Tattoo Master 19

I watched, last year, as certain groups jockeyed for positions that were untenable given the new technological advances that were undermining their empires. A new breed of clever talent won’t need the old guard that appears to keep the tattoo industry captive. This is the natural order and the reason that old tattooing is dead and gone, while a brilliant new art has now been born, albeit in its fledgeling stages.

I am a student of symbolism and I can tell you that the metaphor of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse is very much alive if you wish it to be. If you choose to perceive a world that you have lost (Famine), then compound this through snideness, carping, and other forms of minimisation (Conquest), and if you attack others because you have a degree of power and leverage in place (War), then you will invoke Death in the long run as you tarnish your reputation and goals.

If someone were insular they could take the view that they no longer own a part of tattooing that they once seemed to have. It is for this reason that I could clearly see a degree of bullying within the world, within the media, and within society last year.

I saw a lot of this and it was all because technologies outstripped an average person’s ability to give a mature response and which led to pettiness, as it will one day be viewed.

Shame on these idiots that spawned internal damage to tattooing worldwide.

But it is now 2013!

As far as I can see, there aren’t any problems in the world. The customers have the broadest choice of artists, styles of work, and degrees of hygiene that has ever been known in history. Add to this the technological advances that allow a world of understanding at your finger tips, an art educated influx of new talent, a burgeoning media that opens doors to tattoo art, and everything looks quite impressive to me.

Tattoo art is becoming a very mature profession and is getting to be taken seriously from all angles. While meeting with the various people I interview I can tell you that there is an enthusiasm from some that would hold enough energy to power the grid. Also, big companies (with their capacity for power, leverage and investment opportunities) are turning their attention in a positive way to what they view as a new phenomenon.

Stand back and you will see this is true.

To change the subject, I have to tell you that I am, sadly, relinquishing the editor position of this magazine as of this issue; this is due in large part to rearrangements in my personal world.

I am delighted to tell you, though, that the new editor is the amazing Trent Aitken-Smith who, as you will be aware, is an excellent writer/ contributor to Tattoo Master magazine. I know you will enjoy his direction. But please bear in mind that this magazine is a joint effort with the boys and girls at Jazz and the various contributors being the ones who make it all this good.

I am grateful for the opportunity to have been editor and I warmly thank you for reading my vision of Tattoo Master magazine.