Monday, April 13, 2015

Skin Deep Art: Tattoo Artist Amanda Wachob's Creations

Amanda Wachob graduated from art school with a degree in photography so she naturally began tattooing right after college. She is now a tattoo artist famous for her watercolor designs that look like paintings hanging in art museums.











When she gives interviews, like the one for Inked Magazine, she explains her “intention to push the boundaries” is what drives her as an artist. In fact, she does not only tattoo skin, but she tattoos canvas, fruit and leather. Ultimately, she believes tattooing is an art form and it transcends any limitations. She even has her art hanging in galleries and for sale on her website.

 Image result for amanda wachob fruit     Image result for amanda wachob fruit     Image result for amanda wachob fruit

Brian Uzzi and Jarrett Spiro writes that medium Q small worlds are the most conducive to high creativity and success in the project being worked on. Wachob, with her multifaceted artistic background, including the ten years that she studied the violin, has the proper foundations for her success. She expressed that her inspiration comes from “museums, art exhibits, books, [her] creative friends, living in New York City, and new or radical ways of thinking” (Inked Magazine). Her inspirational community includes people she feels close, complete strangers and all those in between.

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She has had some less-conventional collaborators with whom she continuously eradicates the limitations that surround tattooing. One of her latest projects is with neuroscientist Maxwell Bertolero, translating data “related to voltage and time, using Wachob’s own tattoo equipment” (Huffington Post) into visual representation. Basically, as she creates her tattoo, a machine reads the voltage being used and the time and translates them into a colorful and artistic way. Linking tattooing with modern art and science and technology is just one example of how she views tattoo art as being so much more than ink on skin, and how it all comes together in her multiple collaborations. Below is a sample of the data collected above each of the tattoos that Amanda Wachob made.

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  • Other collaborations include those with art galleries around the world, where she has hung her paintings on canvas multiple times. Her small world network of galleries includes a few she continuously returns to with her new work, as well as some one-time only opportunities in places such as Germany, Japan, and Denmark. Although she keeps close ties with old work partners, she stated that ultimately she loves doing “anything strange and unusual, something I haven’t done a million times” (Inked Magazine). It is this strive to discover uncharted territories that makes her an amazing an artist, and her capacity to rely on old and new collaborators that makes her successful.


       Image result for amanda wachob paintings   Image result for amanda wachob paintings   






    2 comments:

    1. I think we often neglect to acknowledge that tattoo artists are in fact real artists. For some reason tattoos aren't viewed as obvious works of art, even though the artists are working on a difficult medium and it's an incredibly stressful process that they go through when doing the tattoo. This is an awesome article because she is highlighting just how beautiful and artistic tattoos can be! I agree with you, a lot of her stuff looks like it belongs in an art museum - definitely not your conventional understanding of what a tattoo is. Also, I think it's really interesting that she is collaborating with that neuroscientist. The marriage of creativity and technology that's happening there is fascinating. Now I kind of want a tattoo...

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    2. I really like this post. The creative manages to be traditionally artistic as well as innovative in her choice of medium and style. It reminds me of visual art's love-hate relationship with the beauty of the human form. By fusing her subject's bodies with abstract forms she effectively makes them her canvas. Furthermore, her modifications are not seen as blemishes or imperfections, but as artistic expressions that are appreciated and applauded. I feel like the stigma against tattoos and the people they adorn is confronted by artists like Wachob, which I believe is important. And I'll definitely keep her designs in mind if I ever build up enough courage to get a tattoo!

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