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A behind-the-scenes tour of the fabled tattoo industry on the arm of a swashbuckling insider and natural-born storyteller.
In the eighteen years he’s been a tattoo artist, Jeff Johnson has worked on everyone from nervous young coeds who turn green at the sight of his needle (chudders) to cocky would-be artists with fancy design degrees and weak constitutions (night hogs). As the proprietor of the legendary Sea Tramp Tattoo Company, he’s inked gangbangers, age-defying moms, and sociopaths; he’s defused brawls, tended delicate egos, learned to spot and avoid bunnies, and made it his mission to perpetrate ingenious and awful practical jokes on his fellow Trojans. He’s a true swamp panther: He knows all the tricks of the trade and, more important, he knows how to keep his legendary shop in Portland, Oregon, from becoming the scene of a nightly bloodbath.
In Tattoo Machine, Johnson lifts the curtain on an art form that has undergone rebirth and illuminates a world where art, drama, and commerce come together in highly entertaining theater. A tattoo shop is no longer a den of social outcasts and degenerates–it’s a workshop where committed and schooled artists who paint on living canvases develop close bonds and bitter rivalries, where tattoo legends and innovators are equally revered, and where the potential for disaster lurks in every corner.
Discussing everything from his days as an apprentice to some of the greatest inkers in the trade to the incredibly vivid nightly spectacular over which he presides, Jeff Johnson has written a sometimes riotous, sometimes harrowing, and always riveting memoir about what it means to be on the front lines of a global art revolution.
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Technical Details
- ISBN13: 9780385530521- Condition: NEW
- Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
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By M. T. Vancampen (Houston, TX)
This book was more interesting than an episode of Miami Ink, but was less universal than I had hoped. The parts that intrigued me the most weren't focused on. (Really, you were at a party with a cult leader who wet himself and no one around him acknowledged noticing, and you can not only not tell me who this cult leader was, but not even what kind of cult it was? I need to know.) What I needed to know less about were the anatomical anomalies of the women he has tattooed. This book is probably much more interesting to those who have tattoos. As with all books that talk a lot about specific art I haven't seen, I wish there had been pictures. Maybe there are in the released edition.
By Marilyn J. Adams (Indiana)
Any fan of tattoos or the tattoo world would love this book. I enjoyed it and found it to be quite pleasing.
By Misty Matonis (new york, ny)
Tattoo Machine is not just a book about the tattoo industry, but a well-crafted memoir by Jeff Johnson, co-owner of the oldest tattoo parlor in the United States. Johnson is a wonderful writer, and he weaves his story in the industry well, educating his readers about life as a tattoo artist and his struggles to stay sane and sober.
By K. Kraus (Pleasant Prairie, WI USA)
I don't know what made me choose this book in the first place since I mostly dislike tattoos. I used to despise them, but over the past 20 years, they've become so ubiquitous that I barely notice them anymore. I really don't understand the culture of people who cover themselves in tattoos. That being said, I am a little fascinated by the stories that come out of tattoo parlors. I used to watch the show Inked about Carey Hart's shop, and I loved it.
What first struck me in reading this book was that the author knows how to write. He uses lots of big words, lots of descriptive language. Later in the book that same language started to get on my nerves. And he does reveal that he's an avid reader and always wanted to try his hand at writing, so it's not like his being able to write was just some stroke of luck.
Overall, I found the stories in the book interesting and often humorous, and I think Jeff Johnson seems like a cool guy to know. I like the way he talked about his wife in the book. It's always nice to hear a man expressing his love and admiration for his better half.
If you're a tattoo fan you'll almost surely like the book. If, like me, you're just curious, you will like it too.
By Erika Mitchell (E. Calais, VT USA)
This book describes the daily life of a professional tattoo artist. Johnson, a tattoo artist for 18 years, is the owner of the Sea Tramp Tattoo Company in Portland, Oregon. In this book, he opens a window into the seamy world of tattoo parlors. He shares stories of good customers and bad, and daily behind-the-scenes action in a tattoo parlor. He also includes a little of his own background and those of some of his colleagues.
The world Johnson describes, full of underworld thugs, psychos, and drug addicts, sounds far removed from mainstream American culture. Yet, with so many people choosing to sport tattoos, there are growing connections between Johnson's world and the mainstream. This captivating book might provide an introduction to skin art culture for those considering a tattoo.
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