MONOGRAPH Final Concept. PROJECT ONE Tia Blunden

Transcription

1 MONOGRAPH Final Concept PROJECT ONE Tia Blunden

2 PROJECT TWO BRIEF Monograph TOPIC Tattoos! The exact topic is yet to be nailed down. It could be tattoos & public perceptions, or tattoos & the health consequences of different colors of ink, or tattoo trends in history, or tattoos in relation to the graphic design world. SOURCES I have sourced a couple of articles for the monograph but am still undecided. They are attached. AUDIENCE People aged Considering getting tattoos College students GOALS To inform people (who are interested in getting tattoos) on a specific aspect or consequence of getting a tattoo. VISUAL DIRECTION Detailed illustrations of tattoos, these will be tattoos traced in illustrator.

3 PRESENTATION AESTHETIC Borrowing from previously established aesthetic. monograph tattoos From adrenaline vancouvers website. TOPIC Vector outline illustrations of tattoos - allows me to evaluate them all on the Tattoos! Between two articles right now. tia blunden project two 1. An Ironic Fad: The Commodification and Consumption of Tattoos same level. Then I can include different styles of tattoos (comic, native, natural) but they can still relate to each other. - how tattoos are becoming more & more popular 2. Skin and Self-Indictment: Prison Tattoos, Race, and Heroin Addiction - tattoos are unnatural, death & rebellion Ecust, te reius, sequi aborepe lluptate qui untem hillaut eum faccus aliatemposto corenih itatur alibust, et reptasimilis aute odi net as exeri reiuscipsum quiderferrum fuga. Lorum quae nonseque omniminvent et in pra volupta parum repe alitatem ad ea susdae. Ximagnis verro qui doluptaquiasin exerchil modignimus. Dolorro omni di cusande ruptaecus eum as con AUDIENCE perrunt pore adiaes earion rate liquos sit undam hitione eniatur, et, sed quam imagnat emporep erferore perci te nusant. At pore voloreri vent quodi quo venet is volor apicius apitis dusam et, soluptaestis idigenimet quiae. Et id moloreprae nosam velenda ntiiscid Target audience ut eos earum dis que ped ullupti orerupt asperiatiur, non nam rem dolectium natem. Et quiam sequaepro con et isi cum quuntium debis eatendit, odi ut porrum inctem rescimporero Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur People considering getting tattoos consend itatisimus arciend emporepe molum adipiscing elit. Phasellus vitae risus a est tempor molestie. Nunc mauris mauris, molestie et mollis a, vestibulum vel nunc. Proin sed ultricies lorem. Nulla nunc dolor, fermentum a auctor eget, dictum ut mi. Sed sed fermentum ante. Quisque sit amet nisl at nisi venenatis varius sed ac elit. Lorem Male & female ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nam non quam elit, quis facilisis felis. Morbi et nibh risus, vel elementum nisl. Integer quis nisi quis purus porttitor placerat non id purus. Integer posuere nisl at velit hendrerit ut gravida magna But not like super masculine - biker type, but more kids on the outside looking tempor. Quisque vel lacus vel nulla ullamcorper ornare. Fusce vitae est sem. Suspendisse ac suscipit mauris. Donec posuere ante nec libero elementum blandit. Vivamus eu nulla et dui adipiscing vestibulum. into the potential implications of having a tattoo Nam purus nibh, cursus sed cursus eget, TYPEFACE Ecust, te reius, sequi aborepe lluptate qui untem hillaut eum faccus aliatemposto corenih itatur I like the condensed sans-serif for the headers (like in this presentation) alibust, et reptasimilis aute odi net as exeri reiuscipsum quiderferrum fuga. Lorum quae nonseque omniminvent et in pra volupta parum repe alitatem ad ea susdae. Ximagnis verro qui doluptaquiasin exerchil modignimus. Dolorro omni di cusande ruptaecus eum as con perrunt pore adiaes earion rate liquos sit undam hitione eniatur, et, sed quam imagnat emporep erferore perci te nusant. NEUTRAFACE HEADER At pore voloreri vent quodi quo venet is volor apicius apitis dusam et, soluptaestis idigenimet quiae. Et id moloreprae nosam velenda ntiiscid ut eos earum dis que ped ullupti orerupt asperiatiur, non nam rem dolectium natem. Et quiam sequaepro con et isi cum quuntium debis eatendit, odi ut porrum inctem rescimporero consend itatisimus arciend emporepe molum FRANCHISE HEADER LEAGUE GOTHIC HEADER SCALA SANS HEADER But needs more consideration for body copy

