Courtyard Rooms, South Wing, Somerset House, London

Horiyoshi III, the internationally renowned tattoo artist currently has his first exhibition in London at the esteemed Somerset House.

Horiyoshi belongs to a royal line of horishi tattoo artists: those specialising in the traditional full-body tattoo called Irezumi. This exhibition studies his paintings on silk as well as displaying tattoo instruments and paint brushes.

Kokoro means ‘heart‘ and ‘feeling‘ in Japanese and through the paintings exhibited Horiyoshi III preserves traditional Japanese culture and mythology through incredibly beautiful silk paintings. Each painting shows typical Japanese images such as dragons, koi’s and white phoenix’s, but each one is depicted is varying sensitivity, intricacy and harshness depending on the story told. The diverse nature of each painting gives the exhibition an eclectic feel considering that most of the paintings are all the same size and repetitively placed beside one another. The varying brush strokes and colours used also add to this fantastic effect.

Having “vowed to never be lazy until the day I die”, he still tattoos six days a week after thirty years of practice. You can see a video of Horiyoshi III at work here which The Guardian recently made.

After meeting Ed Hardy (the exhibition opens with a quote from Hardy about Horiyoshi’s pioneering impact on tattoo culture and history) and becoming close friends, Horiyoshi started to use the electric needle alongside using traditional techniques and pioneered a new form of Japanese tattooing.

The exhibition is free and runs from now until until the 1st of June, it is open every day from 10.00-18.00. More information can be found here

Although physical, as any frontier it is an agent of inclusion or banishment. Ultimately, a ravaged body sentences its owner to a form of social exile.

My friend Antoine Catala told me about a museum in Paris that somehow classified some of these exiles. It collects casts of skin diseases.

Located within the walls of the Hospital Saint-Louis, the Musée des maladies de peaux owns 4807 pieces predominantly manufactured by Jules Baretta between 1884 and 1913.

Michel Foucault, Le corps utopique, Radio feature: France Culture, 1966
French, no subtitles (sorry).

by Janosch Mallwitz, 2010

Two poor Chinese opium smokers. Gouache painting on rice-paper, 19th century.

Two wealthy Chinese opium smokers. Gouache painting on rice-paper, 19th century.

One who fingers savagely at a material knot and yet cannot undo it. To myself adding: “Have I?” A task in part the tissue of doubt.

I speak, too, of multiple larynxes.

Am I now happy to be able to tell stories and surround others with knotted space and endangered equilibrium?

Talk is conditional.

When do I ever suppose that my words sustain themselves within inner multitudes?

Reflective anonymous designs contribute to the development of one sweet sum which expresses itself as a bursting forth flame in the shanty a voice telling of them.

tracing of a genital tattoo taken from the body of Rangi-Tea-Pakura, a Maori woman of rank
(drawing by Dr. Shortland)

left: tattoos on the right arm of a French thief expelled from France.
right: tattoos on the body of a French sailor and deserter.
(ink drawing 19th century)

inside pages from ‘Chodo Zue’, a book showing a collection of monochrome decorative designs for ‘tansu’ and acessories like boxes for combs and writing sets.
(the compiler Aoki Hisakuni is otherwise unknown)

illustration showing white magnolia blossom (Magnolia altifima) and its seed pod.
(18th century)

oriental Manuscript in Burmese-Pali

New Zealand: Maori wooden club (mere).
(albumen print, 18th century)

plaster cast of the face of Tauque Te Whanoa, a Rotorua native, of the Arawa tribe showing Maori tattooing, ‘Moko’, performed with a serrated chisel and mallet with soot rubbed into the open wound to provide colouring.
plaster cast taken by Sir G. Guy (?)
(1851)

tattoo on a piece of human skin showing a female face
(late 19th century)

tattoo on a piece of human skin showing a male bust and a flower stem
(late 19th century)

Taawattaa, the Priest from Madison Island (Nuku Hiva)
(engraving c. 1813)

human head containing jostling human figures.
(crayon drawing, 1929)

Yantra mediation uses shapes and symbols engraved on to plaques to focus the mind. Mediation and yoga are recommended as part of an Ayurvedic lifestyle. Ayurveda is a Hindu medical traditional that aims to preserve and restore balance in the body through holistic treatments including diet and exercise.
(unkown maker, made bwn 1801-1900 in India)

Te Kuha: a carver and warrior
(watercolour by H.G. Robley)

(can’t remember how exactly those images ended up on my desktop)

So what? I mean, good for so-and-so, really, but also, good for me, and good for you too, because we all do what we do and sometimes, that’s worth feeling happy about.

Jakub smoking, by Ryan Shultz

Below, see extracts from the Men’s Press Presentation SS11.

Being the new creative director of BALLY definitely means having to cross a minefield, and requires being able to play games with real consequences… But playing, you know? Enjoying it. No use being left with only your own brain over there, if all you do is being wise.

Do you want to remove a bookplate for your sweet little collection? A very kind and articulated woman will explain you how to do it below: