Fascinated by tattoos since childhood, Hardy became a master of his craft while continuing his work in the more traditional mediums of painting and drawing. A scholar of tattoo history and lore, Hardy has curated tattoo exhibitions and written and published catalogs about the art of tattooing. These seven images based on traditional tattoo designs, as well as original images, range from the spiritual iconography of Nurse Mercy , to the autobiographic Frontier Justice.
Graphic images of a panther, a devil, and a shark are included in the portfolio. In , he completed a foot long scroll painting of dragons in honor of the turn of the century and the Dragon year. The very end of the book dealt with the Ed Hardy designs on everything from t-shirts to cigarette lighters and how that happened.
What's sad is that Hardy probably got screwed out of a LOT of money by greedy people in marketing who could see how popular his designs would be. He ended up in an expensive lawsuit and only recently regained full control of his brand. The only reason I didn't rate this book higher, is that a lot of the book is almost a laundry list of names and how Hardy met or came to know these people and that can get confusing and old after awhile.
He obviously knows TONS of people and made a lot of connections through tattooing and art, but that was a little distracting. Overall, it was an interesting book and it's very interesting to see how much the art of tattooing has changed in just the last few decades all through the eyes of one artist right in the middle of things.
Aug 19, Chris rated it it was ok. My take, extremely narrowly focused: It was written in a slightly boring a blocky style for an individual who revolved around in a circle of Hell's Angels, Yakuza and other people who "liked to drink" and "party. Hardy spent the rest of his life chasing his lost parent by looking for tough guy role models in the tattoo parlors near his chi My take, extremely narrowly focused: It was written in a slightly boring a blocky style for an individual who revolved around in a circle of Hell's Angels, Yakuza and other people who "liked to drink" and "party.
Hardy spent the rest of his life chasing his lost parent by looking for tough guy role models in the tattoo parlors near his childhood home and then embracing everything Japanese that came his way. In his quest, he was able to combine the two by becoming a pen-pal with a famous Hawaiian tattoo artist, Sailor Jerry. View 1 comment. Loved it.
It's an easy read and I feel like it gives you a basic course in the history of tattoos. I recognized a lot of names in this book from flash sheets on the walls of tattoo shops. It was great seeing how they all intermingled in a scene and how many could be traced back to being taught by the same old school tattooers. Sep 09, Susan Mamber rated it really liked it. His art is so vivid, and I have a whole new appreciation for body art. Jul 24, Mary Lynn added it Shelves: didn-t-finish.
Why I picked this up I have no idea. Needed lots more editing. Having just typed all that-if you're a tattoo or Ed Hardy fan by all means read it! Aug 06, Viola rated it liked it Shelves: memoirs , borrowed. I liked it but so many names got thrown out it was hard to keep track. Tattooing was his main focus on this. His clothing line was an added bonus. Most everything he experienced was what he made happen. The book had a lot of sporadic moments but if you read this like you are having a conversation with Ed I think you would get the book.
This was one aspect of his life and probably the most realistic part of who he is. Jan 24, Kate rated it it was ok Shelves: bios-and-people-centric.
Interesting personal history of tattooing and being a long-time player in the business. However, I found the name-dropping, America-centric aspects of it pretty unpalatable apparently Hardy re-discovered the virtual extinct Pacific tattooing culture! But if you love tattoos and his work, this is very informative. Mar 13, Jo rated it it was ok Shelves: books-jo-read-in I ended up skimming the entire thing. Yes, it was fascinating to follow his entire life as a tattoo artist, but the writing was rather dry, and I honestly could care less about the booze and the drugs.
The most interesting parts were of his time in Japan, especially the tattoo skins, and the photos of those skins as well. Dec 14, Maggie Ferro rated it it was ok. Meh, a bit long and drawn out. Sometimes he would focus more on tattoo history and that would get interesting. Overall I wasn't all that captivated by Hardys story. The writing style is a bit dry and there are even some basic grammatical errors i.
If I could've, I would've given it a 2. Dec 31, Christopher Depompeis rated it liked it. I have this 3 stars as it was informative of the life in tattooing of ed hardy, and I learned a lot that I did not know about the history of tattooing in America and a little of Japan's tattoo history.
So much was just barely touched upon though. I would call it Decent. Mar 23, Rosie rated it it was ok. Interesting guy, terribly ghost written book. So much of a 'met this guy, tattooed this guy' and not much deeper and definitely not enough depth into his creativity.
Skimmed the last half to the end because I really wanted to see how how got ripped off by selling off his brand. Just not for me. I like books about tattoos and tattoo artists so I should have liked this. But, no. Ed's a famous tattoo artist and is one of the very first to bring tattooing into mainstream. But I just couldn't finish. Got about 20 pages in. I didn't expect much, but I was very impressed. Tyler one of my Dad's best friends.
Entertaining, touching and informative. Sep 02, Lisa added it. Very difficult to get through and i did not like the ego. The writing was horrible. Each paragraph led to something else. I felt like i reading a story told from a child.
Aug 22, Jonathan rated it really liked it. Fascinated by tattoos since childhood, Hardy became a master of his craft while continuing his work in the more traditional mediums of painting and drawing. A scholar of tattoo history and lore, Hardy has curated tattoo exhibitions and written and published catalogs about the art of tattooing. These seven images based on traditional tattoo designs, as well as original images, range from the spiritual iconography of Nurse Mercy , to the autobiographic Frontier Justice.
Graphic images of a panther, a devil, and a shark are included in the portfolio. In , he completed a foot long scroll painting of dragons in honor of the turn of the century and the Dragon year.
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