| With stripes of blue ink snaking across
his face and neck and then disappearing under the collar of his shirt before
bursting into the open from under the cuffs, he is a poster boy for his
profession. Skitch, the only name he wants the public to know, exhibits pride and confidence in his designer skin. Comfortably perched atop a stool in Graffixx Tattoo, a parlor just two blocks from the White House, he talks about his obsession with" body art", which, in his view, is winning the souls of the New Age generation as well as overall public acceptance. "It's definitely more popular than when I started out about 10 years ago," he said as a flash of sunshine danced on a big pin piercing the skin between his eyes. "People who wouldn't even think about having a tattoo then have them. There are no official statistics beating Skitch out. But evidence that tattoos are growing more popular is abundant on beaches, in health clubs and on the streets when summertime clothes reveal roses, mermaids and increasingly more sophisticated ornaments on shoulders, ankles and other body parts. As far as Skitch is concerned, he is tiding the wave of the future. The revenue of a tattoo parlor he co-owned in Minneapolis, Minnesota between 1997 and 1999 grew 60 percent in its second year of operation, he said. "We would have made even more, if we operated in some southern resort towns, like Orlando; Daytona Beach or in southern California," he said. It is woman, he said, who is increasing numbers driving the body art boom. "If ten years ago only 40 percent of our clients requiring tattoos were women, now they make up 50 percent," notes Skitch. "For body piercing, it's 80 percent." Not so long ago, tattoo parlors were found in back rooms of seedy port city bars and catered to visiting sailors and city toughs. Not anymore. Next month, top female tattoo artists from North America and Europe will descend on Orlando, Florida, for a four-day convention, according to an announcement posted on the Internet by Deana Lippens, the organizer. Tattoos themselves have dramatically evolved over the years, becoming more complex, multi-dimensional, even exquisite, say tattoo artists. They are no longer just model rosettes hidden on a shoulder blade. Bodies are being transformed into full-scaled tableaux featuring, for example, portraits of saints adorned by garlands of flowers or a bald eagle spreading his wings across a human torso. Some of these tableaux take years to complete. |