Bert Grimm

Bert Grimm was involved in the tattoo world from the age of around 11 or 12. He would hang around the tattoo shops in Portland Oregon, the shops of Sailor Gus, Sailor George and Charlie Western became his home from home. 

Bert started tattooing in 1912 and continued to do so for the next 70 years. 

He is without doubt one of the most influencial tattoo artists of the twentieth century and his original designs have been re-created and re-imagined continuously by other tattoo artists across the world. 

Bert is best known for the shop he ran at the Nu Pike in Long Beach,  California from the 1950's to the late 60's. The Nu Pike was a large amusement park that dates back to the late 1800's and was the home of many tattoo shops across the years. 

Bert Grimm's World Famous Tattoo was the oldest and longest running tattoo parlour in the history of the united states, it covered generations of sailors in beautiful emblems of there travels inked across there skin. 

A young man who has been heavily tattooed by Bert Grimm. I really like how Bert has considered the composition with this piece. Composition is very important when working with traditional tattoo styles, because the designs where so bold and heavily dependant on black shapes and negative space, it was important to ensure the piece is readable and has a flowing eye path to follow. This is successfully achieved as we can see here with this nautical/patriotic piece embellished with lost of detail. 

A beautiful and haunting design by Bert Grimm.

Although personally I am not directly interested in each of the elements of this piece separately, there are elements that I really like. I think that the design or the ship is 'dime a dozen', a repeated emblem seen in many variations throughout the tattoo world that is essentially the same every time.  however I really like the fish creatures he has used to shape the composition of the image. They have a very haunted impersonal and inhuman look to them. It is this look and feel that Bert Grimm has achieved with these creatures that I wish to replicate within my own work. The bold black and line work have accented his design perfectly and I will explore how he has done this within my development work.

Some small tattoo designs on a flash sheet also done by Bert Grimm, He shows here with these pieces just how much you can express with a few simple lines on two colour designs. He has used these elements in his media to express and attitude that these designs share, although they are all so different. His visual voice and the attitude of his work is expressed with definitive presence here in these pieces. 

Here in this beautiful full and detailed piece by Bert, he has shown us the skill and thought he puts into his work that set him apart from the basic tattoo artist stock of his time. His use of full colour here is complimentary to the detailed design, giving the impression of fullness, movement and life, it is intense and complicated.. or is it? if you look closer at the design you can see that it is fairly simple line work, with a mere three colours used.. A great example of how the thought put into these simple traditional tattoo style designs can change the way you view them completely, I will take great inspiration from Bert Grimm's work when developing my own style and try to hack his code of composition and colour use so that my own work has the same effect. 

Artist Research

Brezinski Ilya 

Brezinski Ilya is a Illustrator, graphic designer and tattoo artist from Minsk Belarus working and living in Saint Petersburg Russia. I discovered his work online when researching pointillism artists. 

His subject matter was the first thing to grab my attention, his work is very dreamy and surreal, his compositions are very well though out and pleasing to the eye. His work beckons you to look twice as you will notice something you didn't the first time. His use of tone is excellent, something I need to work on with my pointillism works, I will take inspiration from that. 

https://www.behance.net/Brezinski_Ilya

Lex Wilson

Lex Wilson is an artist from Cambridge Uk currently based in Nottingham. All of his work is self directed and created in his spare time. He uses the same pens as me I noticed. 

His dot work style and processes are very similar to my own. his compositions though are better than mine and his use of occasional colour really adds to his pieces. I will experiment with colour in my works from now on and try to find a comfortable balance. 

http://www.lexwilson.co.uk/176801/gallery

Jared Muralt

Jared Muralt is an illustrator and artist born in Bern, Switzerland. He is a self taught artist that is inspired by every day life. His subject matter varies from reportage to surreal elaborate mechanisms to dot work angler fish, and everything else in between.  His mark marking and draughtsmanship skills caught my attention when looking for artists. His work has a confidence to it that really comes across. His pointillism pieces are beautiful and his sketchbook works are fantastic, I will take inspiration from him and continue to research him in future. 

http://jaredillustrations.ch/index.php

Miguel Endara

 Miguel Endara earned his art degree from Miami University Florida. His pointillism/dotwork pieces are incredibly life like and detailed, he really has mastered the art of stippling! His pieces are composed of millions of little dots which he counts and gives an accurate estimation of the total dots used. His works take him sometimes up to a year to complete and are drawn at a very large scale. His work has inspired me to continue to pursue my pointillism until I reach a standard when I my work is comparable to his. 

Bibliography 

https://www.behance.net/Brezinski_Ilya

http://www.lexwilson.co.uk/176801/gallery

http://jaredillustrations.ch/index.php

http://miguelendara.com

History of Zines

What is a Zine?

A zine, or 'fanzine' is normally a pamphlet style magazine or comic covering a wide spectrum of interests and cultures, normally published without profitable intention.

Usually published in quantities less than 1000, most commonly less than 100, zines are a way of expression and spreading your feelings to a mass audience. 

Fan fictions, politics, art, personal journals, ideals, social theories, the music scene and almost everything else be it mainstream or mouth-wateringly personal are topics covered in zines. 

Where did they come from?

It has been said that zines have been around as early as 1517 at the time Martin Luther published his work "Ninety-five Theses". This happened when Johannes Gutenberg had invented the printing press, a revolutionary invention that led to the spreading of the self-publication craze. 

In 1776 Thomas Paine Published his pamphlet aptly named, "Common Sense". Common sense spoke of the pro's and need for independence and challenged the authority of the British Government and the Royal Family in a simple and easy to read way. "Common Sense" was published on the 10 January 1776 anonymously and was distributed widely. It was grossly popular and the people would read it out loud in meeting places and taverns.

Zines Continued to be popular right up through the 1930's where the fanzine emerged and small time science fiction zines were in abundance. The popularity of the publications during this era set forth a full scale emergence of new self publishers and available content.

During the 1970's, zines emerged as part of the punk scene. These 'Punk zines' started out in the UK and the U.S.A, and by the late 1970's had spread to other countries. They were full of expression, debating political ideals, discussing and teaching the music scene, showing art and photography and many other forms of interest. Cheap publication techniques of these times made it easier for anyone to make a zine and thus again, this era birthed another serge of popularity for small quantity self publications. 

During the 1980's Factsheet five, published by Mike Gunderloy cataloged and reviewed every and any zine sent to it, along with there mailing details. By doing this, they formed a networking hub for collectors of zines. This birthed the concept of zine as an art form distinct from other subcultures.

The content of zines at this time was very obscure and the topics were different and this grabbed an audience interested in such things...almost like internet culture today, the people collecting zines in the 80's gathered through a shared interest of obscurity and popular culture. 

Zines continued to grow in popularity through the nineties and onward and still today.

Now a days zines cover almost every topic you could consider and range from basic form of expression, to the highly intellectual. Some may discuss the local entertainment scene and also give fashion tips, where-as another could be simply a pamphlet full of drawings of male genitalia. It is a brilliant way to cheaply express oneself to a grand audience and put your ideas across to others. 

I personally will consider the idea of gaining notoriety for my art by distributing my own zines, they will likely be art books showing sneak peaks of collections of works I will do in the future, or simply works I felt like doing and showing the world.