The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com INK'D interne From Page 11B rity's t: est boa hurried "Tatooing, right now, is allow- get the ing for a handful of individuals Caporu who are skilled enough at the Arbor c craft, and imaginative enough, to aged ne work towards influencing their "Larg own aesthetic and style inside of walk-in tattooing," Zuck explained. "(The heavily artists) are selling paintings and modern expressing themselves. So it's stuff: lit legitimate artists coming out of on t-shi the movement, and in Ann Arbor of thos is where it's really amazing." first tat As Zuck put it, this is the tattoo tattoo, renaissance. and end But not every artist welcomes the revived interest. As an art E form, tattooing is the culmination of hours spent refining a design, The working towards a portfolio to the new showcase the artist's preferred ers to style. Just like painters or musi- research cians dedicate their lives to the artistry paintbrush or a sheet of music, differen so do true tattoo. artists dedicate "The themselvestothe artofembellish- you tur ing skin. Now, that long-expended they we time is often being reduced to get hoo drawing a feather exploding into and the birds on a naked shoulder. I try to "We're not pirates ... well we part of kind of are," Nugent admitted. Desp "But, we're not scummy, bikery, siasm, dirty ... but at the same time, you want w almost want certain types of peo- how che ple to have that kind of perception Here, C to retain that kind of mystery and alongsi mystique." agree: T The access, though, seems to "I rea follow in the ever-growing trends can do oftattoo artistry. a proble "When I first started, it was the it lastin Tasmanian devils:the classic, Tas- should, maniantattoo, the Yosemite Sam," change Zuck mused. "Then, dolphins too - th jumping over the sun were the wise," C '90s era, the lower back tattoo ... Nuge today, things are flowing in multi- import: ple directions: One in the creative no mat direction towards symbolic tat- the desi toos, and the other as very literal, "I'm straightforward tattoos, such as pickup lettering and script." the tatt The straightforward direction said. "I of tattooing comes from the col- to be do lege and young professional gen- work at eration who, after scouring the and can, tht b-sidt Thursday, December 5, 2013 -3 t saw their favorite celeb- attoos, filled their Pinter- rds with "ink ideas" and to their nearest parlor to ir favorite quote tattooed. sso described the Ann lientele as mostly college- wbies, eager to get marked. gely it's a lot of college s and first-timers. They're influenced by the web and ndesign, so it's alot ofrecent ttle arrows, stuff you'd see rs," Caporusso said."Most e people are getting their too, and, largely their only so that's where that begins ds for college students." Evolution ofthe art hope, though, is to allow generation of tattoo seek- explore the vastly under- Ihed possibilities of tattoo , teaching the newcomers t styles and techniques. other side of the coin is, *n them on to something eren't expecting, and they ked on to that kind of style, y come back, which is what do: Education is a large it." Caporusso added. ite persistence and enthu- some customers simply hat they want - no matter eesy the ink will come out. aporusso, Zuck and Nuget, de most other artists, 'he customer comes first. ad the situation, and say'I that for you,' and if there's em with the design or with :g and looking the way it then I will recommend a to it to make it a better tat- iat's as far as I'll go design- aporusso said. nt, likewise, realized the ance of being able to tattoo ter how cliche or menial gn is: happy to tattoo. Anytime I the machine, and am doing oo, I'm grateful," Nugent understand it's a luxury ing something like that, to mong people who are good teach me something." The act oftattooingis an artthat is unlike any other: At a most basic level, tattooing is an artist loaning his skills to create a lasting depic- tion for another. And though he is an artist in his own right, with his own, dynamic style, the premise of tattooing is allowing another individual to express themselves through an artist's work. "That's what a tattoo is: it's an oraclethat you can look at and you can carry it with you. And what- ever fits for you and your culture, I think it's right either way," Zuck added. The increase in tattoo interest created a spike for master tattoo artists; though there's more work now than ever, there are more art- ists, vying for customers, awards and apprenticeships. "What has influenced the art as a whole is the