Feb 2, 2012

Skin : Ryan Hope's Tattoo Documentary


Skin is a stylishly filmed documentary directed by Ryan Hope that shines a spotlight on tattoo culture, explores the medium as an art, and peoples interpretations of the art form. The overarching theme of the doc is an art experiment which features three people getting tattoos from world renown artists, and how they view their bodies as canvases for self expression. I really found the insight and quotes on the subject from tattoo world heavy hitters like Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons and Raymond Pettibon pretty fascinating. In my opinion, I think any form of self expression can be considered art..Although getting a Tazmanian devil tramp stamp doesn't necessarily fall into that category.

Whats even more incredible is a segment towards the end in which the tattoo artists and an art appraiser discuss the value of ink on skin, going as far as to bring up the example of Wim Delvoye's (The guy who tattoos pigs) new human tattoo project. Would you buy tattooed human skin stretched on a canvas?

If you don't mind me saying though, I'd recommend you skip the whole AJ English segment, because I don't think anyone is interested in hearing an annoying, 24 year old, pretentious, overly self absorbed former suburban kid whine about his 'fight the system' vibes.  Thats 12:00-17:00 fyi. Enjoy.

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