Thats a big freakin tattoo

August 16, 2005 8:14 PM

A Koi on Keith Alexander - Keith Alexander of modern american bodyarts(NSFW) gets a huge back tattoo, and documents it all before and after each biweekly session. Some of it is a bit campy.... but still wow.
posted by sourbrew (25 comments total)

The art is gorgeous, the scale of the work is amazing, but his efforts to hide his butt crack were truly hilarious. I especially liked the blacked out bar, like his butt was some innocent bystander that had never consented to be in the pictures.
posted by carmen at 8:28 PM on August 16, 2005

Pretty!
posted by kyrademon at 8:37 PM on August 16, 2005

Very nice. My next tatt has to be something large, methinks.
posted by Balisong at 8:40 PM on August 16, 2005

I seem to recall that there was something about this on Boing Boing. I also seem to recall them mentioning he recently passed away.
posted by TheGoldenOne at 8:42 PM on August 16, 2005

Yeah, here it is.
posted by TheGoldenOne at 8:44 PM on August 16, 2005

Pretty? Pretty easy... and not wow. I'm sorry, it's not.

This is not that impressive at all IMHO. This is like paint by numbers. The finished piece lacks depth and the use of color is frighteningly simplistic. When are these tattoo artists going to stop using black outlines for their pieces? Damned beginners.

on preview: That was terrible to hear he died in a bike accident.
posted by j.p. Hung at 8:52 PM on August 16, 2005

I've got a tat of a jellyfish with no hard lines at all, just colors and shading.
posted by Balisong at 8:57 PM on August 16, 2005

Outlines or no outlines, it's a pretty piece.

Damn. That was one hell of an accident if he was trying to pass a kid on a cycling path and slammed into a wall hard enough to kill himself. I wonder how traumatized that poor kid is.
posted by maudlin at 9:11 PM on August 16, 2005

j.p. Hung, can you recommend some artists or studios whose work you approve of?
posted by erebora at 9:21 PM on August 16, 2005

What an ass. Fucking gocha-gocha tattoo swap meet on his torso. Very Japanese-y.
posted by planetkyoto at 9:48 PM on August 16, 2005

One of my favorite things about MeFi is the vocabulary that I
pick up from posts and comments.

campy - providing sophisticated amusement by virtue of having artificially (and vulgarly) mannered or banal or sentimental qualities
posted by mr.dan at 10:29 PM on August 16, 2005

TheGoldenOne - I actually read that boingboing and for some reason forgot about it while putting this post together. Thanks for linking that.
posted by sourbrew at 12:05 AM on August 17, 2005

Keith's backpiece was amazing. Very beautiful, traditional work.

Keith was a regular on rec.arts.bodyart and we got to follow along as he had that piece done. I wish any of my work was half as beautiful as that piece.

Here's a article from BME about Keith's life. He was an incredible man and I miss him everyday.
posted by SuzySmith at 12:57 AM on August 17, 2005

I was just disappointed that he never told us at the end how
much the damn thing cost. Not that I'd want one myself.
I could never be sufficiently sure of anything to know I'd
want to commit it indelibly to my body for the rest of my life.
Even a small 'mam and dad' heart on my bicep would make
me worry that they'd disown me at some point.

But I'm curious about the size of financial commitment that a
project like this would take. Anyone have any ideas?
posted by PeterMcDermott at 4:23 AM on August 17, 2005

I am duly impressed as a fan of both tattoos and koi. I already have a small koi and am looking to get a full backpiece. However, looking at my own tattoos, I believe j.p. Hung has a great idea regarding black outlines. This is an idea I'll pitch to my artist on the next design. Thanks j.p.
posted by horseblind at 5:46 AM on August 17, 2005

Opps, I did not mean to say that I am looking for a koi backpiece. It would be a backpiece of another design.
posted by horseblind at 5:48 AM on August 17, 2005

An interesting read, especially for anyone who has been through the process of committing to a tattoo and then watching it take shape on the body. A real shame about his death.
posted by OmieWise at 6:21 AM on August 17, 2005

Dee Snider's note about Keith
posted by glider at 6:49 AM on August 17, 2005

I'm not a big fan of koi tattoos, but that one came out quite nice. Really makes me want to go get another tattoo.
posted by geeky at 7:01 AM on August 17, 2005

The cost is variable. Usually by the hour. 80-100 dollars/Hr. for a descent artist.

Two of my nicer pieces were "free". One was a wedding gift, and one was a trade. The one I actually paid for was $280.00.
posted by Balisong at 7:10 AM on August 17, 2005

I've got a friend with a zombie koi tattoo and another friend with regular, living koi and I don't get it at all. Why not a catfish or bulgy faced goldfish or some other fish that may actually have some meaning. My friends don't give a shit about japanese culture and I don't think most people with japanese style tattoos do either. It's just the current trend in tattoos. I suppose the orange ink looks good against pasty, white skin, but still it's a fancy carp.
posted by monkeyman at 7:57 AM on August 17, 2005

Quite beautiful. RIP.
posted by gwint at 8:06 AM on August 17, 2005

Carp are ugly. Tattoos are ugly. Japanophilia is embarrassing.
posted by dydecker at 9:07 AM on August 17, 2005

No, no, tell us what you really think
posted by stenseng at 10:54 AM on August 17, 2005

Whatever happened to those 3-D sorts of tattoos that were popular in the late 1980s, early '90s? Here's one. Some of those I liked a lot.

The appeal of carp eludes me as well. I have always assumed they signified something I wasn't hip enough to be privy to.
posted by small_ruminant at 1:37 PM on August 17, 2005