influx of art kids, whohaveaBachelor'sofFineArts. And then they pick up a machine, learn the technique and when they do, show's over," Nugent said. "They create beautiful pieces that change the face of tattooing as a whole, and it contributes to this evolution of the art itself. I'm not angry with that. A lot of people in the industry don't like to see that, but you have to step your game up." For artists like Zuck, stepping his game up means taking on the smaller projects, taking time to speak with his walk-in customers, paying attention to tattoo-new- comers. "The grass is greener on the other side. I keep a full schedule, I get to do whatever I want to do, when I want to do it, and so when it comes down to it, I can do that so much that I lose distance from my walk-in customers," Zuck fin- ished. "So to sit down with some- one and have a brief moment and find out what's going on in college land, I like that, that's fun. Zuck added: "If you're hav- ing a hard time with something, you have to switch it up. If you're eating the same sandwich over and over and over, you have to try something different." Kanye West's incongruous racial persona Jessica Ann Mitchell, Your article, "Kanye's Frantz Fanon Complex," is the most persuasive argument against Kanye West's incongruous social mes- sages that I've read thus far. In his recent overindulgent onslaught ' of media appearances, Kanye has JOHN repeatedly LYNCH shown that his intentions of breaking up the racial barriers of the fash- ion world and his denouncing of corporations are superficial and hypocritically self-centered in focus. Since The College Dropout, Kanye's once poignant social and political message has undoubt- edly become increasingly mis- guided and egoistic in nature. As the substance of his message becomes increasingly diluted by fame or ego, it's certainly our job as journalists to call him out on his mistakes. My point in writing this let- ter, then, is to assess the poten- tial cultural significance behind Kanye's recent, seemingly irra- tional ambitions. So what makes Kanye West, as you said, an artist with a "tre- mendous impact on the music industry and pop culture?" In his nearly decade-long career, Kanye has transformed the world of rap music introsp sounds toire. Kanye consist curve, his mu shaped music i release At Kanye ing po talk s has re regress to crea seems i ing pro el fashi rap mu matter) repeate shapec calls hi Michel his gen by introducing emotional of the future for the better, it's 'ection and progressive Kanye West. The reason we care into the genre's reper- about Kanye's stance on racial With each album release, issues is because his voice is one has proven that he's that immediately grabs public ently years ahead of the attention and holds a certain and as a result, each of cultural significance. If he could sical projects undeniably transform the world of rap music, the course of popular who's to say that he couldn't re- in the years following its appropriate the Confederate Flag by claiming it as his own and this moment, though, changing a long-standing sym- is at a crucial turn- bol of hate into a new mark of int in his life. In recent fashion, as he has attempted to how interviews, Kanye do with his controversial Yeezus peatedly stated that he tour t-shirts? ed to a childlike state As cultural critics, then, we te Yeezus, and today, he have an obligation to hold Kanye more interested in creat- to the same cultural standard vocative art and high-lev- that he believes he can hold. on than socially conscious Behind every headline-grabbing sic (or any music, for that faux pas that Kanye makes are . At the same time, Kanye more subtle glimpses of power- edly expresses a desire to ful truth and self-assessment. culture for the better and After being overly "turnt" for mself a "futurist" and the the majority of his recent radio angelo or Andy Warhol of interview with The Breakfast eration. Club, Kanye admitted that he's fallible, far from self-actualized and in need of the guidance of I others to achieve the lofty goals rovoCative he's put forth. With the press's art Should continued pressure on the issue of race, then, Kanye will hope- be socially fully refine his perception of race and culture and return conscious. from this "childlike state" to the same path of racial reform that he originally pursued - creating provocative, original art that's rsonally believe that his as socially conscious as it is pro- ins are not unrealistic. If gressive. ist has the ability to influ- Best, he aesthetic and culture An Optimistic Fan P c9 I pe ambitit any art ence t