Thursday, September 4, 2008

A Butterfly Koi Rising on the Arm of Belquis


Had I not forgotten to get my daughter Shayna her copy of Judy Blume's Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, I wouldn't have wandered into the Court Street Barnes & Noble in Brooklyn on Labor Day and spotted this awesome butterfly koi above.

Belquis, who has five tattoos, explained that this tattoo represents an interpretation of the koi fish mythology, where the koi is rising out of the water, about to turn into a dragon.

The piece was designed by her friend Karleen Ang, and inked by Kazuhisa (Kaz) Matsumoto at New York Adorned. Belquis has been loyal to Kaz since he was an artist working out of his home. When he moved to Adorned, she followed.

Belquis added, "All five of my tattoos were done by Kaz...I have an ohm (neck), the ambigram (neck), dark fairy (left back shoulder), my first and middle name in Arabic under the symbol for Zahir (right back shoulder). All black." Who knows? Maybe we'll see more of Bel's ink in the future here on the blog.

Work from NY Adorned has appeared on Tattoosday previously here.

Thanks to Belquis for sharing her awesome tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

This tattoo is even more spectacular in person. Bel has a knack for conceptionalizing unique art with Karleen to have Kaz ink on her body! I miss seeing it on the regular!

Anonymous said...

it is more like tribal tattoo at first sight, but it is really nice koi tattoo

steve said...

hi, i would just like to ask if by any chance, you would know this girl, karleen leslie so ang? if you do, oh do please contact me, my email is renzyslsc@yahoo.com. i'm steve by the way, i was her classmate in 1st grade. lost contact with her since she moved to new york. thanks a lot!

steve said...

thank you! =) really appreciate your help!