Extraterrestrial Forensic Portrait Catalogue

Good morning!

I’m spending a little time this morning thinking about tattooing, art, AI, and the people that get tattoos.

As a visual artist I’ve seen a lot of discourse on the integration of AI and how it’s going to, and already has affected visual artists. (Not to mention the environment, the finances of artists it’s derived from, and society’s demands for instant gratification; but that’s a whole bunch of other conversations.) In my career as a tattoo artist I am seeing a large uptick in clients using AI to create visual aids for what they’re looking for in their tattoos. Sometimes that is really discouraging to me and feels like they’re coming to me without the trust that I can create a piece specifically for them based off of what they want but if I take a moment and think about it then I realize for non-artists it can be difficult to describe what they are wanting. Maybe I’m making assumptions but it seems like many people who don’t have a more creative mindset feel like they have to show me exactly what they want even if they know I am fully able to create it with just a conversation and we can also make revisions on the spot. The same mindset seems to have been around for the entire time I’ve been tattooing and I’ve seen it with the common Pinterest references all the way to the flash walls that have been around forever in the industry.

It’s wild to me, as someone who creates art every day, to think that it would be necessary to show a professional artist exactly what I want in order to reach a specific result. I also wonder if this whole phenomenon is about control in some way? Or maybe even fitting in? As is everything related to humanity, it is an extremely complicated and convoluted topic and I’m pretty sure there is not only one correct answer and set of actions to be taken in regards to it. As an adult in this tumultuous world there are so many things that feel out of my control and how I present my physical form is one way that I am lucky to have a majority of control over. Not everyone is so lucky.

I worked a corporate job for a number of years prior to beginning my path towards tattooing full time, and it was stifling with the rules about appearance and the weirdly specific criteria which was aimed at a professional visage. (Always the question of why these specific things make it look like you know how to work? It always seemed pretty arbitrary and silly to me.) Everything from hair color to the material of your clothes was controlled with no reasoning that made sense on a personal level.

I definitely have a lot of thoughts on all of this and won’t be able to put them all together here and now but figured I’d get started with a little bit of what’s going on in my mind this morning.

I think my take away this morning is that humans want control of the way we present out bodies and we deserve that autonomy but we need to keep in mind what is influencing us. As more alternative styles and body modifications are becoming mainstream I would challenge people who are getting the modifications to seek out those that they can trust to give them a unique and meaningful experience. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with wanting exactly what you want but keep in mind who you are supporting through the process. If a tattoo artist creates a design specifically for you, then you are supporting them artistically and financially as well as your own individuality and uniqueness. You always hear nothing will every be fully unique and everything is derivative and that is fine but consider what you want your image to represent. Who are you under the visual representation?

I feel like I could go on forever in this stream of thought but that’s enough for this morning.

Be yourself and stay curious!