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That Touch of Ink

Comments (0) By Siran Babayan Thursday, Sep 27 2012

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Craft and Folk Art Museum

5814 Wilshire Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90036

Category: Museums

Region: Mid-Wilshire/ Hancock Park

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Getting a tattoo these days has about as much shock value as getting plastic surgery. The Craft and Folk Art Museum's "L.A. Skin & Ink" is a reminder of when going under the needle was not only an act of rebellion, but an artistic form of self-expression. It also puts L.A. on the map as one of the biggest ink tanks in the world. The collection of drawings, photographs, equipment and related art traces the evolution of tattoos in our city back to the '50s when only sailors, prisoners and bikers sported them, though it mostly zooms in on the '70s when guys like Newport Beach-born Don Ed Hardy and Filipino-American Leo Zulueta helped popularize such now-ubiquitous trends as Asian and tribal tattoos. (Hardy and his tattoo-inspired apparel line are also singlehandedly responsible for outfitting every douchebag in America.) The exhibit features the work of other old timers and new artists who've helped piss off your parents, including Bob Shaw, Bert Grimm, Mr. Cartoon, Sergio Sanchez and -- a name mother might remember -- Zulu. Ten years later and we're still apologizing to her. Craft and Folk Art Museum, 5814 Wilshire Blvd.; Sat., Sept. 29, 6-9 p.m. (show your ink at the reception, get in for free); thru Jan. 6, 2013; $7, $5 seniors and students. (323) 937-4230, cafam.org.
Tuesdays-Sundays. Starts: Sept. 29. Continues through Jan. 6, 2012