4 18 19 ironic consumer product because they resist the mechanization and distance created by the assembly line. Unlike other commodities, tattoos are highly individualistic and personal, as opposed to impersonal factoryproduced goods. Even standardized tattoo drawings commonly found on studio walls, as opposed to original, one-of-a-kind tattoo designs, are rendered uniquely idiosyncratic during the application process. The image remains the same, but the artist s hand and the recipient s body personalize the product. For this reason, tattoo is a rather contradictory consumer good. Is it a commodity whose value will soon be exhausted, or an inherently creative and agentic postmodern product? Tattoos have clearly undergone a process of commodification; they are not only purchased as embodied status symbols, they are used to sell other commodities. Tattoos are also subject to mediation, particularly through carefully constructed images created by the music and film industries. Even though they have been pulled from their subcultural roots (blue-collar, deviant, underground) and replanted in the mainstream, tattoos still have a certain aura of cool and rebellion about them. This is evidenced in the use of tattoos by the culture industry and their prevalence in a variety of popular entertainment media. These two developments play a role in the mainstreaming of tattoo and the transcendence of class, race, and gender lines among a new generation of tattooees. FROM OTHER TO ARTFORM: Mainstream Print Discourse What was once the trade of tattoo artists with names like Sailor Bill operating in shipyard alleyways and in amusement park stalls has become craft, if not art... (James) Another factor that has led to a change in tattoo meanings is the declaration of tattoo as art in the mainstream print media. As Margo DeMello notes, popular print discourses have contributed to the erasure of early images and meanings of tattoo by recreating tattoo as a middle-class cultural practice with inherent aesthetic value, distancing modern tattooing from its working-class history (Bodies 97). In roughly the past five years, there has been a striking similarity in the way that tattoos are described and contextualized by journalists and reporters. While some articles focused on teenagers, women, or celebrities with tattoos, there is one common thread that connects all of them a differentiation between how tattoos used to be and how they are now. The following passage is an excerpt from a 1997 US News & World Report article entitled A Hole in the Head? A Parents Guide to Tattoos, Piercings and Worse. It serves as an example of the mainstream media s acknowledgement of the new tattoo phenomenon, differentiated from the deviant bad old days when tattooing was still in the closet, so to speak. Tattoos and piercings are far more mainstream than most parents realize. In a forthcoming study of more than 2,100 adolescents from schools in eight states... it was found that 1 in 10 had a tattoo and that over half were interested in getting one. The young body-art enthusiasts came from all income levels and ethnic groups. A majority earned A s & B s. (Lord 67) There are two elements in this passage that are representative of similar contemporary media accounts of the new and improved mass tattoo culture. The first is the mentioning of tattooing in the context of art. The message is clear: tattoo is acknowledged as having some degree of aesthetic value. The second element is the citing of a shift in the socioeconomic status of the tattoo bearer. Now tattooed kids, both boys and girls, come from all income levels and ethnic groups and get good grades. They are no longer the emblems of the economically and socially excluded: punks, gang members, and bad kids from economically ravaged neighborhoods. This perceived cultural evolution functions to sanction the practice of tattooing, allowing the possibility for tattoos to be acceptable to the mainstream, if not into respectability. The new tattooees are not exotic or deviant others they are everyday people with aesthetic sensibility. Besides stressing shifts in tattoo populations, another significant aspect in the elevation of tattoo s status can be attributed to articles that declare tattoo to be an art form. A recurring theme is the placement of contemporary tattoo practices within a larger cross-cultural historical context of body modification and body art. For example, a 2001 article on San Francisco tattoo culture proclaims that certain members of the community are rediscovering the longdormant art practiced hundreds of years ago in Polynesia (Hartlaub E4). While a 1998 Boston Globe article, Making a Mark on the Culture: Body Piercing, Tattoos, and Scarification Push the Cutting Edge, states that since ancient times, the body has been a canvas for adornment (Leonard C1). The skin-as-canvas metaphor presents the body as a legitimate artistic medium that can be placed in a historical frame. If people have been getting tattoos since ancient times and they are considered art in other cultures, then contemporary tattooing can be understood as an extension of these body art practices. The following passage from a 2002 Wall Street Journal article explicitly makes this connection: Many of today s designs reflect the influence of traditional Japanese tattoo artists, who specialized in full-body tattoos that were integrated works of art, says Enid Schildkraut, curator of the anthropology division at New York s American Museum of Natural History and an expert on tattoo art. Many people who have tattoos see it as art, collect it as art and wear it as art. (Greenberger A1) Such discourses, especially those founded on expert testimony as in the passage above, effectively brand tattoo with ethnohistorical and aesthetic legitimacy. Other articles connect tattoo directly to the legitimate or high art world by not only equating skin with canvas, but by publicizing the academic training of some tattoo artists. A 2001 New York Times article announces that today many practitioners come out of art schools, finding fulfillment in painting on skin rather than on canvas all with newer designs, brighter inks (James NJ-1). Similarly, another explains that the artistry of the business was enhanced with innovative design techniques by contemporary tattoo artists (Hurley 01). Tattoo artists with art school training have clearly influenced the development of new tattoo styles, yet mainstream articles focusing on these changes have also crystallized the connection between tattoo and art in the public s imagination. The mainstreaming of tattoo, coupled with mass-media discourses either conveying tattoo as art or connecting tattoo to art worlds, are developments that are interrelated. If tattoo is portrayed in the media to be a legitimate aesthetic cultural form, rather than a distasteful badge that permanently blights the body, then more high-status individuals will invariably be attracted to tattoo. Notwithstanding, as the demographic of tattoo shifts from bluecollar to white-collar, it is not coincidental that both the media and institutional experts would begin to recognize tattoo as having a greater degree of aesthetic cultural value. Not only art galleries, but also museums dedicated to historical, cultural, and scientific artifacts have responded and contributed to the popularization of tattoo by presenting exhibitions that focus on tattoo specifically, or juxtapose tattoo with other body modification practices.8 According to Catherine Balle, these types of exhibitions are a product of a new museum era, or institutional renaissance wherein museums have tried hard to attract the public and the public has responded by coming in large numbers (139). Today, privately owned US museums face new challenges, including precarious economic resources and the question of how best to serve a mass public (Balle ; Zolberg 53 4). The cultural strategies of American museums have shifted since the 1970s, emphasizing special temporary exhibitions meant to draw a larger and more diverse audience. The Guggenheim Museum s 1997 Art of the Motorcycle exhibition, and the exhibition, Body Art: Marks of Identity, hosted by the American Museum of Natural History, are prime examples of this contemporary museum strategy. As tattoos are anchored in prestigious cultural institutions their cultural value will continue to rise, further blurring distinctions between high and popular culture NOTES 1. During the late nineteenth century, some members of the social elite got tattoos as badges of exoticism and distinction. See Sanders and Bradley for a discussion of this short-lived tattoo craze. 2. The Versace advertisement appeared in a variety of magazines and newspapers including the New York Times, Bazaar, Vogue, and W. 3. Tattoo removal technology is available for those who are privileged enough to afford the erasure of a perceived momentary lapse in judgment. Laser treatments can be expensive, and may require numerous painful visits to a doctor, rarely restoring the skin to its original condition. 4. The term ironic fad refers to the practice of tattooing in the broadest sense. Notwithstanding, specific tattoo designs have achieved popularity at different time periods. For example, there was a neo-tribal tattoo fad in the late 1980s and early 1990s in the United States (see DeMello, Bodies ). More recently, traditional or old school tattoos based on American tattoo imagery from the 1940s and 1950s became increasingly popular among tattoo aficionados in their twenties and thirties. In addition to specific tattoo styles and iconography, where tattoos are placed on the body is reflected in popular trends. The gender, age, and occupation of the bearer can also influence the location of tattoos. 5. Flash refers to drawings of tattoo designs that are commonly found on tattoo studio walls. Flash can be purchased commercially or drawn by individual tattoo artists. 6. Even clients who pick flash off of a tattoo studio wall (rather than a unique design) often reflexively consider where the tattoo will be placed and have acquainted themselves with the types of tattoo images that are commonly available. 7. One respondent told me that after he got Works Cited Atkinson, Michael. Tattooed: The Sociogenesis of a Body Art. Toronto: Toronto UP, Balle, Catherine. Democratization and Institutional Change: A Challenge for Modern Museums. Global Culture: Media, Arts, Policy, and Globalization. Ed. Diana Crane, Nobuko Kawashima, and Ken ichi Kawasaki. New York: Routledge, Bell, Shannon. Tattooed: A Participant Observer s Exploration of Meaning. Journal of American Culture 22 (1999): Bradley, James. Body Commodification?: Class and Tattoos in Victoria Britain. Written on the Body: The Tattoo in European and American History. Ed. Jane Caplan. Princeton, NJ: Princeton UP, DeMello, Margo. Not Just For Bikers Anymore: Popular Representations of American Tattooing. Journal of Popular Culture 29 (1995): Bodies Of Inscription: A Cultural History of the Modern Tattoo Community. Durham: Duke University, Greenberger, Walter S. Tattoo Taboo: In South Carolina, You Can t Get One Kenneth Starr Thinks It Is a Free Speech Right for High Court to Decide. Wall Street Journal 4 Sept. 2002: A1. Hall, Stuart, and Tony Jefferson, eds. Resistance Through Rituals: Youth Subcultures in Postwar Britain. London: Routledge, Hartlaub, Peter. Coming of Age Rituals: Wearing the Art of Polynesian Culture. San Fransisco Chronicle 30 Dec. 2001: E4. Hebdige, Dick. Subculture: The Meaning of Style. London: Routledge, Hurley, Sue. Me Too, Step Aside Boys: Women Are Making Mark with Tattoos. St. Louis Post Dispatch 4 Sept. 2002: 01. Irwin, Katherine. Legitimating the First Tattoo: Moral Passage through Informal Interaction. Symbolic Interaction (2001): James, George. From Back Alleys to Beauty Queens. New York Times 29 July 2001: NJ-1. An Ironic Fad 1047 Kosut, Mary. Tattoo Narratives: The Intersection of the Body, Self- Identity and Society. Visual Sociology 15 (2000): Leonard, Mary. Making a Mark on the Culture: Body Piercing, Tattoos, and Scarification Push the Cutting Edge. Boston Globe 15 Feb. 1998: C1. Levine, Donald, ed. Georg Simmel: On Individuality and Social Forms. Chicago: U of Chicago P, Lord, Mary. A Hole in the Head? A Parent s Guide to Tattoos, Piercings and Worse. US News and World Report Sept. 1997: MacDonald, Dwight. A Theory of Mass Culture. Mass Culture. Ed. B. Rosenberg and D. M White. Glencoe, IL: Free Press, his first tattoo, he was quite alarmed upon noticing that the upper layer of skin had started to flake off during the healing process. He said that he thought his tattoo was falling off. Although tattoo artists disagree on what products to use to aid healing, most recommend applying an antibiotic cream, followed by a nonperfumebased skin cream for at least a week after initially getting tattooed. Swimming, baths, and sunbathing are discouraged until at least two weeks after the tattoo is healed. After the upper layer of scabby, inked skin sheds, the fresh tattoo is very tender and must be kept clean, dry, and moisturized until the area is fully healed. Thus, the lengthy aftercare process is inherently interactive and ongoing. 8. For example, New York City s South Street Seaport Museum, the American Museum of Natural History, Long Island s Islip Art Museum, and the Mariner s Museum in Newport News, VA have hosted tattoo art exhibitions within the last ten years. 8 9 Unfortunately, MTV put us on the map with celebrities getting tattooed. Today it s chic.... ( Tattoo Lou Rabino, qtd. in McCabe 125) Whenever we imitate, we transfer not only the demand for creative activity, but also the responsibility for the action from ourselves to another. Thus the individual is freed from the worry of choosing and appears simply as a creature of the group, as a vessel of the social contents... (Simmel, qtd. in Levine 295) the commodification & consumption of tattoos AN IRONIC FAD america has become a tattooed nation. if you turn on your television, open a magazine, or go see a movie, you will likely encounter a tattooed body. Actors, models, musicians, and idolized athletes proudly herald the mainstreaming of a previously marginalized and historically underground practice. By the end of the 1990 s, tattoos became visible in the public sphere, finding a home in the comfortable cultural landscape of suburban America where there is an abundance of consumers with discretionary income. The popularization and commodification of tattoo is confirmed by a plethora of books and toys marketed to the youngest consumers such as Tattoo Barbie, The Sesame Street Talent Show: Tattoo Tales, Around the World in Tweety Time: Tattoo Storybook, and the Power Puff girls Ruff n Stuff Tattoo Book, that include tattooed figures, color-in tattoo kits, and temporary tattoos for kids to apply to their own bodies. New generations of American children are growing up in a cultural landscape that is more tattoo-friendly and tattoo-flooded than at any other time in history. Although there was a short-lived tattoo fad among members of the European and American leisure classes over a century ago, the contemporary American tattoo craze has eclipsed it in size and scope. The community of new tattooees transcends age, class, and ethnic boundaries, and includes a heterogeneous population of teenagers and young adults, women, African Americans, Latin Americans, urbanites, suburbanites, white-collar professionals, and the collegeeducated. Of course, as Margo DeMello ( Not just for Bikers ; Bodies) has documented, those who make up what could be described as the traditional tattoo population working class, blue-collar, bikers, prisoners, punks are also still getting conduit of popular culture. The content of newspapers and magazines is also analyzed to reveal how tattoos are being reframed in print. In addition to media discourses and entertainment representations, I also examine tattoo as a commodity and as a fad. I argue that the mediation and commodification of tattoo are processes that are interconnected. The prevalence of tattooing in popular culture and the dramatic demographic shift in tattooees indicates that tattoos have mass appeal. Within this context, I explore how the mainstreaming of tattoo relates to the recognition of tattoo as an art form. MEDIATING COOL One of the obvious indicators that tattoos are a part of the social mainstream is their prevalence in mediated popular culture. The entertainment industry is replete with tattooed personalities both real and fictional. Television programs, including soap operas, sitcoms, and the burgeoning reality genre, present tattooed characters and everyday people who openly display their ink. Similarly, Hollywood films frequently employ tattoos as corporeal signifiers that suggest disenchantment and rebellion. The summer of 2002 blockbuster action film, XXX, featuring the character Xander Cage (played by actor Vin Diesel) as a postmodern action hero best described as an alienated James Bond meets Rambo on a skateboard, is covered with tattoos. The advertising campaign for XXX focused on Diesel s character s detached and misanthropic persona, penchant for extreme sports, and heavily tattooed muscular torso and neck. Billboard and newspaper advertisements displayed Diesel s oversized and distinctively tattooed arm cradling a fragile, helpless beauty. The message for eighteen- to thirtyyear-old movie consumers was clear XXX s tattooed, but have been carefully edited out of media discourses announcing the elevation of tattoo cultures. The 2001 MSNBC television special, Skin Deep, which examined tattooing and other contemporary body modifications, reported that twenty percent of the American population is tattooed. Although the validity of this statistic is speculative, a 2002 survey conducted by the University of Connecticut produced similar findings. As a result, the profession of tattooing has blossomed, with academy-trained artists venturing into the craft in search of creative work that guarantees a paycheck. In fact, tattooing was listed as one of the top high-growth businesses in the middle and late 1990s (Vail 253). With the ubiquity of tattoo in the media, the growth of the tattoo industry, and a new population of tattoo aficionados, it is reasonable to propose that one in five Americans is imbued with ink. Why has tattoo been adopted across such diverse status boundaries? How can we explain tattoo s mainstream appeal? To understand tattoo s popularity in the latter decades of the twentieth century, larger global, cultural, political, and economic trends must be taken into consideration. However, the individual motivations and personal meanings that people ascribe to their tattoos can also provide clues to understanding this phenomenon (see Atkinson (157 60); Bell (53 8); Irwin (49 73); Kosut (79 100); Pitts (67 84); Sanders (46 7; 51 2); Sullivan (13 23); and Vail (253 73)). With this in mind, this article focuses on one piece of the contemporary American tattoo puzzle by exploring the popularization of tattoos within the context of media outlets that shape the terrain of mass culture. Special consideration is given to the entertainment industry broadly defined television, film, sports, fashion, and music as it is a primary hero is no Roger Moore, he is composedly cool and fierce. He gets the girl, saves the world, and does it with subcultural style. Tattooed characters aside, actors and actresses seem to be just as enchanted with tattoo as the masses. While celebrities like Cher and Johnny Depp are elder tattoo aficionados known to be tattooed before the 1990s, there are other pop stars who have more recently acquired tattoos and unveiled them in public, such as Pamela Anderson, Ben Affleck, Christine Ricci, Angelina Jolie, The Rock, and Sean Connery. There are even coffee table books like Celebrity Skin: Tattoos, Brands and Body Adornments of the Stars (Gerard) and Tattoo Nation: Portraits of Celebrity Body Art (Ritz), documenting who has what tattoo and what part of the body it is located on. The realm of professional sports is also filling up with tattooed bodies, particularly the fields of football and basketball. For example, it is estimated that fifty percent of the members of the National Basketball Association are tattooed, including such high-status players as Michael Jordon, Marcus Camby, Kirby Puckett, and Shaquille O Neal (Shields 36). Both celebrities and their audiences have mutually embraced the practice. The fact that many lionized public figures are tattooed may lead some people enamored with celebrity to follow in their path. At the very least, the celebrity tattoo phenomenon contributes to new understandings of tattoo and elevates tattoo s cultural status. However, as tattoos prevail in popular culture and become increasingly visible, they risk appearing rather banal. In August of 2002, in a television interview on abc s Good Morning America, interviewer Diane Sawyer gaily commented on middle-aged actress Carrie Fischer s brand new celestialthemed ankle tattoo. In a parent child role reversal, Fischer puckishly quipped that her daughter highly disapproved of A QUOTE OF SORTS ABOUT HOW COOL AND AWESOME TAT- TOOS ARE. her body modification. How much longer can tattoos keep their lingering status as emblems of rebellion if obviously uncool, middleaged women chattily discuss them on a major network morning show owned by Disney? Considered within the context of Birmingham School theories, tattoo status is destined to weaken as subcultural signs eventually exhaust their potential to provoke after repeated exposure through the mainstream media (Hebdige 92 4). Just as the original 1970s punk subculture was semiotically pillaged by the culture industry, tattooing is also being gentrified and repackaged as desirable and hip. Previously confrontational visual codes such as spiked and mohawked hair, leather accessories, ripped clothing, safety pins, and now tattoos, often signify trendiness and conformity, rather than rebellion and transgression. Tattoo s subcultural status notwithstanding, the music industry, arguably a very powerful arbiter of public taste and a primary communicative tool for youth cultures, is dominated by tattooed male and female musicians (Seiler 206). Thanks to mass media outlets such as mtv, which rely heavily on packaging a performer s visual image, fringe and mainstream have become blurred. Tattoos transcend disparate musical genres and artists, from the androgynous neo-goth Marilyn Manson, to hip-hop and r & b vocalists such as Mary J. Blige and Ja Rule, and contemporary pop singers like Pink and the Dixie Chicks. Regardless of age, social class, or ethnicity, you do not have to look closely to find a tattooed star that appeals to your musical or lifestyle tastes. If the musicians we idolize and sometimes seek to emulate (at least in appearance) have tattoos on their bodies, why not get one ourselves? Twentyfive-year-old Matt admitted to me that he admired and eventually emulated rock icons he revered in his youth: I: Tell me about when you first started thinking about getting a tattoo. M: Well, I mean, the people that I wanted to be like all had tattoos when I was a kid. I: Kid meaning teenager?... Who were the people that you wanted to be like? M: Yeah 12 and up. Well I have always wanted to be a musician... You know I liked to rock at any early age. You know, I loved it when Guns N Roses came out and they had cool tattoos, you know? Even if Matt does not achieve success as a musician, he will at least have signs on his body announcing his long-standing commitment to rock. Of course, the positive meanings these signs currently hold may transform over time if Matt decides upon a more mundane or conventional career path. Tattoo s mainstream status is also illustrated by their usage as an advertising tool for a diverse range of consumer goods. Whether designated as a sign of rebellion, youth, trendiness, or some amalgam of coolness, tattoos assist in selling products from vodka to cars. Thus, tattoo is used to sell a product and is simultaneously a product to be consumed. Interestingly, one advertising executive came up with the idea of having basketball players don temporary tattoos to hock products. Although nba officials ruled against athletes using their bodies as living billboards, the Phoenix Suns Stephon Marbury said that if they re paying the right money he would consider it (Shields 34). The days of embodied product placement may soon be upon us. In 2001, Visa set one of its television commercials within a tattoo studio, announcing to Generation X ers that you can charge everything on your credit card, including body modifications. Besides the youth culture market, tattoos are utilized in advertising campaigns geared toward more established adults, particularly those interested in expensive luxury goods. In a frequently reproduced2 print ad campaign for Versace s 2002 summer beach collection, russet-skinned, wellslickened models reveal large portions of their bodies from under tiny Versace bathing suits highlighting carefully positioned tattoos. That tattoos are appearing on models bodies and are being used to target the present-day leisure classes indicates an elevation in their cultural status. The continued usage of tattoo in advertising campaigns assists in circulating a variety of new images and messages about tattoo into the public s imagination; it also heralds tattoo as a legitimate and desirable consumer product for all social classes. CONSUMING TATTOO When I began conducting ethnographic research on contemporary tattoo culture six years ago, colleagues questioned the significance of my project because it appeared to be just a fad. They presumed that tattoo was destined to fall out of popular favor just as quickly as the last season s accessory, shoe or haircut. Considering the forces of the consumer market and the fickleness of public tastes, it seemed like a reasonable assumption. However, unlike hairstyles or clothing, tattoos are not worn upon the body but rather inscribed into the body. Tattoos simultaneously decorate the body and permanently modify it. For this reason, tattooing can be conceptualized as an ironic fad a popular cultural trend that, due to its permanent nature, cannot be as easily discarded as a pair of jeans.3 One twenty-nine-year-old informant described her tattoo as the fad you can t toss away, predicting that by the time she was a grandmother her tattoos will be cool again and I will get cred from my grandkids. 4 According to social theorist Georg Simmel, the element of attraction for any fashionable phenomena lies in its inherently transitory character (Levine 303). Simmel theorizes fashion as a distinct social field that includes clothing, amusements and social conduct (298). Once the mainstream or majority adopts a particular fashion, whether sartorial or behavioral, it ceases to become fashionable and is discarded for the next obscure trend. As Simmel observes, the nature of fashion is highly contradictory: The very character of fashion demands that it should be exercised at one time only by a portion of the given group, the great majority being merely on the road to adopting it. As soon as an example has been universally adopted, that is, as soon as anything that was originally done only by a few has really come to be practice by all as is the case in certain portions of our apparel and in various forms of social conduct we no longer speak of fashion. (qtd. in Levine 302) However, unlike various objects of fashion, tattoo is a resilient and idiosyncratic material cultural form that resists consumer throw-away culture. Even if the meanings of tattoos shift, and their present cultural currency declines or exhausts, most tattooed bodies will bear this ironic fad for the course of the life cycle. For some people, the permanence of tattoos contributes to their allure and cultural significance. In considering contemporary tattoo as a consumer product, it is also crucial to make clear that the act of consumption, that is receiving a tattoo, is often a lengthy ritualistic and increasingly medicalized procedure. Depending upon the size, design, and location, getting tattooed can take anywhere from one to two hours for a small flashinspired icon,5 while large and complex images sometimes take eight to twenty hours of work that may extend over the span of a week and involve multiple visits depending on the client s pain threshold. A QUOTE OF SORTS ABOUT HOW COOL AND AWESOME TATTOOS ARE Most potential tattooees spend some time conceptualizing and considering what the design will be and where it will be placed (public or private location) on their bodies before entering the studio.6 Furthermore, after purchasing the product, the client must follow an after-care regime to promote the healing process and stave off infection. The customer walks away with a wound resembling a severe brush-burn that bleeds, scabs, and eventually peels or sheds away7 over the course of about a week. Even if your product is not visible, you are quickly reminded of your purchase upon bumping into a table, hugging a friend, or turning in your sleep. Because the act of getting tattooed typically encompasses three distinct stages of varying length preplanning, receiving the tattoo, and after-care regime and healing process it cannot be compared with the act of purchasing a pair of sneakers, no matter how reflexive and discriminating the consumer. This is because tattoo is a product whose consumption cannot be divorced from its mode of production (Sweetman). As a tattooed person, you are the witness, participant, and life-long bearer of a unique production process; a process in which the producer and consumer unite in complicated exchange that is simultaneously ritualistic, economic/consumeristic, and individualistic. Because of the unique manner in which tattoos are produced and consumed, the act of being tattooed suggests an inherent degree of agency that is unlike the consumption of other bodily goods. As Paul Sweetman notes, you can buy and wear an Armani suit as pure sign that is, in ignorance of the conditions under which the material product was fabricated (64). In contrast, tattoos demand one s presence as producer, consumer and living frame for the corporeal artifact thus acquired (64). The painful and ritualistic tattoo process involving the penetration of the body, coupled with the ongoing live-ness of the tattoo, creates a unique and potentially agentic consumer experience that can last for the duration of the body/product. The act of tattooing permanently reinscribes the living body thinking, breathing, sweating, wrinkling with a type of agency that is ongoing and inexhaustible, as compared with the consumption and display of sartorial body modifications that are, by their nature, ephemeral and disembodied. Tattoos invite a level of engagement because they become a permanent addition to the body/self. The unique production and consumption of tattoo challenges rguments advanced in the mass culture debate, particularly Dwight MacDonald s contention that the mass culture audience are passive consumers whose participation [is] limited to the choice between buying and not buying (55). MacDonald, as well as members of the Frankfurt School, predicted that the emergence of commercialized and standardized products would usurp all creativity and individuality from the production and consumption process, resulting in a type of collective consumer alienation. Imposed from above and fabricated by technicians (not skilled artisans or craftspeople) mass cultural products served only the culture industry itself (rationalized, bureaucratized corporations) while exploiting and homogenizing consumers with limited economic and cultural power (McDonald 55). Paradoxically, tattoos serve the culture industry, from Versace to mtv VJ s, because they help sell products, and of course, are sold as products. Yet the unique process in which tattoos are produced and consumed directly challenges the idea that consumers are zombie-like passive recipients. Just as tattoos are an ironic fad because they are permanently embodied, they are also an PAGINATION

