Author: Ravipa Udomrungrueng

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Is it ok to use people’s art as an advertisement or an inspiration?

Personally, I would say no for other artists to use a picture of the other artist’s work as an advertisement but it would be ok to get inspired from the artwork and create their own art.

My research has shown that nothing is new, everything got influenced by other things which means everything is a remix.

This is an example of how people in the tattoo community are not aware even of the concept of copyright and art theft even when it is highlighted they still do not recognise and understand when their work is being appropriated.

However, I don’t think emerging artists or many artists know what copyright is. With time I hope I can slowy make some change by educating them.

As she informs her followers that she can stay and continue her tattoo career in the UK with the visa that she applied for, but not as a tattoo artist. She did get her global talent visa from the arts council as an illustrator artist.

I have not known that there is a Crafts Council UK before until I spoke to a classmate about my project and she told me about it. I did research on crafts council UK and it appears to me that tattooing is in both craft and art.

This made me question why, and the arts council said that tattoo artist is in a grey area then why not make it clear? Is there any organisation that can decide to support tattoo artists? And why does arts council UK seems more powerful than crafts council? Do people not value the craftwork enough? Why can it not be Arts and Crafts council UK?

“Tattoos date back many thousands of years. In fact, we have firm evidence that tattooing is an ancient art form, after discoveries of tattoos on mummified skin were found. The oldest evidence of human tattoos is believed to be from between 3370 BC and 3100 BC”

This quote has shown that the tattoo industry is not new, it has been there for a very long time. And again why is it not clear yet? Is it too cool, too underground to be clear?

She did mention that she would love to make some changes to this issue and upgrade the tattoo industry. As she has 15.6k followers on her Instagram account.

I am still thinking of how will she change that? Could be by raising awareness and educating, making artists aware about this issue and that would be something that I and her and any artist can change and drive the industry forward.

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I have learned from my research that nothing is new, everything is remixed. We have been influenced by one thing to another. I understand that to make your artwork unique is to put yourself into the work, then it will become different. As we put our identity it to the work. Then it will become your own style.

I also understand that we are not the only one in the world that invented the design. If the design is simple, it might have been done before.

In this case “More than 1 person can have the same idea”. That means it doesn’t count as copying work. But how do we know where is the line in this issue?

However, an artist found out that the other artist did have a similar style of work but they were doing it before…

I think it would be a good idea for my research and for a tattoo industry generally to have a registration of time or even have the same understanding in terms of doing a design for a tattoo, so we don’t cross the line between each other. And it would benefit the clients to choose to collect the art as individuality of the artist.

As I saw her Instagram story about her work has been stolen by another tattoo artist.

I’ve had something similar happen to me too, I understand how upsetting it is.

That’s why I’d love to raise awareness about it and had a zoom call with her.

After speaking to her about the theft of tattoo that she has experienced. She told me that

Ineligible disciplines
The decision to return an application as ineligible is made by us when an applicant’s
area of practice does not come under our remit, or the remits of Pact, BFC or RIBA.
If we do not have the relevant expertise to carry out a fair assessment it is better that
we return these types of applications to UKVI as soon as possible, so that an
application can be made through a more appropriate route.
Some examples of ineligible areas of practice include (but are not limited to):
• Hair styling
• Make up for fashion
• Fashion stylists
• Editorial and fashion photography
• Commercial photography
• Photography for marketing campaigns, advertising or branding
• Modelling
• Journalism – written and photographic
• Investigative journalism
• Historians
• Manufacturing of functional items such as textiles or furniture
• Working in museums and galleries in non-creative roles such as front of house or
administration
• Design work that is not in a Visual Arts context, i.e. not created for exhibition
purposes, such as – graphic design, product design, industrial design, promotional
work, advertising, commercial design, branding, visual identity, craft design, service
design, typography
• Technical, scientific, medical, architectural or fashion illustration
• Factual podcasts
• Digital content creators such as YouTube channels and Instagram influencers/
models
• Art dealers/collectors
• Art critics
• Instrument makers
• Tattoo artists
• Martial arts
• Professional wrestling

“How can emerging tattoo artists be influenced to protect their work in a way that will encourage clients to choose the original artist and not someone copying the work?’’

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How can clients be influenced to choose the original work from a tattoo artist and not someone other artist copying the work?

( Tattoo awareness platform 

We educate people about the importance of picking original tattoo work over replicas 

Join the conversation

Measuring awareness of tattoo)

– What’s your research? 

    I’m focusing on understanding how people (clients) can be influenced positively to choose an original tattoo work over a (copy tattoo) fake/replica. 

– Why?

   My goal is to create awareness but also to study the reasons as to why someone would pick a replica over the original tattoo (reasons might include lack of awareness of the importance, value of artist’s work, and budget limitations).

  Upgrade the tattoo industry to the next level AS A COMMUNITY  for artists to have the same understanding and respect for themselves and their work 

– How?

Speak up, use SOCIAL MEDIA AS A TOOL to educate and raise awareness, give value to the art and crafts work (?)

As well as the value of the artist 

Tattoo talk (real or fake)

LIVE event

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I visited Ann Chang’s exhibition “temporary before permanent” and spoke with the artist abut the work on display.  I attended as I wanted to explore the ideas behind what was out further, as I understood that it was about the practice of tattooing not being respected as a discipline.  I came to realise that in fact it is about far more than that for this artist on a personal level, but that at the same time it allowed me to explore further into the art and craft of tattooing, as tattooing contains both.

Firstly on a very personal level, Ann told me that after applying for a talent class of visa, with the expectation that the Arts Council would support this, it transpired that the Arts Council did not regarded tattooing as an art form.  This meant for the tattooing element of Anns creative output, no support was forthcoming, and no visa support meant no talent visa.  The Art’s Council are quoted verbatim from their rejection letter as follows:

“ We’ve had a look at this one and think it should be returned as ineligible as the majority of their evidence is related to tattooing. 

It’s a grey area as it is technically ‘art’ however, tattooing is not within our remit. It clearly lists tattoo artist as an ineligible area of practise in our guidance.”

This left Ann in a difficult situation, as the bulk of Ann’s work was tattooing, however Ann did also draw, paint and engaged in performance art.  Yet the Art’s Council also denied Ann here, as they said Ann did not yet have enough recognition.  This then was the personal motivation behind the exhibition for Ann.  To create some buzz which would form part of the application for support form the Art’s Council, alongside other work.

Yet this was not Ann’s only motivation, the exhibition  was also a form of soft protest to show Anns ability.  Indeed all the work shown was Ann’s flash, or tattoo, drawings.  This clever subversion of the 

By the time I left the exhibition, I asked myself ‘Is Ann not a talented artist?’. Ann owns a tattoo studio, has 14.8k followers on her Instagram, and clearly has clients everyday. Ann self supports in the UK. Then I realised, of course its not enough and I am wrong to judge so quickly. I got angry so fast that the Arts Council England doesn’t think tattooing is art. To get a talented artist visa they need more than that. They need awards. They need to be published, get into exhibitions, need to be known in the arts circle not just on Instagram.

The question is, How can tattoo artist do that? Is there a competition for tattoo artist in the UK to get an award from? There are a lot of room in tattooing industry to be improve and again I want to change that not just protect the art work but also the artist.

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