Special | 4m 40s | Video has closed captioning.
It seems that no matter how far we advance into the digital age, our bodies remain a place where we want to express ourselves. This episode of OFF BOOK profiles the diverse talents and philosophies of three modern tattoo artists of vastly differing styles: Vinny Romanelli, Kiku, and Stephanie Tamez.
Aired: 04/03/12
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[music playing] KIKU: All of Japanese tattoo design has a story behind.
That's the beauty of it.
VINNY ROMANELLI: Tattooing fit me as a personality, and I basically fell in love with it.
STEPHANIE TAMEZ: I think there's a baseline desire of having this moment in time that helps build strength, that helps build your character, that defines what it is that's important to you.
VINNY ROMANELLI: I was always doing portraits, even before I was tattooing, so it was just a matter of learning how to tattoo, and learning how the machine works to translate that image into skin, and make it look good.
I've always been more of a black and gray guy, and I just tend to see things better in tones rather than color.
Portraits are a lot less forgiving than regular images.
The likeness is really, really hard to get in skin, because skin is not paper, it's elastic.
You have to stretch it.
I've done Frankenstein, Bride of Frankenstein.
I've done a Marilyn Monroe.
I've doe a Keith Richards one.
I'm about to do a miniature Wonder Woman today.
And I love Star Wars.
You know, I've always loved it.
So I've done a lot of Star Wars portraits.
I'm proud to be a geek.
You know?
I just love that kind of stuff.
Design, flow, balance, separation are factors in a good tattoo.
I knew right away that this was the career I wanted to do, and I'm really grateful.
KIKU: In Japan, yeah, it was a big deal to get tattoo on you, because it's a really, really bad image.
But it's definitely more casual here.
I like punk rock.
They use the minimum sounds to the music, and then make it sound so cool.
Nothing fancy.
That's how I want to do about my tattooing, I think.
All of Japanese tattoo design has a story behind, so you have to understand the meaning of it.
I think it's way deeper.
If you look at all the Japanese painting, nothings so bright.
It's a lot muted color with one really bright color, so that that color stands out more than anything else.
What I'm doing is just look at those old Japanese painting, and understand, and recreate in my way.
That's all I do.
So it's nothing creative about that.
So I don't want to call myself artist.
That's not my place to judge.
That's a-- you know.
If people I think that way, then that's fine.
But I don't want to say that.
People trust me to stick the needle in their body.
So yeah.
I'm grateful then.
STEPHANIE TAMEZ: I think the thing that pulled me in with wanting to become a tattooer was it's so personal.
I like the simplicity of that in one way, and yet the challenge of it was also really intriguing, because it was so permanent, and it was this lifelong experience, and it was this mark in time.
It's important to trust the aesthetic of your tattooer.
There's an old saying that you get the tattoo you're supposed to get from the person you're supposed to get it from.
You kind of know when you come in if this is a person you want a tattoo, and if you're going to have a good experience.
I like black and gray a lot.
I feel like I like the way it ages.
I like the vintage-ness that it looks like, so I think that it's probably a stronger color pallet for me.
But I mean, any good tattooer, you have to know how to do it all.
I came about the font and use of that with the fact that I had a graphic design background.
And my first natural instinct was to look through the accumulation of books that I had on different fonts.
And I love typewriter.
It's super simple.
It ages well.
It looks good for tattooing.
It's super classic.
There is a need in us to mark ourselves and mark these levels of power and strength.
It's like it went way back to the start of civilization, and it's a spiritual sort of aspect of how we define ourselves in the world.
So here, we are this much further into the future, and we still have that desire to do it.
I have a big "Clash of the Titans" tattoo, and it says "Find and fulfill your destiny," which is my homage to my tattooing.
KIKU: I have a client that I'm so tattooing for over 10 years.
I can see all my history in this person.
STEPHANIE TAMEZ: There's a certain soul that I think comes out.
You're kind of a melting pot of all these different aesthetics, and styles, and knowledge.
And so I think that it's just the accumulation of lots of great little moments of my life.
[music playing]
