Hori Smoku Sailor Jerry
ACMI - Australian Centre for the Moving Image
Thursday 10 November 2011 to Sunday 13 November 2011
Exhibition
previously on
at
ACMI - Australian Centre for the Moving Image
in
Flinders Lane precinct,
Victoria,
Australia
In Hori Smoku Sailor Jerry (2009), director Erich Weiss delivers a biopic on the godfather of contemporary American tattoo art, Norman ‘Sailor Jerry’ Collins. Combining archival footage and anecdotes from Sailor Jerry’s renowned industry colleagues – Ed Hardy, Michael Malone, Lyle Tuttle, Zeke Owen and Eddie Funk – the film is a lively tribute to a true folk artist.
Setting up shop in Hotel Street, Honolulu – the place sailors went to get ‘stewed, screwed and tattooed’ during the Pacific War – Sailor Jerry was a committed libertarian, and considered the underground world of tattooing the “ultimate rebellion against the squares”. Despite his humble surroundings, he went on to advance the American tattoo industry through colour creation and machine building, and also introduced sterilisation.
After the Second World War, Sailor Jerry explored his interest in Eastern tattoo art by studying the work of Japan’s most revered tattooists, Horiyoshi II and Kazuo Oguri. Earning the honorary title of ‘Hori’ (Japanese for dig or carve), Sailor Jerry went on to fuse Eastern and Western influences in his designs, and in the process created his own signature style.
Location
ACMI - Australian Centre for the Moving ImageCorner Flinders and Swanston streets
Flinders Lane Precinct
Victoria
Australia
