Lovers of the "lowbrow" art scene will know that for many years there has been only one magazine to buy, and that’s Juxtapoz.
Showcasing pretty much every up-and-coming and established talent in the underground art world, Juxtapoz is required monthly reading for lovers of pop, street and tattoo art.
Happily, Juxtapoz magazine have teamed up with Gingko Press to produce Juxtapoz Tattoo, a beautiful, collectible coffee table book displaying art from some of today’s most talented tattooists.
Each of the thirty artists featured in Juxtapoz Tattoo have a photo and a page-long bio, then five or so pages of full-colour photos that will knock your tattoo-lovin’ socks off.
Whether it’s traditional Japanese you’re after, or old-school sailor-style, or even that crazily fine, black and grey photo-realistic work, you’ll find some of the best examples of it in here.
Artists featured include San Francisco metal demon Tim Lehi of Black Heart Tattoo in San Francisco (haven’t heard of him? he used to work with Ed Hardy), New York Adorned genius Chris O’Donnell, and all round tattoo-master Juan Puente. The book even features the work of sexy TV star Kat Von D (of LA Ink fame) although between you and me, there are a couple of portrait tattooists in Melbourne who could run circles around her.
There are a lot of tattoo art books around if you’re looking, but many of them are aimed solely at the tattoo artist or are pretty much for bogans. Juxtapoz Tattoo has cool pictures, features some of the forerunners of the tattoo scene and actually, it has class. If you consider yourself a bit of a tattoo-lover, or you’re looking for some inspiration for your next piece of work, I’d suggest you check it out.
- By Cass Scott