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The Art of Appropriation
by Adam Barton
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The art of the tattoo, by modern standards, has always been heavily influenced by the use of appropriation. This appropriation, or borrowing, of images is one of the backbones of American tattooing that dates back to the first military designs. Early tattooers would transfer a plethora of soldierly insignias and badges, as well as various religious and bravado schemes, onto the paper of their choice, changing the design into a simpler, more tattooable form that was quick to tattoo and easy to read. This aeon of tattooing grew to become the basis of the traditional art form today; bold, single-pass lines with an appreciable amount of black.
The next generation of artists not only had the aforementioned as reference but also the designs of several of their predecessors, thus enriching and refining the designs themselves as well as the means in which they were presented. Some of those noteworthy artisans are Bill Jones, Cap Coleman, Brooklyn Joe Lieber, and, of course, Sailor Jerry Collins. They had a formula that worked; an arsenal of reusable shapes mixed with superior artistic application, making it their own. The images they put to paper are still the most appropriated flash designs forthwith, and for good reason. They evoke a sense of craftsmanship and classic timelessness that is hard to emulate.
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