Sunday 5 February 2012

A bit of Hanky Panky

Hello again. Since I last blogged (yesterday) I've read a few more chapters of Stephen Fry's book and I'm fully conversant with Hendecasyllabic Iambic Pentameters with Trochaic and Pyrrhic Substitutions and, of course, variations with mixed feet. If there was a mid-term exam I'd fly through it. But I just can't feel inspired enough to actually create any. Yet. I've got 2 more weeks!
     However, my reading has freed me from the daily stomach-churning guilty conscience enough for me to tell you a bit about my visit to a new museum in Amsterdam: the Amsterdam Tattoo Museum (funnily enough!).
     When I was 15 or so my hero was Anthony Kiedis of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Hero? That should be heart throb! Long hair and tattoos. And plenty of nakedness. And I obviously loved their music, I still do (with the exception of 2 albums, including their most recent). Anyway, hours and hours and hours of gazing at said AK on MTV (in the days when MTV played good music) prompted me to get my very first tattoo. So me and my friend caught the bus to a renowned tattoo studio in Wigan (renowned for tattooing underages very cheaply). And I got a swallow on my shoulder blade for a fiver. I don't know why I chose a swallow. I was so nervous (I was 15 and looked about 12) that I just pointed to the first thing I could see. I don't regret it; it was that little bird that started me on my tattoo journey and I'm still proud of it, despite the smug smirks of a few tattooists (who probably have a few 'early' tattoos of their own!). It looks a little faded and past-its-best now, but then so do I! I reckon I'll keep it and treasure it forever.
     Many of the tattoos adorning Mr Kiedis were done by the infamous Dutch artist, Henk Schiffmacher. He has more recently had his name linked to a famous tattoo studio in the red light district called Hanky Panky, although he doesn't tattoo there himself. When I read in a magazine recently that he had opened a new museum in Amsterdam I knew I had to add it to the January pilgrimage itinerary. So, on a very cold day we made our way from breakfast at the flower market, just a mile to its spot opposite the Artis zoo. And the temperature was so unbelievably low that we had to interrupt the journey with a beer-stop at a cute little bar with a friendly cat. Life is tough sometimes.
     The museum seems to be casually split into 2 sections: downstairs for a brief history of tattooing from ancient cultures including Egypt and the Pacific islands. Be careful, though. I got shouted at by a rather abrupt moustachioed bloke for stepping into a bamboo hut that looked as though it was supposed to be stepped into. Inside were photos tacked to the wall that you need good eyesight to view from outside. They could do with a sign. In fact, signage was a little lacking all over the museum, and what there was was mainly in Dutch. However, the artefacts were fascinating and generally spoke for themselves. But watch out if you're squeamish! I had a slight hang-over and wasn't altogether prepared for the random jars containing, amongst other things, preserved dogs, foetuses and removed fingers.
     Upstairs things got more interesting, for me anyway. We moved onto more modern tattooing, focussing mainly on old-school Dutch, British and American artists. There was even a reconstruction of the Bristol Tattoo Club bar with a non-stop DVD running on a TV set.
     It's hard to believe that Henk had all of this stuff stored in his house. It's good to see it all on display and I hope that the museum continues to grow. Even for non tattoo fanatics it's definitely worth a visit.
     On the other hand, I really wasn't impressed by my visit to the Van Gogh museum. But I'll leave that one for another day. Right now I'm going to get the kids to bed and watch Hawaii Five-0. Bye x

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