Time: Tattoo Art Today

This summer, Somerset House will host Time: Tattoo Art Today, a free exhibition presenting original artworks from 70 of the world’s most influential tattoo artists including Ed Hardy, Horiyoshi III, Paul Booth and Mister Cartoon, curated by fellow tattoo artist Claudia De Sabe and publisher Miki Vialetto. Each artist has been commissioned to create a completely new work for the exhibition on the theme of time, working with any medium and on any canvas apart from their usual surface of skin. The resulting collection ranges from oil painting, watercolours and traditional Japanese silk painting to paint layering on real skulls, airbrush and bronze sculpture.

Time and all it infers (such as life and death) is a classic, common motif in tattoo art, expressed through a vast variety of iconographic combinations. For example, the popular inkings of butterflies, blossoms and the handled cross signify life, while memento mori such as skulls or the goddess Kali denote death. Many of these symbols are also present in the original pieces displayed. However the exhibition will reveal how the age-old art of tattooing has reached beyond simple stencils hung on the walls of the traditional tattoo shop; many tattoo artists today come from backgrounds in fine and graphic art and have creative control over the pieces they produce, with clients searching for artists rather than objects to ink on their skin.

The most iconic and influential tattoo artists in the world right now have been selected for Time: Tattoo Art Today, such as Don Ed Hardy, a formally-trained fine artist turned tattoo pioneer who was at the helm of the artistic evolution of Western tattoo art, and Horiyoshi III, the undisputed master of Japan’s ancient art of tattooing of his generation.

Other tattooists who have used their creativity to change the concept of tattooing and who will be exhibited include: Mister Cartoon, whose expressive style of art embodies the true soul of Los Angeles street culture and has been commissioned by the likes of Beyoncé, Dr Dre, Snoop Dogg, Eminem, Justin Timberlake and 50 Cent; Paul Booth, whose personal mark on horror has seen the style soar in popularity; Filip Leu, a Swiss artist who was the first to create a “western Japanese” style of tattooing, and Alex Binnie, who first brought his interpretation of tribal tattooing to Europe twenty years ago.

Co-curator Miki Vialetto said: “Over the past twenty years there have been many exhibitions which have considered tattooing from historical, sociological and anthropological standpoints. There have also been solo shows of tattoo artists who, in some cases, have had the privilege to exhibit their work in locations just as prestigious as Somerset House. But what is unprecedented about this exhibition is that it was organised to bring together 70 people who have created and represent the significant and momentous change in tattooing, in such an important and internationally famous arts and cultural venue.”

To accompany the exhibition, there will be a catalogue published by Tattoo Life Production, an Italian publisher based in Milan, who is known worldwide for their publications on the art of tattooing.