By Josh Couillard
4/27/10
The Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) in Boston recently opened an exhibit featuring the work of Mexican tattoo artist Jeronimo Lopez Ramirez, better known as Dr. Lakra.
Hailing from Oaxaca, Mexico, Lakra, 38, specializes in more than just tattooing skin. He is known for adorning classic images of pinup girls, political figures and even plastic objects with traditional tattoo iconography.
ICA Director of Education Monica Garza said this exhibit is a step in a new direction for the museum. "It's going to be interesting," she said. "It's a very different type of exhibition than what we've shown here and I think a lot of us will be inspired."
The three-room exhibit is a walk through the artist's influences. The opening room is comprised of mostly smaller sized photographs and magazine images - all the subjects' skin covered in tattoos, which were painted onto the photographs by Lakra.
"What's very impressive in his work is the scale," said curator Pedro Alonzo. "The work is very intimate. The tattoos are painted. He uses a brush. It's very small, very intricate work."
The middle room of the exhibition holds some of Lakra's larger pieces that include a wall mural depicting everything from skulls to traditional tribal warriors. Lakra's framed pieces here include versions of the classic pinup girl, covered in tattoos and surrounded by ghosts and skulls.
Much of Lakra's work is themed by notions of sexuality, death and cross-cultural references. He even said that when tattooing actual skin, he has done more traditional Mexican iconography in the United States than in Mexico.
"In Mexico, I had never been asked to make a Jesus Christ or Virgin Mary," said Lakra, who was present for the opening of this, his first solo exhibition in the US. "It was more like in the punk scene in Mexico. I was making a lot of barbed wire or skeletons. It was totally different. The cultures are crossing over all the time."
This idea of crossing cultures plays a large influence in Lakra's art. Much of the tattoo work he designs is influenced by traditional Chicano, Maori, Thai and Philippine tribal art.
Lakra has studied tattoo art from different tribes all across the globe. "I was travelling by myself, and it was really interesting to see all these traditions," he said.
The broad range of his culturally themed tattoo art is what has brought interest to some visitors. Suhayl Ramirez, a resident of Boston, said Lakra's tribal work and unorthodox way of presenting tattoo art are what caught her attention.
"I saw that the exhibit had to do with tattooing, and that's what drew me to it," she said. "The fact that he necessarily doesn't put it on skin kind of puts it all in a different perspective."
ICA director Garza agreed. "We try to not just do traditional art, but also contemporary art - it kind of opens up to different mediums, and this is one of them."
Salem-based tattoo artist Natan Alexander also noted that though the exhibit was different, it showed the natural development of a tattoo artist from working on just skin to working with other mediums.
"What's interesting is that as you progress as a tattoo artist, your interest in the fine art world tends to move in that direction, too," said Alexander.
Lakra's work certainly is eclectic, showing more than just his work on skin. A small section of the exhibit is donated to the work the artist has done on plastic. A doll's arm is covered in black ink depicting snakes, eagles, anchors and the punk band, The Clash's logo. A full back piece on a plastic torso from a doctor's office shows a portrait of Christ adorned with swallows and traditional roses. All this work, Lakra said, was done with a tattoo machine and tattoo ink.
The artist, whose work has been on display everywhere from California to the Tate Modern in London, has been fighting tattoo stereotypes since he got his first tattoo in the late 80s.
"I remember being arrested only because I had tattoos," said Lakra. In fact, the translation of the name Dr. Lakra from Spanish means "Dr. Delinquent."
And although he has tattooed inmates and gang members in the past, Lakra said he would like to continue much of his work on paper, expressing his cross-cultural statements on the exposed skin of photographed subjects.
The Dr. Lakra exhibit at the ICA will be open until September 6.