Tattoorism: Josh Pays Tribute to the Verrazano Bridge

Last Friday I received a very special surprise via e-mail from a guy named Josh:


The following explanation accompanied the photo:

"I recently discovered your blog's postings about various Verrazano Bridge tattoos you've seen [here and here] ... They both looked pretty awesome.

I'm also a big enough fan of the bridge to get it inked on my skin ... Although mine is a slightly different style than the other two you posted.

I'm originally from New Jersey, and used to drive over the bridge on a regular basis to my Army duties at Fort Hamilton ... I also wanted to run in the NYC Marathon for many years growing up, and finally did so in 2004 (and again in 2006) and decided to commemorate the occasion with a little inking."

Needless to say, it's a phenomenal piece. I, too, am partial to the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, as I can turn my head to the left as I type this at my computer, and see it through my window.

Josh had the tattoo done by an artist named Mark Van Ness at Blue Flame Tattoo in Raleigh, North Carolina. Work from Blue Flame has appeared twice before on Tattoosday.

Josh elaborated on the piece in a follow-up e-mail:

"...I was inspired by the works of artist Barbara Bascove, who's painted dozens of New York City landmarks in her unique style. I loved the dark, rich tones of her paintings, and decided to get my tattoo along the same lines. I used the same angle / template from one of her paintings of the George Washington Bridge, and just had the tattoo artist replace the GW towers with those of the Verrazano."

The piece, which Josh says took about five and a half hours over two sessions, is one of several tattoos that he has. You'll have to wait until a later date for us to share those here at Tattoosday.

Thanks again to Josh for sharing his awesome Verrazano Bridge tattoo with us here on the site!

Verrazano Redux

Just the other day, I posted a cool graffiti-style tattoo of the Verrazano-Narrows bridge, which connects Brooklyn to Staten Island.

While on the bike on Sunday, I spotted another amazing bridge tattoo. How amazing? Another Tattoosday first: I pulled up along side the owner of the piece while he was riding his bike and he pulled over to tell me about it.

This tattoo, which is a colorful depiction of the V-N Bridge during a sunset, was inked by Joe at Brooklyn Ink. The piece belongs to Paul, who knows, whenever he sees the bridge, he is close to home. One could say, then, that by wearing it on his left shoulder, the bridge is always close
to him, even when he is out of town.

We talked about the beauty of the stretch of shoreline which runs along the south of Brooklyn. Paul and I have a lot in common in that we love to take pictures of the bridge. In fact, check out these shots I took in January 2007 which are here on BillyBlog. The sunset always seems to be spectacular with the Verrazano in the foreground.

Paul has several other tattoos, one of which is slated for a future, more fitting, post in the next few weeks.

Thanks to Paul for sharing this tattoo with us!

As always, you can see work from Brooklyn Ink that has appeared previously on Tattoosday here.

Under the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge

As mentioned in the previous post, I was having some luck spotting some tattoos while riding my bike along the path that runs along the southern tip of Brooklyn.

Last weekend, I was riding north and passed a woman sunbathing in a bikini in the grass along the bike path. I noticed she had some sort of intricate pattern inked on her foot. Yes, I am that committed to Tattoosday that when I see a woman in a bikini, I notice her foot!

However, I chose not to stop and disturb her and kept riding. Yet, the image of her tattooed foot hounded me, and by the time I had reached the 69th Street Pier and grabbed some water at a local store, I had decided to head back a couple of miles and see if she was still there.

Of course, she was gone. I stopped my bike and looked at the spot where she had been and thought of what might have been. I checked the time on my phone and was getting ready to head home when a guy named Danny walked by on the path. He has 12 tattoos. I approached him and we started talking about his ink.

Danny offered up this lower back piece:


This seemed the most appropriate tattoo to discuss as we were standing under the Verrazano Bridge. This long shot gives a better idea of the appropriateness of the tattoo:


Danny is Brooklyn-born and raised, and a lot of his friends growing up were graffiti artists. This street-style tattoo is true to his upbringing and a key element of his roots in South Brooklyn.

The piece was inked by Mr. Kaves at Brooklyn Ink. Danny explained that Kaves ran Brooklyn Ink before the current owner Joe had the shop (he has work by Joe as well). There's a nice piece about Mr. Kaves in Prick Magazine here.

Kaves is a founding member of The Lordz, a well-known rock-rap band. They were featured in five episodes of a show called "The Brooklyn Way" which aired on FUSE. The show website is here.

As an added bonus, here's a clip of the Lordz, featuring Everlast, performing their song "The Brooklyn Way":



Thanks to Danny for sharing his Brooklyn ink with us here on Tattoosday!