Tattoos

Horiyoshi III free handing like that is pretty crazy to watch.

Meaning in other cultures tattoos are always tricky territory. I find it pretty interesting how many tattooists you get doing Japanese work. I always wonder if there's some meaning in the composition some of them might be missing. It's interesting how cultures tattoos have spread so far though nowadays.

One of my friends at work speaks Russian and was really fascinated with the Russian Criminal Tattoo Encyclopedia's. He had loads to say about it all because his other half's Russian and they spend a lot of time over there.

I'm pretty sure there is a whole heap of meaning in the composition, koi swimming up your arm means something different to a koi swimming down, certain things shouldn't be put togother in the same piece, figures should be facing certain ways to mean different things etc.
I'm also pretty sure most of the artists in the western world don't have a clue about any of it.