Richard Stremme is an interesting man with a purpose. As an artist, he was able to get his message out through his work. He was a part of  the “Underbelly Americana” culture in a band that created songs about the government and did graffiti regarding society. Stemme’s opinion of what art is seems to be that of the majority of the class. He agreed that art should evoke some sort of feeling or reaction to be regarded as art. He also quoted one of his professor’s who questioned what the point of art was if it didn’t reflect society in some way. I thought about this for a long time. Many people appreciate art for the face value of it, and others believe that art should have a meaning. These two views of the purpose of art led me into a conversation with Richard about tattoos. I had many questions for him regarding them because he spoke of how tattoos were a part of the Underbelly Americana culture. I was wondering if the intentions of the tattoo artist and the person being tattooed made the tattoo worth less. Is the tattoo not regarded as “art” if the image of the tattoo doesn’t mean anything to the artist? Or if the tattoo doesn’t mean anything to the person being tattooed? When I asked this question, Stremme answered with a story about his tattoo artist. He said that a bunch of girls came into her tattoo parlor to get a tattoo of a little fish for their sorority. The tattoo artist refused to do the tattoo because she knew that the symbol would not mean anything to the girls in the future. I found this interesting on the tattoo artists’ part. She could have made money from tattooing the group of girls, but she chose not to because of their intentions regarding the tattoo. I feel that her decision is that of a true artist. She decided not to do the tattoo because she knew the meaning of it would fade, despite the capital gain she would have received from tattooing every girl. In the end, Stremme concluded that the two viewpoints of art are acceptable. If a piece of artwork pleases someone, an emotion is evoked, and therefore the work can be regarded as art. If others believe that their art should symbolize something meaningful to them or to society as a whole, then that is acceptable as well. In Richard’s case, many of his works, including his punk rock music as a musician in God Squad, the posters and artwork he created for other bands he was in, the graffiti he did with another artist, Rev, and his tattoos all reflected his views of society and enhanced the meaning of life through his eyes.

I thought I posted this the other day, but as it turns out, I wound up saving it as a draft instead.