Share your Ink with me and The World.

If you have great artwork on your body and want to share it with the rest of the world send me your pics along with your short bio explaining what they mean to you.

If youre a Body Modification artist share your specialty as well, anything goes. Send your good quality photos to InkedPlus@Live.com (Don't forget the short bio). By emailing the photos you're giving permission for them to be posted.

Museo de la Ciudad de México will host an Exhibition.

Mexico's Dr Lakra, will be having a museum exhibition at the Museo de la Ciudad de México in Mexico City beginning December 7, 2011. After a museum retrospective at the Boston ICA in the summer of 2010, the critically acclaimed artist will be showcasing works never-before - seen in Mexico City.

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Spiky Lamp Posts

One thing I learned about New York City is that anything can be fun and turn into art as well. Looking at the lamp posts from a distance I was intrigued on finding out what was them decorated with. It was eye catching, super cool and looked awesome.

Once I got closer I realized it was made using the simplest thing on hand and I wondered how come no one ever thought about it before.

I stood there and had to take a few pictures so I can share a fun, cool and creative way of making the lamp posts appealing without having to re-design or try to go fancier to make them look better.

The Pictures were taken at Astor Place.

Tattoed Calves - Great Spot for Ink

Walking in the Downtown area I noticed awesome looking Ink from across the street and I decided to stop the woman who proudly displayed fantastic work of art.

Calves are awesome areas in the body to have decorated with Ink designs, especially when you have flawless skin. there was more to photograph since the person has such amazing taste for body art and I hope I get to feature most of her tattoos and piercings soon.

Outstanding, thats how I can describe all the amazing wrok she has on the rest of her body which is appealing and easy on the eyes. It is a great feeling to stand out from the rest on a high artistic level like she does.

If you're interested in having your work displayed or your business featured on Inked Plus email me for detail: InkedPlus@Live.com

St. Marks - New York City

St. Marks is one of the best hangout areas in Downtown Manhattan. Here you can find plenty of everything for everyone, awesome bars, food places and clothing stores. When you visit the strip you will notice most people have something in common, appreciation for Body Art.

St. Marks have an eclectic selection of restaurant and food spots where you can pick a quick bite or sit at a table to have dinner alone or with friends. There is plenty of Vegetarian / Vegan Restaurants and quick bites as well.

One thing you will notice for sure is the endless amount of Tattoo / Piercing Parlors from start to end. This area has an interesting appeal all year round and people who live or work in the area are welcoming and pleasant.

It is a very relaxed and casual environment, totally inhibited where you can simply be yourself and don't have to worry about non-sense or fake impersonations of what the perfect everything should be, St. Marks is already perfect by being free spirited and open to reality.

Art can be anywhere, everything is surrounded by creativity and artistic vision, from a van full of graffiti to public art exhibits.

Tin: Internal Clock soon at Last Rites Gallery - New York City

Tin: Internal Clock

October 1st – October 23rd

Opening Reception:

Saturday, October 1st, 7-11pm

Last Rites Gallery presents Internal Clock, new works by Tin, in what will be the artist’s second solo show at the gallery.

Working with a neutral color palette of oil pastels, artist Tin creates dream worlds where beautiful women intermingle with rigid machinery. His exaggerated female forms maintain a sensual pin-up quality, while casting an undeniable air of mystery. Combining innocent eyes and soft flesh with manufactured industrial parts, the viewer is lured into a dark fairytale where natural and mechanical elements seamlessly co-exist.

Influenced as a child by comic books and cartoons, Tin states that his real passion creating art did not come until later in life, spurned by a brush with his own mortality: “I sketched from time to time and did ok in high school art class. Then I became a fisherman, like the kind out of the movie Perfect Storm. I almost died three times and should have lost my drawing hand at least a dozen times. After my last close call with death I decided to become an artist.” Tin went on to do commercial and pin-up art for 7 years, but his art took a turn as he felt unchallenged with what he was creating. He says “The art I was doing had no heart. So one day I was finishing a pin-up girl and I remember saying out loud to myself ‘If I only had a heart’- which reminded me of the Tin Man from The Wizard Of Oz. At that moment I decided to do more interesting works and call myself Tin.”

