The Art of Tattoos

British Journal of Aesthetics 60 (4):419-433 (2020)
  Copy   BIBTEX

Abstract

In this paper I make the case that at least some tattoos are artworks. I go on to propose a definition of tattoo art that distinguishes it from other uses of tattooing, and from other forms of visual art. I argue that tattoo art is an art form that creates artworks in living skin, and that the living body is an essential component of and contributor to the artwork. This gives rise to several other distinctive features of tattoo art, in particular that it reconfigures in interesting ways the relationships between artist, artworks, and viewers. Like street art, tattoo art by its nature resists inclusion in and valuation through art institutions such as galleries and museums.

Other Versions

No versions found

Links

PhilArchive



    Upload a copy of this work     Papers currently archived: 98,316

External links

Setup an account with your affiliations in order to access resources via your University's proxy server

Through your library

Similar books and articles

On the human canvas: a novel ontology of tattoos.Julia Minarik - 2021 - Dissertation, University of Manitoba
Inking Cultures: Authorship, AI-Generated Art and Copyright Law in Tattooing.Melanie Stockton-Brown - 2023 - International Journal for the Semiotics of Law - Revue Internationale de Sémiotique Juridique 36 (5):2037-2065.
Are Tattoos Art?Nicolas Michaud - 2012 - In Fritz Allhoff & Robert Arp (eds.), Tattoos – Philosophy for Everyone. Wiley‐Blackwell. pp. 29–37.
Fleshy Canvas.Kimberly Baltzer-Jaray & Tanya Rodriguez - 2012 - In Fritz Allhoff & Robert Arp (eds.), Tattoos – Philosophy for Everyone. Wiley‐Blackwell. pp. 38–50.
How to Read a Tattoo, and Other Perilous Quests.Juniper Ellis - 2012 - In Fritz Allhoff & Robert Arp (eds.), Tattoos – Philosophy for Everyone. Wiley‐Blackwell. pp. 14–26.

Analytics

Added to PP
2020-08-02

Downloads
104 (#177,158)

6 months
18 (#147,397)

Historical graph of downloads
How can I increase my downloads?

Author's Profile

Laura Sizer
Mount Holyoke College

Citations of this work

Tattoos Can Sometimes Be Art: A Modest Embellishment of Stephen Davies’s Adornment.E. M. Dadlez - 2021 - Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 79 (4):499-503.
Adornment Defended.Stephen Davies - 2021 - Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 79 (4):508-513.

Add more citations

References found in this work

Everyday aesthetics.Yuriko Saito - 2001 - Philosophy and Literature 25 (1):87-95.
Street Art: The Transfiguration of the Commonplaces.Nicholas Alden Riggle - 2010 - Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 68 (3):243-257.

Add more references