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Mondrian Meets Heisenberg
I liked my first tattoo so much that I decided I wanted another one, on my other hand. But, as before, I wanted an unsual tattoo, not one using typical tattoo concepts.
One of my favorite artists is Piet Mondrian. His goal was to reduce art to its most basic elements. He eventually wound up with four directions (up, down, left, and right), four tones (white, light gray, dark gray, and black) and four colors (red, yellow, green, and blue). The 1920 painting at left is an exemplar of his work.
I also wanted the new tattoo to reflect something about me, something mathematical, and the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle came to mind. It was revolutionary in that it added probability to the older, clockwork models of the universe. So, I was thinking that perhaps I could add some randomness to the Mondrian blocks. The result was the design at the right for a tattoo:
The idea was that the uncertainty principle–the inquality in the tattoo–would randomize the blocks as they moved from my wrist to my fingers. Here’s how it turned out:
As before, Steven did an amazing job with this difficult design. It turns out that straight lines are especially difficult to do in tattoos (as well as in real life). Your skin stretches, for one thing, and, for another, the surface isn’t flat. But, true to form, Steven was masterful in getting this one transferred to my skin, including all the tiny little Mondrian squares and the bright colors.
Also, as before, I could barely feel the needle while he was etching the lines and filling in the squares.
He really is a master at this art.
Meantime, Steven decorated Mr. Gene’s ruler with full-fledged tattoo art, so. instead of just a ruler, Gene’s now got a proper tattoo sleeve on his left arm. Of course, that means I want one, too.
That’s another blog….
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