Art has taken uncountable forms over the last tens of thousands of years. Creative expression is a large piece of what makes an individual human, whether it is expressed through music or sculpture or interpretive dance. The overlap between the different broad categories of the arts offers a little something for everyone with one word lying at the center- meaning. Everything that art is ties back to what it means. A symphonic piece has just as much of a story as a mural and vice versa. Incredibly, one of the oldest art forms to date is slowly morphing the next era of highbrow, "fine" art into a time of limitless self performance. The confines of traditional visual mediums are limited to specific temporal and spatial confines to fit the context of an artist and their canvas. Tattoos are not.
As tattoos expand further into the cultural norm within western society, they are finally starting to get the recognition that they deserve. This definitely has to do with the fact that more people are simply getting tattoos. Professionals- your doctors, lawyers, etc- are more tattooed now than ever before. The stigma against body modification is decreasing because it is beginning to become the new norm. In response to that, however, a certain caliber of tattoo is now considered elite. Large, unique pieces often requiring an artist to have a highly developed technical skill and style are held to a different standard than what most us of know as basic tats. You know the ones. A feather that breaks into birds? An infinity sign? The mass production feel of these pieces simultaneously makes them an easy introduction to body art for the general populace and lends itself to hefty criticism.
Really, these basic tattoos force people to acknowledge that self expression has spread to our culture's skin and isn't going to disappear now. That means that more and more people are investing in the art. The diversification of styles available to the average person when considering getting a tattoo are staggering- American traditional, neo-traditional, geometric, watercolor, dot work, realism, Japanese, new school, bio-mechanical, and so many more. Variety like that is what allows the versatility of the art form. Creativity only has three limits in this art: time, money, and canvas. Every creative endeavor since the beginning of time requires the first two, but the limitations of the canvas are a challenge specific to tattooing. Not only is the size of a piece dependent on the person, but a tattoo has to work with the dynamic movement of a human body. Plus, pain tolerance adds to the difficulty.
Due to the versatility of tattoos as a form of body modification and art, the technical difficulty involved with making wonderful pieces that stand the test of time, and the intimate act of actually getting the tattoo is what is propelling tattooing to the top of art appreciation. Next time you see a fantastic tattoo, think of it as art. Maybe the next Van Gogh will be a tattoo artist. We'll see.