Last Rites Gallery

511 W 33rd Street, NYC

212.529.0666

info@lastritesgallery.com

Last Rites Gallery Announcement

Laurie Lipton:

Carnival Of Death

New York, New York

October 1st – October 23rd

Opening Reception:

Saturday, October 1st, 7-11pm

Last Rites Gallery presents The Carnival Of Death, new works by Laurie Lipton, in what will be her first solo show at the gallery.

A master of graphite, Laurie Lipton’s detailed drawings explore the passages of life and the portal into death. With technical prowess, she approaches her subject matter with a unique blend of both elegance and dark humor. Influenced by Día de los Muertos iconography, this exhibit runs just prior to The Day Of The Dead, commemorating the holiday by which it was inspired.

“I became fascinated by the contrast between the Day Of The Dead festival in Mexico and my experience of my mother's death. My parents were atheists. We had no ceremony, no goodbyes, no "closure". My father instructed the hospital to cremate my mother and dispose of her ashes. She was gone, disappeared, zapped out of existence. I was left with Nothing... literally and metaphysically. Friends & family treated my mother's death like an embarrassment. They awkwardly murmured Hallmark platitudes before slinking uneasily away. Death is as forbidden a topic in modern society as sex was in Victorian England.

When I visited Mexico in order to see The Day Of The Dead festival some years later, I couldn't help feeling envious of their approach to mortality. Families gathered on graves and picnicked, whole villages turned up with food for households in mourning. Death was treated as normal, even silly. Candied skulls grinned in their hundreds and skeletons danced in a fair-ground atmosphere. I decided to rebel against my heritage and create drawings inspired by the mood and atmosphere of the Mexicans. I decided to get in-touch with my bare bones. My culture runs from death, screaming. We worship youth, beauty and the illusion that we have all the time in the world. We frantically face-lift and botox, and throw pills, creams and money at death. We fool ourselves into thinking that death only happens to other people & only losers die. Skulls always look like they're laughing. Maybe the joke is on us?”
-Laurie Liption

About The Artist:
Laurie Lipton was born in New York and began drawing at the age of four. She was the first person to graduate from Carnegie-Mellon University in Pennsylvania with a Fine Arts Degree in Drawing (with honours). She has lived in Holland, Belgium, Germany,France and London and has recently moved back to the States after 35 years abroad. Her work has been exhibited extensively throughout Europe and the USA.

Lipton was inspired by the religious paintings of the Flemish School. She tried to teach herself how to paint in the style of the 17th century Dutch Masters and failed. When traveling around Europe as a student, she began developing her very own peculiar drawing technique building up tone with thousands of fine cross-hatching lines like an egg tempera painting. "It's an insane way to draw", she says, "but the resulting detail and luminosity is worth the amount of effort".

Graffiti & Tattoos

Graffiti is the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property. Graffiti is any type of public markings that may appear in the forms of simple written words to elaborate wall paintings. Graffiti has existed since ancient times, with examples dating back to Ancient Greece and the Roman Empire.

In modern times, paint, particularly spray paint, and marker pens have become the most commonly used graffiti materials. In most countries, marking or painting property without the property owner's consent is considered defacement and vandalism, which is a punishable crime.

Graffiti may also express underlying social and political messages and a whole genre of artistic expression is based upon spray paint graffiti styles. Within hip hop culture, graffiti has evolved alongside hip hop music, b-boying, and other elements. Unrelated to hip-hop graffiti, gangs use their own form of graffiti to mark territory or to serve as an indicator of gang-related activities.

Controversies that surround graffiti continue to create disagreement amongst city officials/law enforcement and writers who wish to display and appreciate work in public locations. There are many different types and styles of graffiti and it is a rapidly developing art form whose value is highly contested, reviled by many authorities while also subject to protection, sometimes within the same jurisdiction.

