Mike Ledger is a storyteller. He weaves tales of samurai, oni and other Japanese mythological creatures for clients who return for more week after week, year after year because his work has captured their imagination.

But Ledger isn’t a master of the spoken word. He’s a fine artist whose canvas is human skin.

Ledger is a tattoo artist who creates "bodysuits" based on Japanese tattoos that can wrap around the entire body. He runs a private studio in Palolo where clients become family as he spends quality time with them hour by hour, limb by limb.

"I start on the arms, then eventually I work on their backs, then eventually their legs. I get to know them — it takes years, with breaks in between. So my clients are like family now. I know their life stories, through getting married, having children, losing a loved one," he said.

Ledger said more than 50 of his clients have been police officers or firefighters who don "stories of protection," a common theme in tattooing across cultures.

"They want a protective guardian, and I believe tattoos can give protection," he said.

An exploration of tattoo work in Hawaii has brought the craft to center stage at, of all places, the Hono­lulu Museum of Art. The museum’s newly opened "Tattoo Honolulu" exhibit traces today’s tattoo artistry to Polynesia, Japan and the United States, and argues tattoo art has evolved into fine art.

Ledger’s work is featured alongside that of nine other contemporary tattoo artists, composing the main section of the exhibit. The show includes sections on military tattoos, cultural influences and tools of the trade.

Ledger’s drafting skills began when he was a tot growing up in 1970s Brooklyn, N.Y.

"My father was an artist. We were doing oils and watercolor by the time I was 5. For us, eraser and pencil was cheating. My dad said you should be able to do a line, so I used pen and ink," he said.

To this day, Ledger draws his designs freehand. "I use a Sharpie marker and then I tattoo."

Ledger’s imagery is rooted in Japanese woodblock prints.

The biggest influence on many tattoo artists who share Ledger’s style is 19th-century woodblock printer Utagawa Kuniyoshi, whose work "formed the basis for modern and contemporary tattoos in Japan," said Shawn Eichman, the museum’s curator of Asian art. "Although he was famous for his prints, Kuniyoshi was also known to have designed tattoos."

Eichman has selected 18 prints for the exhibit, including work by Kuniyoshi, to be rotated because the pieces are sensitive to light.

Traditional textiles on display also bear designs that might be drawn onto skin today. A Japanese firefighter’s jacket, for instance, is ornately decorated with images of deities and mythical animals associated with water to protect its wearer against fire. Barkcloth displays classic Polynesian patterns.

Keone Nunes’ work exemplifies traditional Hawaiian tattooing that relies on tools made of wood and bone, thick ink made with kukui nut, and a tapping technique. Nunes spends time with potential clients to determine whether they are a good fit for his style. He works out of Hale Ola Ho‘opakolea in Nanakuli.

"We set up an appointment and see if what folks want is compatible with what I do, which is a cultural tattoo."

While he creates designs for non-Hawaiians, extra care is given to clients of Hawaiian ancestry to find a design appropriate for their genealogy.

Either way, said Nunes, he takes clients "who want to experience something beyond that of a machine tattoo, who are as interested in the process as they are in the outcome."

HONOLULU Museum of Art director Stephan Jost said one motivation for the exhibit was the growing prevalence of tattoos in the United States. He recalls that while living in Ohio, he saw someone with a Polynesian armband tattoo whose only experience in the Pacific islands "was probably a week of drinking mai tais in Waikiki. … So the visual aspects of Polynesian tattoos are going global," Jost said.

When he came to work in Honolulu last year, he saw "the number of incredible, high-quality tattoos on people was crazy. I could see very distinct cultural influences in them."

Jost thinks this is a show that only Hawaii can offer and hopes the exhibit’s long run will bring new audiences to the museum.

"There’s a tension with tattoos," he said. "In certain parts of the world, it has status in a good way. In other parts, it has status in a bad way. It’s a very complicated tradition, and they’re all colliding in Honolulu like no other place in the world."

That collision extends back centuries, when 19th-century European voyagers stopped in Hawaii. Jacques Arago, a French artist and explorer who came to the islands in 1817, depicted Native Hawaiians bearing tattoos. Arago’s works are part of the museum’s permanent collection, and the exhibit features 17 of them. Yet the accuracy of the drawings cannot be confirmed, according to Theresa Papanikolas, the museum’s curator of European and American art.

"Arago was a tattooist, so we don’t know if he was documenting what he saw or using his own creativity in the designs of the tattoos," she said.

More than 100 years later, when Hawaii was a military hub during World War II, tattooing was in full swing. The Americana genre of tattoos evolved here thanks to the legendary Norman Collins, known as "Sailor Jerry," a merchant mariner who opened a shop in Chinatown. Collins raised the bar for tattooing with his high-caliber artwork, or "flash," tattooing techniques, and development of dyes and technology.

He specialized in Americana flash: nautical, female, weaponry and religious motifs that developed in New York as a form of protection for soldiers.

"Early artists gave soldiers cross tattoos to prevent them from being whipped on their backs," said Gina Caruso, film curator at the museum’s Doris Duke Theatre. "They thought it might make commanders think twice before whipping them."

Collins’ creativity fueled a desire for full-body tattoos, leading him to study Japanese bodysuits. Though he guarded his trade secrets, he passed on his knowledge to a handful of young tattoo artists including Don Ed Hardy, Mike Malone and Kandi Everett. As a result, "Sailor Jerry propelled tattooing as an art form," according to Caruso.

Hardy, whose flash has become a global brand on everything from sneakers and T-shirts to watches and perfume, followed in Collins’ footsteps by studying in Japan. He broadened the possibilities for tattooists by opening the first appointment-only studio in San Francisco in 1973, catering to clients seeking more artistic, personalized designs that often require multiple sessions.

Hardy, who is featured in the exhibit, said he believes the success of his product line stems from designs that are "bright, beautiful, powerful and strong. Classic flash appeals to basic human emotions."

Vince Hazen, director of the Hono­lulu Museum of Art School, seconds that thought, calling tattooing "part of human culture." He said that even the 5,000-year-old "Ice Man" wears a tattoo. Hazen and Allison Wong, museum deputy director, immersed themselves in Honolulu’s tattoo community before finding the 10 artists featured in the show.

The duo said that although tattooing is marginalized by associated stereotypes — that it’s for sailors, bikers and counterculture devotees — the work of good tattoo artists can stand as fine art.

"Their draftsmanship is so high, if you could transfer their work to paper, you’d see it in a museum," said Wong. "The true aspects of art are there."

"I don’t think there’s any question that this is an art form," said Caruso. "Fine tattoo artists have the ability to draw a line on the body. That takes courage, strength, concentration and confidence. There’s a whole craft involved."

"Some of these tattoo artists have an eight-month waiting list and charge around $200 an hour," said Hazen. "Everyone dreams of being a full-time artist, and these guys are successfully making a living on their artwork."

Sources
» Email tattoo artist Mike Ledger at mikeledgerinc@yahoo.com.
» Keone Nunes works by appointment. Email him at keonenunes@gmail.com.