In The Great Wave, there are three boats among the turbulent, broken waves. The boats mold into the shapes of the engulfing waves. Tiny humans are tossed around under giant waves, while the sacred, enormous, snow-capped Mt. Fuji is just a hill in the distance. These swift boats, called Oshiokuribune in Japanese, transported fresh fish, dried sardines and the like, early in the morning, to fish markets off the Edo (now Tokyo) Bay, from fishing villages on the Bohso Peninsula.
This is a seascape with Mt. Fuji. The waves form a frame through which we see Mt. Fuji. Hokusai loved to depict water in motion: the foam of the wave is breaking into claws which grasp for the fishermen. The large wave forms a massive yin to the yang of empty space under it. The impending crash of water brings tension into the painting. In the foreground, a small peaked wave forms a miniature Mt. Fuji, which is reflected hundreds of miles away in the enormous Mt. Fuji, which shrinks through perspective; the wavelet is larger than the mountain. Instead of shoguns and nobility, we see tiny fishermen huddled into their sleek crafts; they slide down a seamount and dive straight into the wave to make it to the other side. The yin violence of Nature is dismissed by the yang relaxed confidence of expert fishermen.
3 weeks ago, I made an appointment with Kane, a tattoo artist at Sideshow Tattoo at Moonee Ponds. I have heard good things about Sideshow but didn't know which artist is good and which isn't. So getting Kane to do my tattoo is more of a coincidence. He was the one who came up and took my appointment and like any other tattoo studio, the one who took the appointment and brief, generally take up the job unless you are the studio manager or apprentice. To be honest, I could not be happier for him to do it. He is not your typical tattoo artist - arrogant, smug and egoistic. He had no problem sharing his knowledge in tattooing, which is something I appreciate the most (and the awesome tattoo he did on me of course). He was showing me all kinds of little techniques of shading, colour applications, different needles and what they do. This is priceless, especially for someone like me who aspire to be a better tattoo artist.
This is a seascape with Mt. Fuji. The waves form a frame through which we see Mt. Fuji. Hokusai loved to depict water in motion: the foam of the wave is breaking into claws which grasp for the fishermen. The large wave forms a massive yin to the yang of empty space under it. The impending crash of water brings tension into the painting. In the foreground, a small peaked wave forms a miniature Mt. Fuji, which is reflected hundreds of miles away in the enormous Mt. Fuji, which shrinks through perspective; the wavelet is larger than the mountain. Instead of shoguns and nobility, we see tiny fishermen huddled into their sleek crafts; they slide down a seamount and dive straight into the wave to make it to the other side. The yin violence of Nature is dismissed by the yang relaxed confidence of expert fishermen.
3 weeks ago, I made an appointment with Kane, a tattoo artist at Sideshow Tattoo at Moonee Ponds. I have heard good things about Sideshow but didn't know which artist is good and which isn't. So getting Kane to do my tattoo is more of a coincidence. He was the one who came up and took my appointment and like any other tattoo studio, the one who took the appointment and brief, generally take up the job unless you are the studio manager or apprentice. To be honest, I could not be happier for him to do it. He is not your typical tattoo artist - arrogant, smug and egoistic. He had no problem sharing his knowledge in tattooing, which is something I appreciate the most (and the awesome tattoo he did on me of course). He was showing me all kinds of little techniques of shading, colour applications, different needles and what they do. This is priceless, especially for someone like me who aspire to be a better tattoo artist.
Now about the tattoo process.... I do have a few tattoos on me, one took more than 10 hours to complete but this piece is by far the most painful. It hurts the most when it hit the tendons. You know that hot searing pain you get when you accidently knock your elbow at the corner of the table? Imagine having that feeling for 30 minutes straight.
Even though the pain were a bit unbearable at times, Kane, being a professional he is, kept checking if I'm alright and we were constantly chatting about tattoos, the industry and music. The tattoo is now healing fine, almost 100%. I will post more pictures of it soon. As for Kane, here's a little message for ya buddy - So when can I dig your brains again?!
No comments:
Post a Comment