Many of the tattoos I see are a crime against logic, reason or good taste. “Being a father has pushed me to improve every day,” he says. “I don`t want my kids, when they`re 15 or 16, to just say, `Yes, my dad is tattooed,` and that`s it. I want them to be proud of me. Lift your chin and say, “My father is Hector Cedillo.” In just a few decades, tattoo art has gone from the alley to the front lines of pop culture. Outmoded myths of smoky waiting rooms filled with bikers and punks, with stories of drugs and/or sex swapping for tattoos, have given way to celebrity portfolios, deliciously colorful women`s MySpace pages, and rock star recommendations. The 38-year-old tattoo ban officially ended on July 23. In October, Supreme Court Justice Barbara Rouse ruled that the law unfairly restricted a person`s constitutional right to freedom of expression. Since then, Cape Cod residents looking for tattoos have had few options.
You may be looking for a reliable craftsman within the dispersed and often dangerous network of clandestine tattoo artists. “I`ve always followed my instincts. [I tried] to legalize tattooing in Massachusetts, I worked with [Senator] Harriette Chandler, I did things with Phoenix, Channel 5 and various forms of media coverage. I even made a personal video with a roommate who was in film school, who was seen by the House Ways and Means Committee in the Senate trying to legalize tattooing, and who was very involved in the whole legalization process. But I felt like it would never happen. “But when I tried to apply for a job in a lab, I found that the salary wasn`t that good. I love science, but the fact is I can make more money [tattooing], work the hours I want, I can take days off whenever I want – that`s where I saw the potential of what tattooing is for me,” he says. Green lived in Colorado for a while and returned to the Worcester area for the Christmas holidays in 1992 only to discover that Rich had been tattooing for six months. “I immediately thought, `Great, free tattoos for the rest of my life!` ” he says. Rich made the whole process so simple that Tyler decided to give it a try. He designed an elaborate tattoo that he wanted to carve on his own leg — all in the week he returned from Colorado — until Rich warned him it would be too difficult. Tyler simplified the design and prepared to tattoo his leg.
Cedillo is thrilled that her 6-year-old daughter, Josalynn Violet, is excited about her work. “Every day she comes home and asks me what tattoos I did that day and if I have any pictures. I show her stuff, and she`s really interested in this art form. It`s a different generation of kids and what they`re interested in. As a tattoo artist, your children will see what you do and love it, see it in a different setting. It used to be like, `Oh, tattoos are for the wrong people, people in jail and stuff like that.` But when I explain it to Josalynn and she comes to see lawyers, doctors, fathers who come with their children, children getting tattoos with their parents – she likes to see. Hector Cedillo in his studio in Unholy Grail Tattoo.To to stay up to date, Peterson travels often, but he and his wife have achieved a balance in this area. When I travel, the kids aren`t really sad. It`s more “What did you learn, what did you see, did you see cool tattoos? Do you have any pictures? They want to live vicariously through my travels, so that`s something they`re looking forward to doing with me at some point. My two children want to be tattoo artists,” he says. In all jurisdictions, individual tattoo artists may also impose additional restrictions based on their own moral feelings, such as: rejecting clients under a certain age, even with parental consent, although legal, or restricting the type and/or place where they are willing to tattoo (e.g., refusing any work around inappropriate body parts).
They may also refuse to perform certain works of art, even if they simply find it inappropriate or offensive, or refuse to work on a client they suspect is intoxicated. Artists sometimes claim that their personal business restrictions are a matter of law, even if it`s not true, to avoid conflicts with customers. Charles Peterson, a 21-year veteran of the Yarmouth Police Department, has four tattoos and drives more than three hours to an artist`s home in North Conway, New Hampshire. Dad Liberty and his sons hung in Scollay Square until the 1950s, when the demand for tattoos continued to decline. Massachusetts passed a law in 1957 raising the legal age for a tattoo from 18 to 21 — a nod to regulatory legislation and upcoming contradictory municipal action. In the spring of 1958, rumors were circulating about the demolition of Scollay Square to make way for a new government center in the Liberty stores, and Harold, doubly cautious after a court appearance and a fine for accidentally tattooing a minor teenager, checked customers` design cards and compared signatures. Tattooing as an art form has been around since the early days of man, although it`s rarely the career choice that would merit your mother`s approval.