5 RECONSIDERING TOPIC - still about tattoos - but now specifically Rick Genest aka Rico aka Zombie Boy - he was discovered in 2010/2011, so it s very current - documenting his image as of now

6 WHO IS IT FOR? - Lady Gaga followers - people interested in tattoos - esp tattoos in relation to pop culture - people who have heard/seen him and want to know more - people interested in fashion

7 FORMATTING - tall format because his story is unconventional - focus on the photos, so they will be glossy - text will be on matte paper - vellum jacket (these changes in texture & visual imitates the layers of his story)

8 BINDING - was originally created to be saddle-stitched, but in the end there were more pages than expected and perfect binding became more fitting (echoing a magazine format)

9 TYPEFACES - titles are Univers Lt Std Bold Condensed; very upright, fashionable - body text is Chaparral Pro Regular ; quirky enough but also easy to read

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11 CONTENTS my story Rick Genest zombie boy jack murray finding rico Lee carter born this way thomas leblanc

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13 MY STORY rick genest Twenty six year old Rick Genest will challenge your sensibilities about what you believe to be beautiful. At his core he is a chiaroscuro of both light and dark part gentle warrior, part anti-establishment artful dodger, and he has serendipitously become the it muse for anyone who believes in a brave new world without judgment. His tattoos have equally intrigued and inspired a cult following more than 30,000 followers on Twitter and 65 groups & pages dedicated to him on Facebook. He has sparked a revolution with fans who see beyond the visceral and want to know everything they can about the mysterious performer, model and muse known as Zombie Boy. > 7

14 8 EARLY BEGINNINGS Genest grew up in a working class family in Chateguay Quebec, and is the oldest of two siblings. He got his first tattoo (a skull and crossbones) at age 16 on his left shoulder, sparking a fascination deep within him for the art form. After graduating high school, Genest left home at 17 and immersed himself in the underground punk rock scene in Montreal, and was initiated into the street culture of tattoos, piercings, music and DIY fashion. He survived by becoming a squeegee kid and living in abandoned buildings with his new family of friends who gave him the moniker Zombie Boy. By 19 he was committed to his full body tattoo project and stayed loyal to Montreal artist Frank Lewis, who designed the majority of his body over the next six years. Eighty percent of his body is covered, including intricate designs of an entire skeleton (skull included) and is thematically, the depiction of a body decomposing complete with flesh eating insects. To date Genest has spent over $17, on tattooing his body and will continue until his tapestry is finished CIRCUS FREAKS & GEEKS Genest joined sideshows with contemporary carnivals learning geek work, clowning, fire play, lying on a bed of nails and flesh pull techniques. He eventually amassed a group of performers together to create his own travelling freak show titled Lucifer s Blasphemous Mad Macabre Torture Carnival which he also directs. Lucifer s Blasphemous was inspired by the resurgence of sideshows (think Jim Rose Circus) and body modification artists like Lizardman and The Enigma. Lucifer is our boa [constrictor] and we are the droids of death, says Genest, explaining the idea behind the troupe. The performers also include the sexy mistresses Sedusa, as well as Dr. Kuttz the psychotic auto mutilator, and a bevy of other Coney Island circus inspired characters. So you ve got some action, some gore, some burlesque sexuality, and of course the comedy! It s a Three Stooges freak show, unlike you ve ever seen, says Genest who performs in English and French, and clearly plays the Zombie character. THE HOUSE OF FORMICHETTI His international thrust into the spotlight is a true rags to riches story. Nicola Formichetti, Lady Gaga s personal stylist and the creative director of the legendary Paris based fashion house Theirry Mugler, was careering the web when he came across a photo of Genest that appeared in the magazine Dressed to Kill. Formichetti was instantly fascinated and contacted Genest through his Facebook account. In early January 2011, Formichetti flew to Montreal to meet Genest to complete an extensive photo and video shoot for Thierry Mugler s Fall 2011 campaign. The two clicked instant-ly and Formichetti invited Genest to Paris to model in the Mugler men s fashion show. It was the first time Rick had ever travelled outside Canada, and incidentally his first time on a plane. Acting as his mentor of sorts, Formichetti then cast Genest in his biggest role to date; a pronounced cameo in Lady Gaga s video Born This Way filmed in New York City. In the video Gaga is in full Zombie Boy makeup, as they play a rather provocative mother/son scenario with Genest literally being birthed by the loins of Gaga herself. Of the experience Genest says, Gaga was very approachable and has a great sense of humour. It was easy working with her and she knows how to put everyone at ease. She is a highly-skilled, intelligent and tireless and dedicated performer. In March 2011, Genest returned to Paris where he appeared along with Lady Gaga in the Mugler Women s fashion show. He was subsequently introduced to famed photographer Steven Klein who shot him for 2011 Spring Edition of Arena Hommes Plus. His relationship with Formichetti has clearly been a boon for his career, and has since seen him pose for such magazines as gq,vanity Fair and Vogue Hommes Japan, as well as a collaboration with the juggernaut of the fashion photography world the renowned L Enfant terrible, Terry Richardson. In September 2011 Genest s character was the face of Formichetti s latest creation, a Digital rendition for the online fashion world launched at his $250,000 Pop Up Store the centre piece of New York s Fashion Week. RICK GENEST THE BRAND Not one to rest on the laurels of his Gaga connections and fortitude, Genest has continued to build his emerging brand with new management behind him. In the Spring 2011 he was awarded the Guinness World Book of Records for the most insects tatoo-ed on a human body (178) as well as the most bones inked on a human body(138), and he then returned to his local Tattoo artist Lewis to additions to his live walking art project. Additionally Genest filmed a small role in the upcoming Keanu Reeves film 47 Ronin directed by Carl Reinch, and plans to further develop his travelling circus troupe into a national and international tour. His passion for Circus Side Shows cannot be over stated. He continues to collaborate with a bevy of well-known performers in the industry to light up local and international stages with unique acts. In the summer of 2011, he appeared in the opening gala of the Montreal International Comedy Festival for the Francophone comic Jean Francois Mercier. In the Fall of 2011, he appeared as a major attraction at the Circus Circus Fright Dome in Las Vegas in September a haunted theme park attraction that has been visited by everyone from the late Michael Jackson to Paris Hilton. He will be headlining at national and international tattoo conventions for 2011 and As an avid fan of Tim Burton s work, Genest is open to branding himself further in the world of comic books and animation, a clothing and merchandise line, as well as reality television opportunities. Despite his recent ascent onto the world stage, Genest believes in maintaining humbleness, thrift, simplicity and authenticity. Not unlike actor James Franco, it s very apparent that Genest cannot be swayed or coerced into anything that doesn t speak to him. He isn t impressed by the fame machine and has a IV drip of cool factor that lends to an almost aloof sense of composure. He has very little desire for material wealth and maintains that his biggest extravagance would be to build a place on a nice spot of land so that he can give his friends from the punk rock community of Montreal a place to live. He believes in maintaining his strong relationships and hopes that one day he will be able to give back to his friends back home all that they have given him. Stay tuned. [ ] 9

