Don Ed Hardy
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Tattoo artist Don Ed Hardy was born in Costa Mesa, California in 1945. He was the first Western tattoo artist to incorporate Japanese tattoo aesthetic and technique into his work and is an accomplished fine artist, as well.
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[edit] Early Life
Don Ed Hardy spent his youth in the Southern California community of Corona Del Mar. His interest in art, and more specifically tattooing began at an early age. As a child, he and his friends would take the 25 mile bus trip up to The Pike in Long Beach to hang out at tattoo shops where he would do copy flash and do fake tattoos on other kids with colored pencil. After several years of hanging around tattoo shops his interest in tattooing became secondary to his interest in the Kustom Kulture scene, which he was involved in until he graduated high school.
After high school Hardy attended and graduated from the San Francisco Art Institute, receiving his B.F.A. in Printmaking in 1967[1]. While he was in school his interest in tattooing re-emerged and he started learning to tattoo, studying with artist Phil Sparrow of Oakland. It was during this time that he was married for the first time, as well.
[edit] Early Career
Following college, and bankrolled by his farther-in-law, Hardy opened his own tattoo shop, Dragon Tattoo, in Vancouver, British Columbia. The shop lasted less than a year. After closing the shop, Hardy worked in Seattle with tattooist Zeke Owen briefly, and then settled down in San Diego, tattooing in the studio of Doc Webb. Two years of tattooing sailors refined his technical skills and allowed him to save enough money to open another shop in San Diego.
In 1969, Hardy struck up a correspondence with Sailor Jerry, who at the same time was corresponding with Japanese tattoo artist Horihide Oguri. Hardy had always been interested in Japanese art and tattooing, and in 1973 Hardy accepted an invitation from Horihide to come to Japan and study Irezumi (Japanese tattooing) while working in his studio. Hardy and his second wife, Francesca Passalacqua, spent six months immersed in the technique and culture that surrounds tattooing in Japan.
Returning to America, Hardy spent several months working in San Diego before moving back to San Francisco where he opened his third studio, Realistic, which was the first appointment-only tattoo studio in America. In 1977 he partnered with tattooist Bob Roberts and opened the Tattoo City in the Mission District of San Francisco. The next three years were busy and tumultuous for Hardy. Difficult circumstances forced the new studio to move, and Hardy himself purchased Los Angeles based tattooist Charlie Cartwright's studio after a "religious conversion" caused Cartwright to leave the industry. By 1980, Hardy was back to working alone, by appointment only, at Realistic.
[edit] TattooTime & other publications
In 1982 Hardy and his wife formed Hardy Marks Publications. Under this marque, they began publishing the five book series TattooTime, notable for the high quality of both the articles and the full color images inside. TattooTime was one of several publications, which along with Modern Primitives and Body Art, did much to promote and popularize tattooing with new audiences. Hardy Marks has published a total of twelve books, including catalogs of Hardy's work and the work of Sailor Jerry Collins.
[edit] Career today
Today Hardy tattoos only by appointmet out of his San Francisco studio, having closed Realistic and re-opened Tattoo City as a multi-artist studio in 1999. Since the 1980's, he has concentrated heavily on non-tattoo based art forms, especially printmaking, drawing and painting.
[edit] Artistic career and influence
Hardy is most notable as a fine artist for his enduring exploration of the intersection between the graphical traditions of “low culture” tattoo art and refined sensibilities of “high art” aesthetics, a common feature of postmodernism. Hardy pioneered the pop-culture tattoo-as-art space decades before the worldwide boom in tattoo art that permeates popular culture. In addition to showing his own works, Hardy has curated a number of exhibitions for both galleries and nonprofit spaces and frequently lectures at museums and universities. His work has appeared in numerous periodicals, books, and films internationally. In 2000, he was appointed by Oakland Mayor Jerry Brown to that city's Cultural Arts Commission, and awarded an Honorary Doctorate by the San Francisco Art Institute.
[edit] Don Ed Hardy Brands
In 2002 Hardy was approached by Ku USA, Inc. to produce a line of clothing based on Hardy's art. Hardy appreciated the Asian sensibilities of the Ku collection and a license agreement was signed. Within two years, the collection had drawn the interest of large clothing companies. A decision was made by Hardy and Ku USA to form Hardy Life LLC, which holds the trademark ownership as well as the copyrights.
In 2004 Christian Audigier[2], licensed the rights to produce the Ed Hardy clothing line, which is based on Hardy's imagery. Prior to the Ed Hardy clothing line, Audigier was the Head Designer at Von Dutch Originals, which marketed the imagery of legendary Kustom Kulture artist Von Dutch. Audigier has attempted to replicate the marketing techniques employed by Von Dutch Originals, by marketing directly to celebrity clients and by opening stores in high profile fashion districts. There are currently four Ed Hardy stores, located in Los Angeles, Tucson, New York and Singapore. Ed Hardy Designs also markets an energy drink, available in several different flavors.
In November of 2006 Hardy paired up with Andrew Sutton to produce FDA Certified temporary tattoos based upon his designs[3].
[edit] References
- Modern Primitives. Re/Search Publications. ISBN 0-940642-14-X.
- Body Modification E-Zine entry on Don Ed Hardy
[edit] Notes
- ^ http://www.sfai.edu/People/Person.aspx?id=382&navID=6§ionID=2&typeID=1
- ^ History of Don Ed Hardy & Christian Audigier
- ^ Temporary Tattoos
