The Blue Tatoo Long Island

The Blue Tatoo Long Island is a site-specific painting installation which was created for the Salamatina Gallery by Gasper Jemec in August 2009. Jemec was immediately inspired by the concept of a large tattoo-like painting the moment he entered the gallery space.
This 10-canvas installation is designed to cover two adjoining walls of the gallery in a multi-dimensional expanse. Each canvas is painted on the front surface, as well as on the sides, so that the image is “stretched” like a skin around a body. The allusion to skin also serves as a reference to the function of a tattoo.

The work is executed in two colors: blue and white. Jemec chose this vivid combination because of the historic use of blue ink for the purpose of tattoos. According to surviving accounts, Pre-Christian Germanic, Celtic and other central and northern European tribes were often heavily tattooed and the Picts were famously tattooed (or scarified) with elaborate dark blue wood (or possibly copper) designs.

Tattoos have served as rites of passage, marks of status and rank, symbols of religious and spiritual devotion, decorations for bravery, sexual lures and marks of fertility, pledges of love, punishment, amulets and talismans, as well as to denote outcasts, slaves and convicts. The symbolic nature and impact of tattoos varies from place to place and culture to culture.

The story behind Jemec’s work, The Blue Tatoo Long Island, is a highly personal one. This intricate composition is based upon the artist’s impressions during a visit from his native Slovenia. Jemec’s narrative reflects his involvement with the people and landscape, as well as the magical moments he experienced. Jemec seeks artistic inspiration from his life, and believes that all of the universe can be revealed in a single moment … if the situation is right. He strives to capture this moment and to give visual form and color to his impressions, as well as a vocabulary of truth.

The Blue Tatoo Long Island is full of symbolic elements:
- curved lines are the personification of angels flying from the left into the center and then again on the right side of the installation.
- the flag, upper right, contextualizes the name and place.
- the wing or sail in the center can be utilized as a platform or landing spot for any kind of flying objects.
- The starglider alias “rice rocket” left of center, depicts a flying body of unknown origin.

- A mermaid on the far right represents the essence of an anonymous soul's beauty and excellence.
This dynamic work stands as a monument to the artist’s visit to Long Island and embodies his creative response to his travels and experiences, while visiting the North Shore.

By Robin Isabela Ahrens