15 I SEE MY TATTOOS AS CELEBRATING THE ART OF OBSCENITY AND THE MACABRE 10 11

16 ZOMBIE BOY jack murray Rick is turning himself into a zombie. So far, more than 24 hours of tattoos costing thousands of dollars have got him halfway there and made him a minor celebrity on the internet, where people can t decide if he s a body modification visionary or mentally ill sicko. We caught up with Rick for an exclusive interview and photoshoot to see what life is like when you re transforming yourself into the living dead. WHAT LOOK ARE YOU TRYING TO ACHIEVE WITH YOUR TATTOOS? They re about the human body as a decomposing corpse the art of a rotting cadaver. It s also a tribute to horror movies, which I love. > 13

17 WHAT INFLUENCED YOUR TATTOOS? IF YOU RE GOING TO BE SURE ENOUGH TO TATTOO YOUR FUCKING FACE LIKE THAT, THEN YOU VE GOT TO BE SURE ENOUGH TO DO THE WHOLE FUCKING THING. When I was a kid I was a big fan of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, and I wanted to be a ninja turtle and live in the sewers. But as I got older I fell in love with zombies and wanted to become one. Oh, and I love George A Romero s Living Dead movies. Anyway, the closest thing I could get to becoming a zombie was to get tattooed like one. I see my tattoos as celebrating the art of obscenity and the macabre. WHEN DID YOU DECIDE YOU WANTED TO GET YOUR FACE AND BODY TATTOOED? I thought long and hard about what I really wanted, what my passion was. And I decided I wanted to be a fucking zombie. My first big move was getting my hands outlined as skeleton print. They say that once you get your hands tattooed it s harder to find a job. HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT YOUR TATTOOS NOW? They ve been a part of me forever before I even got them done. They reveal how I feel on the inside. I m so used to how I look now that I don t see them anymore. It s like if you met someone with purple hair after ten minutes you d think, Oh yeah, they have purple hair. So what? But it does look a little different to how I d imagined. I expected some portions of my tattoos to look more bloody and gory. Probably because I ve got an overactive imagination and I d never be satisfied with the results. WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE CHANGED? I d have a lot more blood in general, dripping and oozing everywhere. I d have loved to have blood pouring out of my eyes and a few more bugs here and there. But it just didn t happen like that. > 14 15

18 WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK? My friends think it s cool, it s punk rock. HOW ABOUT YOUR MUM? Well, I don t think this is what my mother had in mind for me. When I got my hands done it broke her heart. She said, You ve got your hands tattooed like a skeleton! You re never going to get a decent job! But once she saw I was determined about it she was like, If that s what you want to do, make sure you go all the way. Don t just start it and then change your mind. If you re going to be sure enough to tattoo your fucking face like that, then you ve got to be sure enough to do the whole fucking thing. SO SHE S BEHIND YOU NOW? Yeah. At first, when it didn t have the shading or anything, she was like, You look like crap. You re going to be a punk your whole life. But now it s starting to take shape and become more like an art piece, so she gets it. HOW DO PEOPLE REACT TO YOUR TATTOOS? There s all sorts of weird shit here in Montreal, so I kind of blend in with the culture. Some people come up to me and say, Wow, nice tattoos. Sometimes you get a smart-ass kid who yells Hey, it s Halloween! Just about every day I get some kind of skeleton joke. The classic is Why didn t the skeleton cross the road? Because he didn t have the guts. DO YOU WORRY ABOUT HOW YOU RE GOING TO LOOK WHEN YOU RE OLDER? No, fuck it. Everybody ages me too. Are you worried about what you re going to look like when you re 60? It s just life tattoos turn green. I joke that once the body suit s done they ll be so faded I ll have to start again at the beginning. SO WHAT OTHER BODY MODIFICATIONS ARE YOU PLANNING? I still want to get my brain shaded in. I want to get it all nice and grey like hamburger meat. And then I want to get Frankenstein bolts sticking out of my head around the rim of where my scalp s cut off. And I ve thought about getting my eyes blacked in. I m thinking that in five years from now, if no one s gone blind from it by then I ll go and get my eyes tattooed black, so there d just be big holes in my face. As for tattoos, I ve still got to get under my arms done, then I ve got to finish the intestines and get a contour added to the demon on my chest. I m going to get bones sticking out of my knees, my toes done in skeleton print, and have patches of muscle scattered around with worms coming out of the wounds. HAVE YOU EVER THOUGHT ABOUT HAVING THE TIP OF YOUR NOSE REMOVED? Yes, and I ve seen it before on TV. This guy had a flesh eating disease and he was able to get his nose cut off because they gave him a prosthetic replacement. I was so jealous. I wanted it so bad. If I get my eyes blacked in I ll get my nose removed. WOULD YOU HAVE YOUR EARS REMOVED? Maybe just the one. I was thinking of having worms coming out of one ear and a spider s web in the other. But I m an extremist, so if I met someone who could remove my ear and get the right result, then that d be cool as hell. If I saw someone walking around like that I d shit myself. WOULD YOU BURN YOURSELF WITH ACID TO GET TEXTURE ON YOUR SKIN? I don t know. I m not a pro. But it has nothing to do with pain. I like pushing the limits to > 16 17