The term graffiti referred to the inscriptions, figure drawings, etc., found on the walls of ancient sepulchers or ruins, as in the Catacombs of Rome or at Pompeii. Usage of the word has evolved to include any graphics applied to surfaces in a manner that constitutes vandalism.

The earliest forms of graffiti date back to 30,000 BCE in the form of prehistoric cave paintings and pictographs using tools such as Animal bones and pigments. These illustrations were often placed in ceremonial and sacred locations inside of the caves. The images drawn on the walls showed scenes of animal wildlife and hunting expeditions in most circumstances.

The only known source of the Safaitic language, a form of proto-Arabic, is from graffiti: inscriptions scratched on to the surface of rocks and boulders in the predominantly basalt desert of southern Syria, eastern Jordan and northern Saudi Arabia. Safaitic dates from the 1st century BCE to the 4th century CE.

Theories on the use of graffiti by avant-garde artists have a history dating back at least to the Scandinavian Institute of Comparative Vandalism in 1961. Many contemporary analysts and even art critics have begun to see artistic value in some graffiti and to recognize it as a form of public art.

According to many art researchers, particularly in the Netherlands and in Los Angeles, that type of public art is, in fact an effective tool of social emancipation or in the achievement of a political goal.

So creative - Less Boring

Lots of people enjoy bowling but those who aren't into it might raise an eyebrow after you see the latest trend with the balls.

For some, the balls might look creepy but for those who are well aware they're art is eye candy. How come noone thought of this before?

Lets be honest, even someone who isn't into bowling want to have one of this conversation starter.

Go on a Trip Beyond Your Dreams.

Imagination and creativity has no limits. Having a way to picture something in your head and accomplish it in real life is something not everyone is capable of doing.

People have dreams and sometimes identify with an artist who makes those dreams come to reality by creating a masterpiece that stands out from things that some people could simply find plain boring.

Beauty can be visualized in many ways and can get deep into someone's head and stay. By catching a good interpretation of what is said without saying a word is understanding art and its essence to completion.

Living for creativity can be a deep feeling that can make anyone believe in a world that not everyone can see or be part of. Only those who have no limits can understand, and fully comprehend in order be on the same page (level). Most things have to evolve to avoid disappearing and becoming extinct.

Art is always in style never fades but it also keeps evolving and new ideas and innovative concepts keep appearing to top the previous trend, style or simply make it better.

Artwork on Skateboards Made by Tattoo Artists

Art is a universal medium of expression. It can range from an intricately designed tattoo to artwork on the bottom of skateboards, which was the type of artwork showcased at the Chrome Lotus Tattoo and Art Gallery event Sunday, Aug. 28, from 4 p.m. to 8 p.m., called "No Grip Allowed!"

The art show was put together by Tara Renee, the Colonial Drive shop owner. Renee started out as a piercer in her hometown in Orange County, Calif. and has been tattooing for about six years.

Tattoo Art In the Philipines - Dutdutan

Dutdutan: (doot-doot-ahn) - a Tagalog word meaning to continually insert or jab.

Now on it’s 11th year, Dutdutan is now synonymous with tattoo art in the Philippines. At least that’s how a lot of tattoo enthusiasts in the country would like to view it.

For the 15,000 or so who congregated at the World Trade Center in Manila on August 26 and 27, the biggest tattoo show this side of the earth is also a definition of the alternative lifestyle that they have chosen.

But according to the organizers, tattoo art was not always part of the alternative scene. Native Filipinos have a rich history of tattoo art dating back to pre-colonial dates. In fact, when the Spaniards first got here, they were greeted with a heavily tattooed Visayan tribe and they called the islands “La Isla De Los Pintados” meaning the “Island of the Painted Ones.”



Christianity and western culture eventually supplanted that practice and not until we fast forward to the 90s do we see the rebirth of skin art.

