Pretty Pictures

No Body Love Me

I love old tattoo art. Thankfully, there’s the Paul Roger’s Research Center and it’s curators, who have published numerous books on the subject and offer a chance for the classic tattoo flash to be viewed in the context of traditional folk art.

Here’s the work of one particular artist named Tino “Rosie” Camanga from Honolulu more than half a century ago. I heard that he only had one tattoo himself, which was by his own hand. So the legend goes, he walked into a tattoo parlor and said he wanted to learn to tattoo. The shop owner gave him the tattoo machine and said if you can tattoo yourself, I’ll give you a job. He sat down and gave himself his first and only tattoo.

Anyway, here’s some images from two books of American flash from Ed Hardy’s Hardy Marks Publications. (“Flash from the Past: Classic American Tattoo Designs 1890-1965″ and “Eye Tattooed America”)

Natural law #16: Winner will be the king.

Don’t worry. No body love me either.

God bless me (not you)

Me likes. Me likes a lot!