19 see how much I can take. I d get my tongue split, I d get my teeth sharpened. I wouldn t cut off one of my fingers, because I want to play guitar. I m not going to cut off my arms and legs to look cool. But there are no rules about how zombies look. My buddy has a tattoo where his throat s slit and bugs are coming out with worms up the side. It looks fucking awesome. WHAT ADVICE DO YOU HAVE FOR PEOPLE WHO WANT THE SAME KIND OF TATTOOS? They re fucking stupid and should get their own idea. You ve got to be original. I hate copycats and idiots. But I m up for the idea of more living deads. I think a whole crew of people who had their face tattooed as a skull would be awesome. But you can t rip off someone else s personality. And I don t want kids to go out there and ruin their lives because they think it s cool it s got to be in you. You ve got to know what you want. I sacrificed my whole future for this. WHAT EFFECT HAS IT HAD ON YOUR LOVE LIFE? There are girls who dig it, but the kind of girls who dig it are usually trouble. Some people might look at you and think you re mentally ill. They might do, but I m not. I think I m very on the ball. There are a lot of people I meet who just don t understand, but there really is nothing to understand. I m realistic, sane and intelligent. crown of thorns around it, an eyeball and some scales. And there d be a crucifix in the background, so my cock would be like Jesus on the cross. But in the end it just sounded completely wrong. DO YOU THINK YOUR LIFE WOULD BE BETTER OR WORSE IF YOU HADN T HAD YOUR TATTOOS DONE? Actually, since having them done I ve become a much happier and nicer person. Before, I hated pretty much everything and everybody. I just wanted to pass out in the gutter and swear at cars as they went by, shit like that. I wasn t a happy person at all. That s why I got the skull tattooed on my face in the first place, I suppose I wanted to fucking kill everybody. But then, as time went on, I started getting all this positive feedback people would come up to me and say how cool they thought it looked. I started getting invited to parties and bars all the time. Strangers ask to have pictures taken with me. I ve been having so much fun with it that life has definitely changed for the better. I honestly wouldn t change a thing not that I have much choice in the matter. HOW DO YOU SUM UP YOUR PHILOSOPHY OF LIFE? You ve got to respect that everyone s different and has to do what they ve got to do. I can t tell you what to do, you can t tell me what to do but we can still get along just great. [ ] IS THERE ANY KIND OF BODY MODIFICATION YOU WOULDN T HAVE? Cock splitting. I ve seen pictures of that and it s not for me. But I d tattoo my cock. I m thinking of having reptile scales and cockroaches. I ve had different ideas that aren t relevant to my body suit. One was quite sacrilegious. I thought about having my cock tattooed like a Cyclops Jesus ding dong. There would be a 18

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27 FINDING RICO lee carter There are some things for which money, distance, even the law, are no object. If you have a muse, this won t be news to you. Here s the incredible but true story of how Mugler s new creative director Nicola Formichetti discovered Rick Genest aka Rico, aka Zombie Boy, aka that guy with the mad skull tattoo on his face and got him to walk in his debut men s collection, basically becoming the face of Mugler. Of course, it doesn t hurt to have a little encouragement from Lady Gaga (who, by the way, snapped up half the collection, with the other half in Rick s inky hands)... LEE CARTER: How did you find Rick Genest? NICOLA FORMICHETTI: I found Rico on Facebook. 35

28 YOU STUMBLED ACROSS HIS PROFILE? I had his picture on my wall forever. I saw it one day on Google. I thought it was amazing Halloween make-up done by Peter Philips or something. I mean, I ve done so many shoots with skull make-up. And then, in October I got my first tattoo, a triangle with a circle inside, an ancient Japanese symbol meaning centeredness. And the tattoo artist who did it, my friend Maxime, who has this tattoo magazine called Sang Bleu, saw that picture and said, Oh yeah, that guy is Zombie Boy. He lives in Montreal. YOU KIND OF IMAGINE HIM TO BE A FREAK, SOME PUNK SO YOU SOUGHT RICO OUT ON FACEBOOK AND ASKED HIM TO MODEL FOR YOU. Yeah, I just wanted him to be the face of whatever we were going to create. At that point the clothes were, you know, proper suits and shirts and very clean. I just needed to have some kind of a twist to it or... AN EDGE. Yeah, so after seeing his pictures on Facebook, I just thought he was so inspiring. Just by looking at his pictures I changed the whole collection. YOU CHANGED THE WHOLE COLLECTION? Well, I added more, by taking stuff from him, making it a bit darker and gothicy. So basically I Facebooked him and was like, You know, I m doing this thing in Paris and I would love you to be there in two weeks. He ed me back straightaway and he was like, Yeah, sure, I would love to, but I don t have a passport. And then I start thinking how the fuck is he going to get a passport in time? LIKE IT S A CRIME TO HAVE A TATTOO ON YOUR FACE? WHAT DID YOU DO? I had no idea what to do. I was calling my lawyers, saying we have to get this guy to 36 37

29 Paris. But then I thought, maybe he doesn t need to be there physically. Maybe I can do a film or pictures. So I told him I would go to him in Montreal in two days. I called my friend Mariano [Vivanco, photographer] and my manager. We got together the first week after the holidays as I was about to leave for Paris to work on the last bit of the collection. I remember thinking I have to do this, I just have a gut feeling, I have to work with this guy. Everyone said he s a freak, why would I want to do that to a luxury brand? I didn t listen to anyone and just went. I brought some clothes, a couple of suits, and I actually made lots of clothes the night before I left New York. I had pieces sent from Paris and was just making stuff in my house, and then took everything to Montreal and we did a photo shoot and video. The photos are the ones we just launched as a visual campaign. I SAW THOSE. BEAUTIFUL. It was so inspiring. Then I showed it to Gaga and she was like, Oh my god, you have to do a show. I always loved her song Shiza. For me, Shiza is in the spirit of Mugler, kind of like a dirty Berlin club meets glamour. So she s like, Okay, I will remix it and make it amazing for you. I had wanted to do a film projection, not a show, but I thought, fuck it, let s do a show. OKAY, SO HOW DID YOU GET RICO TO PARIS IN TIME? Right, then we found out why he couldn t get a passport, because he was homeless. He had a lot of fines or something, because he was always sleeping on the street. AH, SO MUGLER PAID THEM? WERE THEY VERY MUCH? It was a lot. A FEW THOUSAND DOLLARS? Like ten or twenty

30 WHAAA? Yeah. And he just kept telling me, I m not a criminal, I m not a criminal. It took him so long to tell us. Oh my god, he was so emotional. He was crying and saying how this was going to change his life. It was a beautiful moment. THAT WAS REALLY NICE OF YOU GUYS. I paid it myself. I really believe in him. He was only in Paris for two days. You kind of imagine him to be a freak, some punk. But it s actually inspiring to hear him talk about shades, which are the dots that create the 3d effect of his tattoo. It becomes more and more refined when it s shaded. WAIT, IS HIS WHOLE BODY TATTOOED? LIKE A SKELETON? It s a skeleton theme, yeah. Well, except his uh, there. (Laughs.) IT S GOOD TO KNOW SOME THINGS ARE STILL SACRED. Yeah, but not because he didn t want to. He didn t have the money. SO EVENTUALLY HE LL GET IT DONE. SOUNDS PAINFUL. (Laughs.) Maybe it ll be a selection of cock rings. I just really fell in love with the way he lived. In a way his story is similar to Gaga, in that there s no going back. You do what you believe. You are that, you are what you re creating. [ ] 40

