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Old 02-12-2009, 14:15
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Richeys tattoo's

Im wondering, did Richey use designs he'd found or did he design his own? they've always seemed quite unique to me, but maybe he saw them and liked them?
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Old 02-12-2009, 20:38
Bryter Layter Bryter Layter is offline
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They look to be his own designs, though, other than "Useless Generation" (actually, this may have been taken from somewhere else as well - I'm not sure) the content of his last three tattoos, is not his own.

The two on his shoulders are intepretations of the 'Inferno' portion of Dante's 'Divine Comedy'. Although the image of Jerusalem/Hell/Purgatory is a fairly common visual interpretation of that allagory, he does seem to have added his own touches to it. The other tattoo with the concentric circles does appear to be completely his own design. It looks as though he's taken the passage concerning "traitors", etc and placed it in a similar fashion as the 9 circles of hell. I've never seen that passage visualized that way before so it's most likely his own design/interpretation. Unfortuantely, I'm not a Dante scholar so I can't confirm that however.
To my knowledge, I don't think he ever explained those tattoos, but it would have been interesting to know why he chose them, particularly his concentric circle design.

I'm not sure if I helped much other than to confirm what you probably already know...they were his designs based on external influences - well, at least his last three were definitely based on other ideas and thoughts.

Last edited by Bryter Layter; 02-12-2009 at 20:52.
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Old 02-12-2009, 21:21
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this seems pretty similar to one he had, if I'm remembering correctly?

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Old 02-12-2009, 21:31
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Quote:
Originally Posted by TheGreatPretender View Post
They look to be his own designs, though, other than "Useless Generation" (actually, this may have been taken from somewhere else as well - I'm not sure) the content of his last three tattoos, is not his own.

The two on his shoulders are intepretations of the 'Inferno' portion of Dante's 'Divine Comedy'. Although the image of Jerusalem/Hell/Purgatory is a fairly common visual interpretation of that allagory, he does seem to have added his own touches to it. The other tattoo with the concentric circles does appear to be completely his own design. It looks as though he's taken the passage concerning "traitors", etc and placed it in a similar fashion as the 9 circles of hell. I've never seen that passage visualized that way before so it's most likely his own design/interpretation. Unfortuantely, I'm not a Dante scholar so I can't confirm that however.
To my knowledge, I don't think he ever explained those tattoos, but it would have been interesting to know why he chose them, particularly his concentric circle design.

I'm not sure if I helped much other than to confirm what you probably already know...they were his designs based on external influences - well, at least his last three were definitely based on other ideas and thoughts.
This is so interesting! I did quite a bit of research on Dante at university so I'll have to go look at pictures of the tattoos again (somehow over the years I've managed to overlook most of Richey's tattoos so I had no idea). Thanks for the info!
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Old 02-12-2009, 21:35
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The two circular ones a both from Dante's Inferno, a quick google image search will show you that.

This is where the more obscure one comes from
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Old 02-12-2009, 21:40
Bryter Layter Bryter Layter is offline
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Not exactly. His tattoo followed the same scheme, but I believe he had placed the passage concerning "Caina, Ptolomea, Judecca, Traitors to Kindred, etc" (sorry, can't remember either the actual passage or his exact tattoo) within each circle. No idea why he did this, but the content must have meant a great deal to him.

I'm hoping someone who knows more about the 'Divine Comedy' could perhaps shed more light on the design of that particular tattoo.

EDIT: Cheers, Less Than Zero! I've never seen that visualization before...thanks for finding it.
Yep, that's his exact tattoo from what I remember. So it is a replication tater than an original design. Interesting!

Last edited by Bryter Layter; 02-12-2009 at 21:43.
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Old 02-12-2009, 22:43
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I had wondered whether the "Useless Generation" rose came from some pre-existing imagery, since it's such a specific design. The rose is on this plaque-type thing in this picture, though I'm not sure whether it was made after the fact:


These are some of the pics where they can be seen the best:



EDIT: Oh yeah, and this was from Richey's stuff in the JFPL extras thing, I think:

Last edited by MarilynRoxie; 02-12-2009 at 22:53.
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Old 02-12-2009, 22:54
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This the diagram the other side comes from. The ground either side has been embelished, and the roses have been added as a generic tattoo motif, just as the 'useless generation' and 'I'll surf this beach' ones are- straight out of a tattoo shop catalogue just with his own wording. The 'useless generation' certainly isn't a his own design other than the words, which are interchangeable with 'mum'.

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Old 02-12-2009, 22:58
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Old 08-12-2009, 16:16
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MarilynRoxie View Post
I had wondered whether the "Useless Generation" rose came from some pre-existing imagery, since it's such a specific design. The rose is on this plaque-type thing in this picture, though I'm not sure whether it was made after the fact:
I'd not seen this photo before, so thanks for that Marilyn. I love that self portrait by Van Gogh that is just behind him, one of my all time favourite paintings.

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Old 08-12-2009, 16:23
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MarilynRoxie View Post
I had wondered whether the "Useless Generation" rose came from some pre-existing imagery, since it's such a specific design. The rose is on this plaque-type thing in this picture, though I'm not sure whether it was made after the fact:
the pic taken after the fact, from GATS era (by late Ray Palmer) and The Rose appeared on GT cover before.
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Old 08-12-2009, 17:15
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Just out of interest, does anyone know when Richey had the Useless Generation tattoo done? Was it at school, uni, when he joined the band? It's always struck me as a pretty big tat to have done as your first stab at it.
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Old 08-12-2009, 18:27
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what about this tattoo?


have you got a close-up?
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Old 08-12-2009, 19:46
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the pic taken after the fact, from GATS era (by late Ray Palmer) and The Rose appeared on GT cover before.
Oh I know it's after the fact because of his appearance - I was just pointing out that there was a plaque there with that same image on it, which I'm guessing could've been the source of that design.
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Old 08-12-2009, 20:15
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I like the I'll surf this beach one.

Edit: I've never noticed how un-even the ones on the top of his arms are.
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