The man and talent behind that is Ricky Sta. Ana, who started the yearly gathering with a small group of tattoo artists and customers. Eleven years later and supported by a major alternative lifestyle brand, Tribal Gear, the show has now taken on a bigger vision.

It is now a convention, known in the skin art circle around the world and they are even able to bring in the best tattoo artists from around the world to prove that. Underlying this achievement is the organizers’ cause to eliminate the stigma of skin art as taboo, since it has always appealed to the rebel crowd and the unconventional.

Tattoo Art by Jie Zi

Here's one the most amazing artists, incredible tattoo designs that comes with a signature style. Beijing based tattoo artist Jie Zi mind blowing designs is a rage everyone is talking about. Different, refreshing and unique, those are the words that can describe such creations.

Paradise Tattoo Gathering 2011

From September 15-18th, one of my favorite tattoo events will take place in Western Massachusetts, bringing in renowned tattooists from around the world to share information, paint together, and of course tattoo attendees:

The Paradise Tattoo Gathering is unique in this focus on education, creation, and recreation.

The Gathering takes place at Jiminy Peak, a ski resort in the Berkshire mountains on the border between New York and Massachusetts. This is the last time the event will be held here before it moves west next year. There will be 35 different offerings of tattoo and art seminars, workshops, and discussion panels covering a wide range of the art over the course of four days.

Many seminars have sold out already including the Nick Baxter, Craola, Shawn Barber, and Workhorse Irons machine building seminars. But there are still places left for seminars with Chet Zar, Bob Tyrrell, Tommy Lee Wendtner, Alex Depase, Joe Capobianco, Robert Ryan, BJ Betts, Big Gus, Hunter Spanks, Liorcifer, Bez, Chris Dingwell, Larry Brogan, and so many more. There also also seminars for the kids, as well as organized childcare for Friday and Saturday nights.

Last Rites Gallery Announcement

Saturday, September 3rd, 7-11pm

Last Rites Gallery Presents...

Brian M. Viveros
Returning Art To The Unclean

Solo Exhibition

September 3rd - 25th, 2011

NEW YORK, NY (September 3rd, 2011)- Last Rites Gallery presents Returning Art To The Unclean, new works by Brian M. Viveros.

Known for his strong and sensuous depictions of women, Brian M. Viveros is a master of contemporary iconography paying homage to the femme fatale. While he almost exclusively paints portraits, within the expressions of his women is conveyed such deep emotion and overwhelming sexuality that his work is undeniably erotic. Often without even a hint of nudity, the viewer is seduced with a mere pout and gaze from his subject's faces. Although carrying on a long tradition of the alluring female in art, his work differs from Pin-Up style images of the past.

Aside from the absence of figurative representation, the commanding subjects in his art contrast "Cheesecake" ideology of the soft and innocent. Instead, with her empowered stare, the Viveros smoking bad-girls flaunt battle scars, tattoos, and army paraphernalia. A force to be reckoned with, she is the epitome of a subculture heralding a new era with shifting ideals.

This underlying concept of grit combined with sensuality is brought forth in his execution and paint handling, as flesh rendered with an almost touchable suppleness is juxtaposed by paint splatters and brushstrokes. With explosive compositions and an unmistakable style, Viveros creates 20th century representations of both beauty and culture.

Brian's paintings have appeared in museums and galleries throughout the world, and featured by media including Juxtapoz, Tattoo Society, Hi Fructose, Skin Two, and TLC's LA Ink. In 2005 Viveros made his directing debut with his short "Dislandia", and he has since created the full length feature "Southern" and other films, which have premiered internationally and have been featured on networks including The Sundance Channel.

In what will be Brian's second showing at the gallery, the opening will feature an all new collection of original paintings, as well as special rare prints from the artist's own collection; poster giveaway and signing; live "Smoking Army" performance; screening of Brian's films along with his new short, and much more.

For inquiries, please contact: info@lastritesgallery.com

Last Rites Gallery

511 W 33rd Street, NYC
Tel: 212.529.0666

www.lastritesgallery.com