John's Incredible Art-Themed Sleeve by Stefano Alcantara

If you go back to the beginnings of Tattoosday, one of our earliest contributors was John Sorezza, a friend of the neighborhood who I see quite often. He shared his first work, the beginning of a leg piece, here.

In the years that have passed since I first met him, John has taken up work as a tattoo artist and tattoos out of Brooklyn Made Tattoo.

Over last summer I ran into him down the block and he shared some of his latest ink, all inspired by his new vocation:

As I've said before, sleeves are always a challenge to capture on a web page, especially when the photos are taken out on the street, where natural light differs, depending on the angle. Despite my amazing photo editing skills, the collage above is marred by totally different tones, but you can still see the gist of the tattoo - the phrase "ART IS PAIN" carved from the inside with an X-Acto knife, with a dripping paintbrush, pen and pencil, all tools of the artist's trade, poking through the letters in the flesh.

And if you weren't impressed by that, check out this phenomenal tattoo machine on the inner part of John's forearm:

And all of this is punctuated by this mask on the back of his hand:

John pointed out that the eyes are fashioned with pen quills, to keep with the theme of this art-inspired sleeve.

This amazing work is the product of the great Stefano Alcantara, who hails from Lima, Peru, and tattoos out of world-famous Paul Booth's Last Rites Tattoo Theater here in New York City. You can also check out Alcantara's Facebook fan page here.

Thanks again to John for continuing to share his work with us here on Tattoosday! You can find John at Brooklyn Made Tattoo in Bay Ridge.

See John's other tattoos here, here, here, and here.

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Rob's Rite of Passage

I braved a trip to Staples on Sunday, contrary to my notion of self-preservation. September in Staples is one of the outer circles of Hell, at least in my neighborhood, where it seems everyone with children goes for their school supplies. Everyone.

But I digress. On a mission for a printer cartridge, I spotted Rob, who is covered moderately by tattoos. I approached him with a flier, which he was already familiar with, as I had handed him a few weeks back when he was sitting in the front of Brooklyn Ink, a nearby tattoo shop.

If you read Tuesday's post, you can see how many different folks have contributed their ink to these hallowed pages. I estimate that only 1 out of 7 people I approach actually participate, so estimate that in the past year, I've spoken to (conservatively) six to eight hundred people about
Tattoosday. Sometimes I forget a name and or a face.

So, it's amazing to me that I've only, by my best estimates, only asked people about their ink a second time on maybe five occasions.

Once Rob reminded me who he was, I remembered him from the shop, and he told me I could stop by any time and take pictures of his tattoos.

It was then that I qualified one of the things that makes Tattoosday special. I won't go to shops to take pictures. That's just too easy. Like shooting fish in a barrel. The sport is in the random stumbling upon a fellow citizen of the inked nation.


So, to make a long story short, he offered up the piece above (posted so long ago, I will show it again).

This was tattooed by Alex at Brooklyn Ink, and the placement on the hand is as significant as the piece itself.

For many tattoo artists, the inking of the hands is a rite of passage. Once you tattoo your hands, it is very tough, nearly impossible, to hide the fact that you are a tattooed individual. The tattoo in theory meant that there was no turning back and that he was fully devoted to his craft.

He chose the sparrow flying through the horseshoe as both are emblems of good luck. I particularly admire the perspective created by the back wing of the bird behind the horseshoe and the front wing in the foreground. This device adds a nice depth to the piece.

Thanks to Rob at Brooklyn Ink for sharing his momentous tattoo here with us on Tattoosday!