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PEOPLE & ARTS Saturday 13 July 2019

California exhibit paints Ed Hardy as artist, tattoo pioneer

By S. MALDONADO tattooing abroad. When
Associated Press he returned stateside, Har-
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — dy blended those tech-
When people hear the niques with the American
name Ed Hardy, they likely sailor and military tattoo
think of the flashy, tiger- types to develop his signa-
and skull-emblazoned ture style: colorful hearts,
clothing that rocketed to clouds, dragons, daggers,
popularity in the 2000s, ap- roses and ribbons with bold,
pearing on the likes of Paris black outlines.
Hilton, Britney Spears and In 1974, Hardy moved
cast members from the re- away from offering pre-
ality TV show "Jersey Shore." designed "flash" tattoos to-
Others recognize Hardy ward made-to-order work,
as a trailblazing tattooer an approach that's now
whose unique designs were the norm. Before Hardy, no
licensed for use on appar- other tattoo shop operated
el and merchandise, and that way. The exhibition dis-
whose legacy transcends plays Hardy's custom pencil
the brand's current notori- sketches and watercolors
ety. beneath photographs of
But few know him as a pro- the works inked on human
lific fine artist. In this Wednesday, July 10, 2019 photo, boogie boards designed by Ed Hardy are displayed during bodies.
"The clothing was one little a media preview of "Ed Hardy: Deeper than Skin" at the de Young Museum in San Francisco. "It's rather shocking to some
blip on his whole career, Associated Press people that we can jump
which was staggering," he surpassed that," said cu- "There's a lot more to my life suspended from the ceiling from an exhibition of Monet
said Mary Joy Scott, a tat- rator Karin Breuer. "Here it is than tattooing." on which Hardy painted paintings to an exhibition of
too artist who apprenticed in museum culture." One of the first pieces in 2,000 dragons in the year a tattoo artist," Breuer said.
under Hardy and works at The exhibition, which fol- "Deeper than Skin" is a 1967 2000. The de Young offers dis-
the San Francisco shop he lows Hardy's donation of print entitled "Future Plans," "Ed Hardy is the only tat- counts for tattooed visitors
founded, Tattoo City. 152 prints to the museum, in which a then-undergrad- tooer in the Western world in an attempt to attract
Five miles (8 kilometers) bursts with color as it tracks uate Hardy, with only a few who could merit a show of a wider demographic.
southwest of Tattoo City, a the 74-year-old artist's evo- tattoos, portrays himself as this kind," said Matt Lodder, The retrospective, which
lively exhibition opening Fri- lution. fully inked. a University of Essex profes- runs through Oct. 6, marks
day at the de Young Muse- It features crayon drawings The exhibition comes full sor who studies the history changing sensibilities in the
um sheds light on Hardy as of sample tattoos Hardy circle with its final image, of tattoo as art. "Tattooers art world as museums em-
wide-ranging artist and tat- made as a 10-year-old, a blown-up 2009 photo of of a particular mode are brace tattoo as fine art.
too pioneer. Through 300 when he set up a tattoo a bare-chested, tattoo- all working, whether they An overlapping exhibition
paintings, prints, drawings shop for friends in his South- covered Hardy, now a full- know it or not, in a kind of at San Francisco's Asian Art
and objects, "Ed Hardy: ern California neighbor- fledged artist retired from pattern Ed Hardy was the Museum showcases tattoos
Deeper than Skin" is the first hood of Corona del Mar. tattooing thanks to the first to lay down." in Japanese prints.
retrospective of his work Prints from his college days financial windfall of the When Hardy began tattoo- "It's a terrific affirmation,
and shows how Hardy inter- at the San Francisco Art In- clothing brand. ing in 1967 after abandon- not only for myself, but for
twined fine art with tattoo- stitute are displayed along- Visitors can get a pro- ing plans to attend Yale art a lot of the old bandits and
ing to push both forward. side lithographs and etch- jected animation of a school, he was one of the pirates that helped me in
"Ed Hardy's mission (was) ings by the likes of Rodol- Hardy tattoo design "ap- few American tattoo art- the business," Hardy said.
to elevate the tattoo form phe Bresdin and Gordon plied" to their skin. They ists with a fine arts back- "They operated outside po-
from its subculture status Cooke, who inspired Hardy. can also walk along a ground. Hardy was also the lite society, outside of the
back in the 1960s at least to "I'm part of a continuum," snaking, 2,000-square-foot first Western tattoo artist to structure that controls what
a level of a folk art. I think Hardy said of his art idols. (186-square-meter) scroll study traditional Japanese people think of as art."q

'Last Witnesses' offers children's memories of WWII

By DOUGLASS K. DANIEL Alexandrovich, who was ries. and many recall similar hor-
Associated Press just 11 when she watched Her engrossing book "Last rors — planes and falling
"Last Witnesses: An Oral His- German soldiers shoot ev- Witnesses" first appeared bombs interrupting play-
tory of the Children of World ery third person in her tiny in 1985, but its English trans- time, soldiers burning vil-
War II," by Svetlana Alexiev- Soviet village, a reprisal for lation is new, the third of lages and their inhabitants,
ich (Random House) providing support to parti- Alexievich's books to come people fleeing into forests,
Does anyone suffer more sans opposing Hitler's forc- from Random House since children burying parents in
in wartime than a child? All es after their 1941 invasion. she won the Nobel Prize in frigid ground, young ones
they know is at risk — par- Later the soldiers gathered Literature in 2015. eating grass or garbage or
ents, siblings, neighbors, those whose children had Readers of the late Ameri- the family cat to survive.
homes, schools, even pets. joined the partisans and can writer Studs Terkel, the There are hopeful stories,
All too soon they learn of beheaded them. She says, most celebrated oral histo- too, serving as streaks of
hunger, death and inhu- "I want to forget it all." rian in the U.S., will recog- light in the darkness. Some
manity. Those who survive Belarusian writer and jour- nize the simple but power- people recall acts of kind- This cover image released by
carry scars on their flesh nalist Svetlana Alexievich ful prose that comes from ness, such as a single Random House shows "Last
and their minds — and they believes such moments recording ordinary people's woman telling two young Witnesses: An Oral History of
have stories to tell, if they must be remembered and memories. orphans wandering the the Children of World War II,"
can bear it. gives scores of Soviets an More than 100 people countryside, "You'll be my by Svetlana Alexievich.
"I want to forget," says Liuba opportunity to tell their sto- speak in "Last Witnesses" children now." q Associated Press