In modern times, the art of tattooing has become largely youth-driven, dominated by young tattooists with a background in fine art and culture. His clients are equally young and are often adorned with bold and eye-catching designs on the arms, hands, legs and body, as well as multiple piercings.
Contemporary tattoos first emerged during the 1970s, when anti-establishment youth began using tattoos as a symbol of resistance to law-abiding, middle-class values. Coincidentally, new tattoo artists with different types of training appeared at the same time.
Before, it was typical for new tattoo artists to learn from an experienced tattoo artist, learning the ropes slowly. But with this plethora of counterculture sentiments, many new and young tattoo artists simply ordered a machine and some basic supplies and started out on their own.
With their presence, new tattoo images began to emerge which greatly appealed to this younger, louder audience. These tattoo designs were mostly inspired by “exotic” cultures like Japan, Borneo, Samoa, and North America rather than coming from traditional sources like North American and European designs.
The rise of the contemporary tattoo is becoming unstoppable. Long unpopular and stigmatized in the West, tattooing has received a positive new spin that is more associated with highly respected cultural traditions.
Slowly and steadily, modern tattooists and tattoo promoters successfully reintegrated tattooing into modern western society. Tattoos went from being a mark of stigma used by bikers, criminals, mobsters and the military to a mark of individual expression. Thus a new elevated status was born.
Over time, contemporary tattooing brought about two significant and lasting changes in the world of tattooing. Firstly, tattoo designs in general have radically changed from the traditional insignia-like designs that have been common for hundreds of years in the West to non-Western designs that focus on large swaths of skin.
Second, contemporary tattooists began to give preference to custom tattoo designs created by themselves rather than using tattoo flash or something ripped off the wall of a tattoo studio. Tattoo customers are strongly encouraged to design their own tattoos with the help of these new tattoo artists.
Ironically, the transformation of our views on tattooing is possible because the historical position of a tattoo as a stigmatized sign was never really fixed, and eventually the negative status of a tattoo deteriorated over time, giving rise to the contemporary tattoo. .
