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‘Dr Skin’


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Kinross and Perthshire, Scotland
March to November 2005
‘Pit bulls are bought by those spectacular tattooed fuckwits, you know. It’s a shark on a leash, isn’t it, this pointy head, the eyes at the corners, a row of teeth and an arsehole.’ Billy Connolly
Despite its diverse global cultural history, the tattoo remains taboo in much of Scotland. Rightly or wrongly, it is readily seen as an incriminating personification of social delinquency. The tattoo’s allegedly anti-social credentials make it an anomalous choice of media for a public art project. Yet, tattoo-based contemporary art isn’t novel in Scotland where Ross Sinclair and Douglas Gordon among others have long made it their signature. Eddie Summerton’s viral curation of the tattoo as a plain bread art – based on mutual trust and camaraderie between the artist, bearer and audience – has a particularly long shelf life.
Dr Skin was launched at Perth Museum Art and Gallery as an event within the Perth Festival of the Arts fortnight in March. Advertisements were placed in local newspapers inviting sixteen residents working within the public sector to become temporary bearers of the designs. The response came from a wide range of the community and from all corners of the region. The designs were produced as four colour litho transfers in Canada, held in customs for days while officers tested them for LSD, then, in May, were humbly transferred by the artists to the volunteer models. The tats were simultaneously published as a limited edition artists’ book by Perth Library service.
Summerton has chosen his artists cannily. All seem to be drawn to the schizoid mix of the reproachful and the sentimental found in Scottish tattoo culture. The Lonely Piper’s design concerns a swarm of midges choreographed to spell out the ambiguous legend ‘She’s Like Midgies’. To say ‘she’s a wee pest’ in Scots could well be use of the diminutive as a term of affection. Mortality is another central concern. Ellen Munroe’s MA is a daffodil memorial for her mother, a re-design of the hard-man’s favourite. Derrick Guild’s small trompe l’oeil fly is reminiscent of those found in Netherlandish still lives; it provides a reminder of death as well as a warning to other insects not to land on a warm body.
Tattoos also tend to represent issues of national identity, something that emerges in a number of designs. Calum Colvin’s Picts Wha’ Hae – a portrait of Robert Burns with his face covered in Pictish tattoos acts as an ode to a dead culture that once thrived north of the River Forth. Picti is Latin for ‘tattoo’, and hence the name given to such non-Romanised tribes. Burns’ largely successful attempt to re-Scottiscise Scotland conceals the Scotticisation of Pictavia. Picts Wha’ Hae imagines what might have happened had the Pictish tongue survived and its cultural inheritance been reinvented as readily as Scots or Gaelic. Graham Fagen’s homespun prison tattoo of a crucifix drawn in blue pen is emblazoned with the legend ‘ENGLAND’, a deliberate provocation in Perthshire that might be a sign of belonging south of the border. Paul Leslie, the model of this tattoo, is a staunch Scottish Nationalist. Having worn Fagan’s tattoo for a month, and been engaged in many conversations about the insignia, he now considers himself an internationalist.
A relationship with the wearer that incites them into action has been more crucial to the success of the project as any relationship the designs might have with the site. Once tattooed, the wearers are effectively advocates of their chosen design, responsible for educating their acquaintances. The onus is on them to get involved with the work and with its audience. This encourages a kind of engagement that is firmly rooted in Scots oral folk culture, an active sociable art. Tommy Crooks’ small drawing of Steven Hawking, worn by the husband of a double amputee, has proven to be focal point of many debates. Graeme Todd’s tattoo of Hieronymus Bosch’s The Wayfarer, taken from the outer wings of the Haywain triptych, found itself on a politician fond of long country walks. Being a walking art gallery has unpredictable results. While researching The Wayfarer on boschuniverse.org, Todd’s advocate won a holiday for being the 1,000,000th site visitor. Since his tattoo has become a talisman he has decided to have it inscribed permanently.
Dr Skin is not unblemished. Sandy Guy’s tattoo of an American Imperial Eagle brandishing the motto Single Mother Fucker was subject to censorship by Councillors as was Norman Shaw’s Gnostic symbol, which was deemed to be too phallic. The decidedly vaginal iconography of Rosie Summerton’s design, featuring a third eye encircled by a ring of fire, somehow passed muster. While these draconian measures against profanities and cocks sullied the project, the edited versions only served to provoke greater speculation. No doubt these issues will be raised when Dr Skin concludes as part of the programme for the new Threshold space at Perth Concert Hall in the autumn when participating artist and film maker Mike Windle will present his film documenting the experiences of the tattoo bearers.

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