The Oriental culture and its most classic icons, the world of tattooing in its most traditional style as well as in its most innovative and radical reinterpretations, are the focus of the Oriental Book Special Sale still running for a few days on the bookshop specialising in the art of tattooing in our Tattoo Life store. An opportunity not to be missed for all those seeking inspiration in this style.
Orient Ching‘s tattoos, his famous Buddhas in powerful and brilliant colours, samurai, carps and dragons, and floating women move across the body, accompanied by important backgrounds in the book Signs of Orient Ching.
This book is a collection of extraordinary icons of Oriental tattoos 288 pages of stunning tattoos, sketches and drawings that tell us all about the art of Ching.
It is the very strength, movement, sinuous curves and vitality of the dragon that Filip Leu manages to convey with such impact that we can truly say he has drawn the epitome of the dragon. Under his hands, the dragon goes from being an unreal mythological creature to something larger than life.
It moves and moves us to awe. Not merely an image to be observed, it captivates and draws you in with its mesmerising gaze, the flames which accompany it and the visual interplay of scales, claws and tail. The book Dragons by Filip Leu. The Collection is a collection of 90 illustrations of dragons which Filip Leu made for the first two volumes, with an additional 10 new illustrations, created specifically for this new volume by the indisputable master of this subject.
Hannya, ghosts, kabuki actors, tigers, samurai and fudo (just to name a few of the subjects that any Japanese tattoo fan will recognize) round out the body of work of Mike Dorsey in the book Japan Reimagined By Mike Dorsey.
he expresses details with highly refined fine lines, the shading is so delicate in his colorful backgrounds that there really is the sensation of floating, and his figures stand out thanks to the black lines.
What Mike has done differently is to imagine what Japanese iconography would have been like if it had existed during the digital age of the generation 2.0 with all its mass consumerism, an era in which the same habits and consumer behaviors are shared globally by everything and everyone. He’s placed the veil of Maya on ukiyo-e, and shown us the real world.
The han’nya is the protagonist of the book Han’nya Brigade, the book that brings together over 200 international artists who offer their own spin on this famous mask, an important symbol in traditional Japanese Noh theatre.
In Japan, the han’nya figure has been handed down from one century to the next, and transversally through the arts – first through oral tradition and then, thanks to literature, through painting, handicraft, and finally theatre.
Today its appearance goes beyond the borders of Japan’s shores; it has seduced the West with pages of manga, various anime series, and tattoo art (horimono), which takes inspiration from Japanese tradition and re-proposes the patterns, colors and symbolic decorations of ukiyo-e prints. The han’nya continues to be frightening, yet it seems that once she is placed on the skin she also helps protect the wearer from evil influences, similar to the powerful and frightening guards (niō) which are placed at the sides of entryways to temples, to stand guard». (from the introduction by Rossella Menegazzo)
“We’re faced with the risk of losing the heritage of such a majestic form of tattooing, therefore I feel it is important to spread this culture all around the globe to keep the flame burning. The contamination between cultures is what will lead us to a better future in my opinion, therefore I don’t feel the need to be a Japanese citizen to do Japanese tattoos, just as a Japanese violin player does not need to be European to perform Mozart on his instrument” – Crez writes in the introduction to the volume.
A Forbidden Craft by Crez, an exquisite miscellany of subjects, themes and characters created especially for this volume which present the many facets of Japan: from nature to samurai, animals to mythological creatures, including all the mysterious and intriguing characters from an ancient folk tradition: daruma, suikoden, samurai, geishas, dragons and much more.
DON’T MISS THIS GREAT TATTOO LIFE SPRING BOOK SALE
THE BIG SPECIAL PACK WITH 3 BOOKS:
Dragons. The Collection by Filip Leu, Japan Reimagined by Mike Dorsey and Signs of Orient Ching, now in a special pack at the price of €150 instead of €270.
THE SMALL SPECIAL PACK WITH 2 BOOKS:
Han’nya Brigade and A Forbidden Craft by Crez now in a special pack at the price of €40 instead of €100.
