Michael McCabe

This book explores the artistic nature of tattooing and celebrates its living, creative, changing essence. Alongside the omniscience of tattoing throughout the world for thousands of years, presented through rare artifacts, the book pays tribute to the pioneers of the modern era, those responsible for its great transformation into the mainstream. Tattooing has become one of the most dynamic artistic currents of our era and is ever-evolving, despite the great revolutions the art has undergone. This book looks to its foremost representatives, the tattoo artists themselves, the guardians of the temple. With this in mind, two types of contemporary workshop creations have been produced. The first one presents thirteen silicone models, thirteen ‘extracts’ of the body, prints modelled from actual people, used by tattoo artists in the exercise of their art, machine worked or using traditional tools, depending on their daily practice. In search of a mise en abyme, blank canvases were offered to other artists, in the classic application known as ‘body suit’. The artists featuring in the book are world recognized. All active continents are represented: Europe, America, Asia and Oceania. All practitioners are respected by their peers for their contribution to the art. Finally there is a series of photos presenting the two most recent currents in modern tattooing, a locker room of aesthetic graphics that firmly root tattooing in the third millennium.

Cartoonist Rocky Stellar has just lost his job. Out of work for the first time in forty years, Rocky knows he is not ready for retirement and wants to rediscover his artistic passion. Seeking advice, he visits a quirky Arizona desert recluse and storyteller. Through powerful questions and stories, Padre Cisco challenges Rocky as he embarks on a journey of reflection and self-discovery. His story unfolds in unexpected ways as his desire to repair his art life and his contentious relationships with his father and daughter take precedence. Driven to find a clear path to fulfillment, Rocky must learn to balance his inner-struggles with Padre Ciscos wisdom as he seeks to answer the padres pivotal question: Are you willing to give up what you know to learn what you do not? Padre Cisco: Conversations with a Desert Father shares the introspective journey of an out-of-work cartoonist as he searches for spiritual understanding through his own reflections and the wisdom of an Arizona storyteller. It isnt often I get to learn from someone who delivers the truth on a punch line. Rocky Stellar

Cartoonist Rocky Stellar has just lost his job. Out of work for the first time in forty years, Rocky knows he is not ready for retirement and wants to rediscover his artistic passion. Seeking advice, he visits a quirky Arizona desert recluse and storyteller. Through powerful questions and stories, Padre Cisco challenges Rocky as he embarks on a journey of reflection and self-discovery. His story unfolds in unexpected ways as his desire to repair his art life and his contentious relationships with his father and daughter take precedence. Driven to find a clear path to fulfillment, Rocky must learn to balance his inner-struggles with Padre Ciscos wisdom as he seeks to answer the padres pivotal question: Are you willing to give up what you know to learn what you do not? Padre Cisco: Conversations with a Desert Father shares the introspective journey of an out-of-work cartoonist as he searches for spiritual understanding through his own reflections and the wisdom of an Arizona storyteller. It isnt often I get to learn from someone who delivers the truth on a punch line. Rocky Stellar

New York City custom car and motorcycle culture has long been overshadowed by the left coast designers and machines. In this unprecedented book, urban anthropologist Michael McCabe presents the stories, innovators, and machines behind NYC car and motorcycle builders. He reveals an outsider’s tale filled with passion, creativity, and high-speed thrills. Based on a year’s worth of interviews and photo shoots with nearly 40 custom builders, McCabe offers unique access to their private, creative lives and impressive collections of machines in garages and workshops throughout the five boroughs. Legendary urban personalities like “Big Daddy” George LeBlanc, Mel Bernstein, and Dick Zigun tell the history of NYC horsepower, including nostalgia for the days of the NASCAR-sanctioned Weissglass Speedway on Staten Island, illegal street racing, car clubs, and shows. Voices from the groundswell of younger builders, like John Copeland, Sal Pepe, and Pete Ranko, complete this collection of oral histories and images and show respect for the city’s hands-on narrative. With nearly 800 images of custom cars and motorcycle, this history is ideal for builders, car collectors, and urban historians.

Over 500 photos display a vast range of Japanese tattoo styles, from the classic Horimono to the new One Point style, along with stories of Japanese masters of the tattoo art. Japanese men have been marked by tattoo artists for the past 300 years. Today's urbane Japanese youth continue the tradition, proudly creating and wearing this ever changing art form. Here, over 500 breathtaking color photographs display a vast range of Japanese tattoos, from traditional full-body forms repleat with classical images steeped in symbolism, including Horimono, to modern One-Point style, heavily influenced by the cultures of the West. The fascinating accompanying text provides a glimpse of Japan's youth culture and recounts, through personal interviews, stories of Japanese masters of the tattoo art, including Senseis Horihide, Horiyoshi III, Horitoshi I, Horiyasu, and Horikoi. Readers will see some of the most intricate tattoo art in the world, while traveling through time from the 19th century Edo Floating World to the busy streets of modern Tokyo.

Over 330 color images display the designs, sacred images, and scripts that are the tattoo art of Indochina. Traditional tattoo forms dating back over a thousand years are presented, expressing the combined animist-tribal beliefs and deep religious faith of a complex and spiritual people. Despite the encroachment of the global community, the skilled priests and specialists of Indochina continue to create tattoo magic today, as displayed and described in a fascinating text. Interviews with individuals using rituals and symbolsreveal the creative process expressed through their tattoos that help them cope with the unpredictable nature of their lives.