Needle, ink, skin, nature, and the supernatural

Beautiful neo-traditional Japanese tattoo work. It's striking that the artist chose to present the work in black and white, as the colour in Japanese tattoo is subtle and inviting and visually tactile. But these photographs are perfect as they are. Without wanting to sound like a total wanker, I have to admit that these pictures feel to me like meditations on the intersection of human experience with nature and the supernatural, braiding the human impulse to imitate the natural world in artistic expression with the implicit nature of the human experience as inseparable from the natural world (in this case, as canvas) it aims to capture in art. The photographs are wonderful on the superficial level of their graphic impact and immediate beauty, but they also present visual invitations to react on a more visceral, almost spiritual level.