Decks foward It is easy to believe that the surge in popularity and social acceptance of tattooing can be directly traced to the bold magnanimous and charismatic celebrities and sports personalities of our time sporting this particular style of art generally referred to as Polynesian or simply put Tribal. And although some consider this surge in popularity somewhat of a new trend, it has been around for thousands of years and is probably one of the oldest forms of art there is. The art itself was defined not only by the very simple tools that were used to accomplish the act of tattooing but by the need for simplistic, bold graphic type representations that would withstand the ever changing and deteriorating epidermis. Symbols of nature and family life gives legitimate claim that tattooing was very much a way of transfering knoledge through the ages as well as ones claim to thier own personal independence, individuallity, social hierarchy and coming of age. This book is a collection of polynesian art from internationally published award winning New York Tattoo artist Cort Bengtson which can be broken into two categories. The first half of this book contains 20 different longboards and pintail skateboard decks that were hand painted with one shot enamel and cleared with a two part epoxy clear for durability and finish quality. Although tribal is usually considered of black rendering these decks explore this age old art in mostly other than black but does so consistent with the positive/negative definition normally associated with tribal polynesian art. The second is all about art on paper including marker renderings, watercolor projects and some a combination of both. Ranging in sizes up to 40 -50, they include a diverse use of patterns and shapes sure to let anyone read into it and see a story of thier own making. Some are marker right to paper, some took hours just to layout. Some of the water color explore the slightly more sublte side. Some were drawn on the spot some pieces were started one day and finished later.