31 BORN THIS WAY thomas lebl anc Let s be honest here: we wouldn t be talking about a macabre 26 year-old skeletontattooed performer if it weren t for a certain music video from one the most significant cultural icons of our time. In Lady Gaga s recent Madonna homage Born This Way, the mama monster of corporate radio gives birth to an evilish Rick Genest, also known by his stage name Rico The Zombie. In one scene, she dances alongside her new boy-toy, sporting make-up mimicking Genest s real life face and skull ink. The video to this eurodance fable of self-acceptance premiered with great anticipation on February 28th, 2011 after which the single became Billboard s 1000th #1 hit. And Lady Gaga brought Genest along for the ride, giving a whole new meaning to Andy Warhol s 15 minutes of fame online, on TV and in newspapers, Rico The Zombie has become the object of a very unique blend of attention, rumours, envy and full-on admiration. nightlife.ca sat down with Rico in a Montreal studio to get the lowdown on the most bizarre winter of his life

32 I M TRYING TO BUILD MY OWN COMPANY NOW THAT I HAVE A LITTLE MONEY TO PLAY WITH PLUCKED FROM OBSCURITY International media and the fashion press have been quick to frame the story as some kind of fairy tale: last December, Gaga stylist Nicola Formichetti stumbles upon Rico s fan page and contacts him on Facebook to shoot the first images for his menswear collection as the newly-appointed creative director of legendary Paris-based house Mugler. Genest is evasive on the extraordinary circumstances that brought him to become the new face of a rejuvenated French fashion company. Formichetti and his team come to Montreal in January to shoot Rico; fashion agency TRUSST are in charge of the production. The two founders of TRUSST, Melissa Matos and Andrew Ly, had previously worked with Rico on a local shoot, meeting him through nightlife owl Gibran Ramos. After the Mugler shoot, Formichetti requests to have Rico fly to Paris to walk the menswear show on January 19th. There is a slight setback: Genest has no passport and is bogged down by fines to his name totalling well over $10,000 in many Canadian provinces. Formichetti agrees to cover the necessary expenses: he basically makes him a free man. To fast-track the process, Genest and TRUSST hire an immigration lawyer who subsequently becomes his manager. On January 19th, Chateauguay-raised Rick Genest stars in his first ever Paris fashion show. His tattoos, the very reason why he was thrust into the limelight, were paid for with money he scraped together by washing cars. Weeks later, he shares the stage with Lady Gaga for the womens wear Mugler show, after meeting her in New York on the set of the Born This Way video. My friends think I m rich now, says Genest with a smirk. But that s not the case. Colin Singer, the manager who stood by him through this twist of fate, wants to help his protégé capitalize on the media frenzy; he says a film project is in the works. Days after the nightlife.ca shoot, the two fly to Budapest for another contract. Genest may also appear on stage at the Bell Centre when Lady Gaga stops in town on April 25th. EVERYDAY NORMAL GUY Rico still shares an apartment with friends in a loft near the train tracks in Saint-Henri. You can jam all night long, there are no chances that the cops might come. And somebody in the block is having a party every night. On weekends, you can jump from apartment to apartment. It s pretty cool. Rico The Zombie isn t as soulless as his name and multiple deathly tattoos (which include a nuclear danger sign and critters) would lead you to believe. The guy is lively, in both a naive and wise way, with a glimmer in his eyes and a surprisingly handsome smile. He talks in an assertive yet respectful manner, and his soft-spoken tone is indicative of someone who has seen his fair share of pavement and sidewalks as a street punk. He s also more at ease answering questions in English than in French. In person, the tattoos make it harder to figure whether Rico is short and muscular or just lean, almost frail. He s not tall; his body seems like it s not fully grown. When I ask him about tolerating pain each time he gets a new tattoo, he says: It takes a lot of practice. It finds me. It comes with the job. The job is also Rico s passion for gore performance art. After a string of terse answers to my questions about his newfound fame, his face lights up when I mention his carnival project. We are Lucifer s Blasphemous Mad Macabre Torture Carnival. We ve got a zombie, an executioner, an auto-mutilator. We re working alongside two really hot chicks called Bella Obscura. They re gonna do a lap dance for my buddy Caleb! Beautiful women and people being tortured at the same time. It s just a very contrasted, hellish show. The troupe should technically be performing at Toronto venue Mitzy s Sister on April 9th, but Rico might have an engagement somewhere else in the world. Last month, he had to pull out of his crew s ninja-themed performance in Montreal when his presence was requested in Budapest. RULES ARE FOR SQUARES What do you do in your show? I do the whole zombie thing. Lots of fair work, biting nails, blockhead, brain floss, because it s gross. I put a lot of things in my nose. Geek work, like eating worms, brains, fish eggs. It s kind of clowning as well. A zombie who goes through pain. It s just a macabre show. On the matter of being unconventional, his openly conservative mother told the UK s Daily Mail: Rick will always be himself. He s very loving to his family and faithful to his friends. His grandparents love him very much, he has been to family weddings, everybody has always accepted him as himself. On the topic of rules and real life, Rick adds: Conventions are overrated. If everybody worked 9 to 5, there would be no nightclubs, there would be no people listening to Gaga. 9 to 5 is a guideline for people who can t make their own rules. In Born this Way, Lady Gaga also praises open sexuality: No matter gay, straight or bi; lesbian transgendered life you get the point, we re all born this way. Again, Rico s life and the book of pop music s sexual ambiguity intertwine: when asked if he has a girlfriend or boyfriend, he keeps us wanting more. Overrated is his only answer on the matter of relationships. He smiles shyly, keeping things mysterious. Rick Genest is a punk-rocker at heart: pop music and fashion are not his world. I m pretty open-minded. You can take the good and the bad in everything: music, sports, arts even drugs!, he says, laughing. He arrived on set sporting a long black coat and a studded cap. Under it, he wore a black suit that was too big for him. He didn t seem to care much about the rack full of fitted neutral coloured clothes that the stylist had brought for the shoot

33 He has kind words for Formichetti and Lady Gaga, even if he saw the latter no more than four times in total. We were having laughs. After the show, we went out for a couple of drinks. For sure, it was real, it was cool. Good aura. Spiritual people. Gaga is a machine. She s a distraction, just like carnivals. It s all to keep people entertained, he adds, pensively. CURATING GLOBAL CULTURE What has changed since Formichetti plucked you from the streets of St Henri? I m trying to build my own company now that I have a little money to play with. I m hiring people as we speak. Just playing by my own rules instead of somebody else s is a dream come true. Any downside? Now people I don t know come up to me to talk about Lady Gaga and ask me if that s a real tattoo. What do you answer? I tell them no, it s my little sister s make-up. Or, no, that s not me in the video, it s my twin brother, we have the same tattoo. If you ask a stupid question, you get a stupid answer. One ingredient that has been overlooked in the creation of Rico The Zombie is the curatorial talent of Nicola Formichetti. As a stylist, his talent lies in gathering the right ideas to create strong and meaningful imagery such as Lady Gaga coming out of an egg at the Grammys. In this hyper-connected world, where culture and spectacle are going more global and digital by the minute, Formichetti relentlessly brings together designs and people to entertain a generation that sees the world through a screen. By inking our collective fear of death all over his body, Rick Genest is challenging our relationship with time and beauty. If he doesn t think much about the future, he acknowledges that everyone has a past. About beauty, he adds: I don t know. There s a lot of beauty. Pointing to the other side of the street: That rusted, dismantled bike that s been tied to the pole all winter, that s pretty cool. Beauty... it s broken bicycles. ART, TIME, BEAUTY... WHAT S THE MOST IMPORTANT THING TO YOU, RICO? Keeping it real. Respecting your people. Your friends, your family. Those who are yours. AND MONTREAL? Of course, I love Montreal. It taught me everything I know. [ ] 46 47

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