Meta-Ken

Saturday, May 29th - the first day in what will be a long process of transformation. I've started work on a large back tattoo, done in the traditional Japanese style and technique. Horizakura here in NYC at 55 Tattoo will be executing it. Here is a shot taken after the first 2 hour session:



The subject for the piece is Kintaro with a koi, a popular theme from Japanese mythology for tattooing. Check out this site for more info on the legend of Kintaro. To me this is a work about strength, perseverance and transformation. I have some old tattoo work which will need to be worked over, remainders of my more reckless high-school days - Horizakura seems confident he will be able to work over them given the density of the design. When finished this will stretch from the base of my neck to 1/4 of the way down my legs. This site gives a brief explanation of the traditional tattooing technique, called Tebori.