SOME PEOPLE MULL over a tattoo idea for years. Others get spur-of-the-moment ink. But would you let someone else decide what’s going on your body forever, without consulting you?
Artist Scott Campell usually tattoos high-profile clients like Mark Jacobs and Courtney Love – last week, he announced that he wanted to tattoo some members of the public for free.
But there was a catch.
Campbell set up a screen in the middle of an art gallery with a hole in the middle, as part of an installation called Whole Glory (geddit).
Anyone who wanted a free tattoo had to put their arm through the hole and let Campbell tattoo anything he was “inspired” to do – and they weren’t allowed to see it until he was finished.
You might think it’s crazy, but people came in their dozens, and were eventually selected to be tattooed by a lottery.
Campbell did around 25 ‘mystery tattoos’ – each one was just a little bit different. Some were wacky:
Some were intricate:
Others were more delicate affairs:
In an interview with the New York Times, Campbell said he had a few designs sketched out, but made up others on the spot:
I think there’s a sort of magic there in the exchange, the drawing-a-card-out-of-the-deck dynamic… If I put a rose on every girl’s arm and a skull on every guy’s arm, it’s not going to be an interesting project. The risk is what makes it interesting.
Well, you have to respect their pluck.
