13 TATTOOS, Thorsten Dennerline
Some time ago I suddenly got the urge to make a book about tattoos. I decided to think about tattoos not just as pictures or designs, but to consider them more broadly (scars, living drawing marks, body adornments, rites of passage, magic to improve the body’s function, ways to relieve or relive pain, signs of bravery, remembrances, cultural signifiers, or tribal/ group markings). I also thought of the idea of drawing on skin and marking its surface as a way to be aware of it as a three-dimensional picture plane (with psychological implications). I have to admit that the associations with crime and other “bad” things was enticing to me as well. This book of tattoo proposals is simply a non-linear document of my own thinking about these ideas. This book of woodblock prints and photopolymer letterpress details is printed on handmade Richard de Bas paper. -Thorsten Dennerline, The Bird Press 2011
Medium: Book: Woodcut with photopolymer letterpress details on handmade Richard da Bas paper with a screen printed wrapper.
Size: Dimensions: closed 15x5”
Edition: 25
All printing by the artist. Letterpress printed at Wild Carrot Letterpress, Hadley MA
Some time ago I suddenly got the urge to make a book about tattoos. I decided to think about tattoos not just as pictures or designs, but to consider them more broadly (scars, living drawing marks, body adornments, rites of passage, magic to improve the body’s function, ways to relieve or relive pain, signs of bravery, remembrances, cultural signifiers, or tribal/ group markings). I also thought of the idea of drawing on skin and marking its surface as a way to be aware of it as a three-dimensional picture plane (with psychological implications). I have to admit that the associations with crime and other “bad” things was enticing to me as well. This book of tattoo proposals is simply a non-linear document of my own thinking about these ideas. This book of woodblock prints and photopolymer letterpress details is printed on handmade Richard de Bas paper. -Thorsten Dennerline, The Bird Press 2011
Medium: Book: Woodcut with photopolymer letterpress details on handmade Richard da Bas paper with a screen printed wrapper.
Size: Dimensions: closed 15x5”
Edition: 25
All printing by the artist. Letterpress printed at Wild Carrot Letterpress, Hadley MA