There’s absolutely no question that tattooists are artists who are producing art through a different medium, but what happens when contemporary artists who make their living painting or by some other artistic pursuit turn their attention to tattoo? Obviously the first concern and difference that pops up here is that while many tattooists can and do take up other artistic mediums as a sideline hobby or career, it isn’t as simple for traditional artists to just randomly take up tattoo. The reasons for that are as varied as are the styles and types of people who tattoo for a living.
Fortunately, a recent experiment with contemporary artists taking on tattoo art only goes as far as the artists designing the tattoos and then handing them off to professional tattooists for the actual act of tattooing. Beyond this, the only other issue of note is the slight controversy that this has caused due to the nature of one particular tattoo…
Now, if you ask me, a girl getting a tattoo on her vagina is no big deal. I mean, I’m sure there are millions of women out there with tattoos on their vaginas and it’s just the way that it is. But because this most recent vagina tattoo happens to be designed by artist Damien Hirst and because it happens to be on the cover of a new art magazine called Garage, well, people are kind of losing their shit.
‘Would you want a tattoo by a famous contemporary artist? For Taylor, the answer was a definite yes. “I would have been stupid not to be part of this project,” she said, explaining: “I have a piece of art on my vagina. Not one single person can ever say they gave birth through a Damien Hirst piece of art. I can [if I ever give birth].” And it’s clear she’s proud of her new acquisition: Taylor reportedly showed the tattoo to Hirst after the work was done—and then promptly threw a garden party to celebrate it.’
The whole situation actually strikes me as a bit ridiculous. Honestly, does it really matter if your tattoo was designed by a contemporary artist or where exactly it was placed? Anyone who follows tattoo and who has any sort of interest in the art form knows that there are lengthy lists of tattooists who are far more prestigious to actually be tattooed by with a tattoo that that artist has designed themselves. So bringing contemporary artists into all this and flipping out because some girl got a tattoo on her vaj just seems, well…kind of boring to me.