Tension in the Field of Art: The Practical Tattoo Artist and Perceptions of the Fine Art Community

Gregory M. Hall

doi:10.18778/1733-8077.10.2.06

Authors

Gregory M. Hall State University of New York, U.S.A.

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18778/1733-8077.10.2.06

Keywords:

Tattoo Artists, Collaborative Circles, Taste, Boundary Making, Goal Orientation

Abstract

This is an ethnographic study utilizing observation and in-depth interviews. The following research analyzes a collaborative circle of tattoo artists and its tension with the fine art community. The tension is a result of perceptions of the fine art community and the nature of tattoo shops as enterprises. This article contributes to the understanding of collaborative circles by incorporating taste distinctions and a formal group element, the enterprise. Taste distinctions and the enterprise allow artists to erect boundaries between themselves and others in the art community.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Author Biography

Gregory M. Hall, State University of New York, U.S.A.

Gregory M. Hall is a graduate researcher, instructor, and PhD student at the State University of New York at Buffalo. Gregory recently completed his Master’s thesis – “Civil War Re-enactors: Selective Authenticity and the Development of Meaning.” Currently, Gregory is working on research regarding portrayals of gender responsibility in alcohol commercials, the development and use of artificial intelligence in the medical field, and the construction of space in Second Life.

References

Becker, Howard S. 1982. Art Worlds. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
Google Scholar

Bourdieu, Pierre. 1979. Distinction: A Social Critique of the Judgment of Taste. Boston, MA: Harvard University Press.
Google Scholar

Bourdieu, Pierre. 1982. Language and Symbolic Power. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Google Scholar

Bourdieu, Pierre. 1996. The Rules of Art: Genesis and Structure of the Literary Field. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1515/9781503615861

Collins, Randall. 2004. Interaction Ritual Chains. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Google Scholar

DeMello, Margo. 2000. Bodies of Inscription: A Cultural History of the Modern Tattoo Community. Durham, NC: Duke University Press.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.2307/j.ctv1168d0t

Farrell, Michael P. 2001. Collaborative Circles: Friendship Dynamics & Creative Work. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Google Scholar

Fischer, Claude S. 1982. To Dwell Among Friends: Personal Networks in Town and City. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Google Scholar

Grossi, Anna Marie. 2007. “Piercing, Tattoos, and Branding: Latent and Profound Reasons for Body Manipulations.” Pp. 285- 291 in Machines That Become Us: The Social Context of Personal Communication, edited by James E. Katz. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.4324/9780203786826-21

Hitlin, Steven and Glen H. Elder, Jr. 2007. “Time, Self, and the Curiously Abstract Concept of Agency.” Sociological Theory 25(2):170-191.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9558.2007.00303.x

Irwin, Katherine. 2003. “Saints and Sinners: Elite Tattoo Collectors and Tattooists As Positive And Negative Deviants.” Sociological Spectrum 23:27-57.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/02732170309206

Johnson, Jeff. 2008. Tattoo Machine. New York: Random House.
Google Scholar

Jones, Michael A., Thomas J. Lipscomb, and Jeff W. Totten. 2009. “Attitudes Toward and Stereotypes of Persons With Body Art: Implications for Marketing Management.” Academy of Marketing Studies Journal 13(2):77-96.
Google Scholar

Kosut, Mary. 2006. “Mad Artists and Tattooed Perverts: Deviant Discourse and the Social Construction of Cultural Categories.” Deviant Behavior 27:73-95.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/016396290950677

Lin, Nan. 1999. “Building a Network Theory of Social Capital.” Connections 22(1):28-51.
Google Scholar

Penn, Mark J. and E. Kinney Zalesne. 2007. Microtrends. The Small Forces Behind Tomorrow’s Big Changes. New York: Twelve.
Google Scholar

Timming, Andrew R. 2011. “What Do Tattoo Artists Know About HRM? Recruitment and Selection in the Boy Art Sector.” Employee Relations 33(5):570-584.
Google Scholar DOI: https://doi.org/10.1108/01425451111153916