The art of tattooing took a long time to find its place in the world despite its powerful potential. Hidden away in geographically secluded subcultures, tattooing idled away quietly for millennia, unaware of the wealth of artistic richness awaiting just outside its cultural isolation. Its rather mystical allure beckoned to travelers and traders, yet its taboo qualities and slightly intimidating methods were enough to keep it hidden away from all but the most daring.
Eventually, globalization prevailed and tattooing took root in Western societies, where in the early Twentieth Century a few innovators found ways of using electricity to drive a needle fast enough that it could be used as a pen. Within mere decades they ironed out this process to an extent that images could be tattooed into the skin with great subtlety and accuracy.
Although there were precious few practitioners in the early Twentieth Century who had any kind of artistic background before becoming tattooists, those who did formulated the essential principles of placement on the body, flow of design, etc., that other tattooists soon adopted into the basic look of their work. The core of these design principles was largely borrowed from classic tattooing styles long in use in Japan and the Pacific Islands, but to the tattooists of the Western World, these were new ideas. It was the beginning of a long process of discovery.
Generations passed, and the craft was refined to the point where there were enough attractively tattooed people walking around in the world to support a number of publications which featured the latest styles in skin art. Inevitably, these magazines and books ended up in the hands of a more and more diverse assortment of artists, inspiring them and enabling many new styles of art to make their way onto skin. These innovators were able to meet and exchange ideas and techniques at tattoo conventions, which at that stage were becoming large and well-organized events.
Tattooing has evolved into a full-fledged artistic medium that is plugged into a global network and applied with an endless variety of sophisticated techniques. Nurtured in an environment of economic prosperity, combined with freedom of expression and the diverse influence of thriving subcultures worldwide, contemporary tattooing is arguably one of the fastest and most explosive renaissances ever known in the history of art. As we continue to mix and match our arts and technologies at a faster and faster pace, it is not difficult to envision even more exciting and innovative developments in the near future.
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