I will begin by stating that there is no longer such thing as original art. Between works of fiction, the subconscious vibrations of top 40 percussion, to the photographs on our Instagram timelines, nothing is new anymore. And this goes for tattoo art as well. No matter how creative the artist may be, there will always be another style visibly similar to theirs, hell even Bang Bang had a mentor who taught him everything he knew. We as tattoo collectors are no different, because we often fall into habit of getting tattoos based off of the ones that we’ve seen online. Every tattoo that you see is indirectly linked to the millions that have come before it yet this history shouldn’t stop the flow of imagination. Even though there are so many tattoos that have already been put to skin, as individuals we are constantly striving to create unique, walking-canvases out of the pieces that we collect on our bodies. Yet unfortunately, not every tattoo-enthusiast follows the same philosophy. They are known as tattoo stealers or copycats.
Flash V.S. Pieces
Before I dive into why tattoo stealers are the scum of the earth, let me first explain the difference between flash tattoos and pieces. A flash tattoo is a tattoo that is based on a repetitive drawing, something an artist didn’t fashion out of their imagination. Flash takes on many different forms, from script, to American traditional imagery, to logos and trademarks. You can’t accuse someone else of stealing your flash tattoo, if your tattoo is already something that a million other people have on their body, for example an infinity symbol, a rune, or a quote from a book. You don’t own the rights to that image and neither does the tattoo artist who put it on your body. A piece on the other hand is something that your artist has drawn up specifically for you and has stylistic details that make it a one of a kind tattoo. This tattoo was created based on images or ideas that already existed but through the creative execution of the artist, it is different from all other tattoos that have been done so far. Tattoo stealers come about when people copy exactly (or nearly exactly) another person’s piece and mimic a design that someone else has created personally for himself or herself.
Why You Should Care
If you are the kind of person that doesn’t have tattoos or doesn’t have pieces, I can understand why you wouldn’t care about tattoo stealing. But imagine for a second the process you have to undergo to find an artist to execute your vision, working with them to create an original work of art, having that unique work of art inked into your skin for hours at a time for the reward of having this work of art on your body for the rest of your life; all to have some stranger see the piece you posted on your social media and get the exact same thing put onto their body. What gives someone the right to steal and copy something so raw and personal away from someone else? People need to realize that for many of us, our tattoos make up who we are, what we stand for, the experiences we have overcome and that by copying our skin you are diluting part of what makes us unique human beings. It’s not flattering to have a piece stolen from your body and we need to stop treating artwork as up for the claims and start realizing that our tattoos are copyrighted. You wouldn’t paint an exact rendition of the Mona Lisa and call it your own, why should taking a tattoo off of someone else’s body be any different? Now luckily most decent tattoo artists will refuse a client who is looking to directly copy another tattoo, but not all tattooers hold these standards.
So please, for everyone’s sanity. Don’t steal someone else’s art. For more information, please check out the lovely Katrin Berndt’s personal experience with tattoo stealers.