The chief curator at the Portland Art Museum, Bruce Guenther, sports a full back tattoo — thin, Agnes Martinesque lines wrapping him, like heartstrings pulled out. (Update: Faulty memory alert – not Anges Martin-like. See related post for photo.)
It therefore comes as no surprise to learn that his museum is host to a skin show. From the press release:
This summer, the Portland Art Museum will present a unique visitor
experience exploring the art of tattoo and the impact of this artistic
practice in the local community.Beginning today, individuals who
got their tattoos in Portland or people who have a tattoo and currently
reside in the area are invited to share images of their tattoo/s on the museum’s flickr page: http://www.flickr.com/groups/markingportland. The Museum’s curators will review the submitted images and select some to be presented inside the galleries.
It’s getting-to-know-you, Guenther style. Because tattoos are not a regional phenomenon, it’s arbitrary to confine contributions to his city’s limits. The rule means PAM will not be able to exhibit a photo of the ultimate Northwest tattoo. It exists on the flesh of Patrick Attenasio, who is not from Portland. He happened to see Alfredo Arreguin‘s painting, A Hero’s Journey reproduced online and decided to have it inked onto his arm.
In the center is a poem titled Last Fragment by Arreguin’s friend, the late Raymond Carver:
And did you get what
you wanted from this life, even so?
I did.
And what did you want?
To call myself beloved, to feel myself beloved on the earth.
A Hero’s Journey appeared on the cover of Carver’s final book of poems, A New Path to the Waterfall.
Below are few images from PAM’s tattoo flickr pool I find especially fetching. Those who peruse it will notice a photo of Guenther’s back is not among the entries.
(First says, Live Learn)
Related: In the New York Times – Seafarers’ Memoirs Written on Skin, here.
BG’s tattoos can be seen at…
http://www.bruceguenther.net/
Brooklyn artist and writer Shelley Jackson published her short story Ineradicable Stain by soliciting 2095 volunteers, each of whom has a word of the story tattooed on themselves somewhere. This is the only place the story is published and only the participants have copies of the full text. As we age and die, the work disappears word by word. See: http://www.ineradicablestain.com/skin.html
This exhibit along with the Escher exhibit brought me into the museum. Escher exceeded all my expectations and really made the trip worth while. In fact the whole museum was interesting.
I must say that this so called “tattoo exhibit” was pretty sad. I have seen Myspace profiles that better represent the tattoo community in Portland. Bad tattoos on Pseudo celebrities, wannabes, and self proclaimed “freaks”. This was amateur hour at its worst.
There are so many shops and so many great tattoo artists in this town and somehow no one thought to incorporate any of them in this exhibit. Instead you got checker boy. Good Job art muesuem. Next time maybe enlist the help of someone who has a clue.
There are so many shops and so many great tattoo artists in this town and somehow no one thought to incorporate any of them in this exhibit. Instead you got checker boy. Good Job art muesuem. Next time maybe enlist the help of someone who has a clue.