Tattoosday (A Tattoo Blog)

Friday, January 31, 2014

Mike Bakaty, Rest in Peace

I learned last night of the passing of a legendary NYC tattoo artist, Mike Bakaty. Our friends over at Needles & Sins informed us of the sad news, with this touching remembrance .

I never met Mike, whose Fineline Tattoo NYC is a great shop, thanks to his talent and hard work, along with that of his son Mehai. But, as you would imagine, a couple of his tattoos have appeared on the site over the years. Interestingly, both examples I found were for the Tattooed Poets Project:

That was from Ethan Hom's contribution last year (here) and this:

which is courtesy of Christine Hamm, in 2010 (original post here).

You can see more examples of some of Mike's work on the Fineline website here but I encourage you to head over to Needles & Sins to get a true appreciation of the importance of Mike Bakaty and his impact on the tattoo community.

It reminds you that every time you see a tattoo, it's often not just a work of art on the skin, but a reflection of the hard work of an artist, with a soul and a life, and that they truly do live on in this world through their work, even after they have passed on to the nect.

Rest in Peace, Mike.

If you are seeing this on another website other than Tattoosday, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit http://tattoosday.blogspot.com and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.

Thursday, January 30, 2014

John and the Savannah Bird Girl

Long time readers of Tattoosday may remember I used to find a lot of contributors in Penn Station, across the street from where I worked for many years. This past September, I started a new job downtown, on Broad Street, and this tattoo was the first one I found for the site in my new neighborhood:

This tattoo is on the back of John's calf, and was inked by Lisa from Whatever Tattoo on St. Marks Place in Manhattan.

He explained it was the Savannah Bird Girl, most familiar to many people as the statue on the cover of John Berendt's Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil:

John explained, "I loved the book and I just fell in love with the statue.”

Thanks John for sharing this cool tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

This entry is ©2014 Tattoosday.

If you are seeing this on another website other than Tattoosday, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit http://tattoosday.blogspot.com and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.

Tuesday, January 28, 2014

Two Birds for Tuesday, Celebrating Ten Years in New York City

Back in September, I met Daniel on Broad Street in downtown Manhattan. It was his New York City pigeon that first grabbed my eye:

Daniel explained, “It’s my ten-years-in-New York Tattoo. It’s my New York bird."

Representing his country of birth, he added, "I have a Mexican bird on the other side:”

That is the quetzal.

Every once in a while, I am fortunate enough to stumble on the work of simply amazing artists. Both of these phenomenal tattoos were done by the talented Regino Gonzales from Invisible NYC. Work from Regino has appeared previously on Tattoosday here, here, here, and here.

Thanks to Daniel for sharing his two awesome bird tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!

Sunday, January 26, 2014

Karin Shares a Tattoo Fit for a Seamstress

I was leaving Governor's Island after the NYC Poetry Festival last summer, when I spotted Karin sitting down waiting for the ferry back to Brooklyn.

I asked her about her tattoo:

Karin explained that she is a seamstress, which goes a long way to explaining this tattoo. Initially, she told me, "it was just the thread and Maggie added the needle and the hand."

Maggie Cho Brophy was the tattoo artist from Gnostic Tattoo in Bushwick, Brooklyn, who added the parts that gave this seamstress's tattoo a whole new dimension.

Thanks to Karin for sharing her work with us here on Tattoosday!

Wednesday, January 22, 2014

No Mud, No Lotus

Back in July, at the NYC Poetry Festival, I was awash with poetry and a wide array of tattoos.

I met Jhani, who shared this tattoo on her arm:

This lotus flower was inked by Chris at Outer Limits in Costa Mesa, California. It reads, “No Mud, No Lotus.”

When I asked her what this meant, she replied, "To me, it means patience." She added, "it’s also a reminder to be conscious of my decisions and also how turmoil can create life as long as you’re open to existing in a dark and dirty position, especially if it’s in your own like cycle for a while.”

Thanks to Jhani for sharing this fantastic tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Monday, January 20, 2014

A Dog on Adam's Arm

We're still posting tattoos from last summer's NYC Poetry Festival, like this one from Adam:

Adam explained that this tattoo on his forearm is based on a woodcut that served as the cover art from Times of Grace by Neurosis:

Adam credited the piece itself to Scott Santee at Memento Tattoo & Gallery in Columbus, Ohio.

Thanks to Adam for sharing this cool tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!

Wednesday, January 15, 2014

Lauren Shares Two Tattoos with a Literary Feel

I met Lauren at the NYC Poetry Festival last July on Governor's Island and she shared two tattoos.

First up is this appropriately literary piece:

Lauren explains:

"Kill Your Darlings is a [William] Faulkner quote … it’s his advice on writing ... when you are creating a piece of literature, you’re favorite lines are always the first to go. So I took it to mean that I tend to sacrifice the favorite parts of myself for the greater good of my creation."

Lauren also shared this interesting piece:

Lauren elaborated on this piece that was tattooed by Bart Bingham at NY Adorned:

"This is actually based on an artist named Brandon Maldonado - he does a lot of this Day of the Dead style and I showed it to Bart and he was actually able to take it and make it his own and kind of put his own spin ... I discussed the elements I really wanted to keep and the elements that he could play with and he was able to turn it into something really special and unique. My favorite part is, if you’ll notice in the brain, it’s a love story ...

... So you see these people and they’re together and it’s new and then they have a falling out and he’s in the rain and then they’re kind of older and they reconcile and are together again, riding a tandem bicycle together and then I really just like the colors of it. Immortality I thought was really interesting – if you want to really affect your writing, using writing as a way to become immortal and leave your mark on the world, regardless of what you physically leave it."

Thanks to Lauren for Sharing these cool tattoos with us here on Tattoosday!