Tattoos are considered fine art and are accepted more now than ever before. “Tattoos date back to 12,000 BC. The word "tattoo" comes from a Tahitian word "tattow" or "ta-tu" meaning to mark the skin” (Lori). Tattoos have been evident in many cultures throughout the centuries” the ancient Greeks tattooed spies, the Romans tattooed criminals and the Polynesians tattooed ranking members of their tribes” (Lori).
Around the 1950’s tattoos lost popularity they picked up a stereotype of being on bad people: hoodlums, jail birds, or people that were considered social outcasts. In the 1960’s the outbreak of hepatitis caused tattooing to fall out of popularity. Around 1972 tattoos began to gain popularity again with new procedures for cleaning and better art work being presented. This is when tattooing started gaining its Statius of fine art. New and intricate work were being done, fantasy motifs some being influenced by Japanese high detail tattooing. This is where tattoo artist started learning how to improve on their work and to create master pieces if fine art. The more detail and intricate the work the better the show piece.
Tattooing has flourished into a full artistic medium that is taking the world by storm with its endless variety of techniques and abilities to do just about anything as a tattoo design. “With the tattoo profession being gradually taken over by experienced artists, we are seeing many modern illustrative styles being tattooed, from comic book art to futuristic computer-generated designs. Classic painters; Such as Van Gogh and Dali, are being painstakingly interpreted on skin alongside modern masters such as Alex Grey and H.R. Ginger. In less than a century, tattooing has evolved to encompass every conceivable style of art” (Hope).
Tattoo Artists are constantly pushing the boundaries of the art form by finding bold new ways of expressing themselves on a living canvas. Nevertheless, Tattoo Art has been looked down upon, if