Living Canvases: The Intersection of Tattoos and Art

For thousands of years humans have engaged with tattooing as a medium for cultural practice, social communication, and creative expression. Tattoos continue to possess multitudinal storytelling abilities: as the sailor’s unofficial mark of honor, reminders of lived experiences, memorials to deceased loved ones, and decorative conversation-starters. Despite tattoo culture’s significant contribution to aesthetic and social histories, the tattoo as an art historical subject is seldom discussed on an institutional level. This exhibition seeks to bridge that gap in discourse and pay homage to tattoo culture of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, as well as its impact, influence, and intersection on and within contemporary art practices both in the Museum’s hometown of Newport, RI to the broader United States. From historical archives to contemporary sculpture, “Living Canvases: The Intersection of Tattoos and Art” invites audiences to interpret the tattoo as an important cultural artifact that transforms the body into a piece of fine art and transcends ethnicity, race, gender, class, and ability to unite us in our love of ink.

This exhibition consists of two parts: Rhode Island tattoo culture and the legacy of Carlton A. “Buddy” Mott and his Newport-based shop, and contemporary artists responding to tattoo culture and aesthetics. Participating artists include those who work in studio and tattoo mediums.

Featured artists include: Johnny Adimando, Frankie Dallas, Minoo Emami, Don Ed Hardy, Michael Joseph, Henry Horenstein, ML Kirchner, Duke Riley, Tamara Santibañez, Marie Sena, Katy Wiedemann, and more.