: from gang and sailor culture to trend and artistic expression

Young Joo Jun , , , , , , , ,

Tattoos used to be a culture prominent only among ex-convicts, bikers, and sailors. Social outlets like Instagram pushed the tattoo trend forward and now more tattoo salons are opening, as the purpose of tattoos evolves.

“I realized that it wasn’t a bunch of super jacked bike dudes. Who made the whole industry scary. There is a lot of cool people who were doing really awesome art,” said Nate Hartly, co-owner of Heavy Rayne Tattoos & Piercings.

Hartly added that it’s harder to distinguish between copying or inspiration, with pictures of artwork readily available on pinterest, and other media platforms. It is hard to not be influenced by the artwork an artist gets exposed to, and that applies to any form of art, said one of Heartly’s clients who studies computer graphics.

Nate Hartly shows one of the designs he posted online, and now the piece found its owner. (Young Joo Jun/Stufiles)

People come into tattoo parlors and ask for exact copies of another artist’s work they found online, but Heartly usually encourages them to create tattoos individual to them, adding more personal value to them.

“If I were to see someone else with a tattoo that was designed for me, regardless if it had meaning or not, I would be upset. You know some tattoos do have meaning, I think sometimes it’s a memorial tattoo and someone goes and copies it, that’s like taking that meaning from you,” said Hillary McCormack, a tattoo enthusiast.

Some say the trend for tattoos will die out, while others think it will only grow further, but it’s clear that it’s no longer just a privilege of a small group, and isn’t just a branding or tradition, but is also art and trend. (Young Joo Jun/Stufiles)

Tattoo artists have an unspoken code where they don’t copy works of others, nor tattoo names of partners, and art that doesn’t match their style, which all have a high chance of becoming a regret tattoo.

“Now everyone is getting tattoos, it’s almost as if it has increased the value, now people get tattoos out of sentimentality, out of you know, there are even memorial tattoos. people never used to do that, people would get tattoos because they were in prison,” said McCormack.