Skin & Bone is a combination gallery and tattoo studio. The gallery will exhibit art and ethnographic handicrafts related to tattooing, while the studio will have Colin Dale tattooing alongside various guest artists throughout the year. Through his years of travelling and tattooing around the world Colin has had the pleasure to meet and work alongside a wide range of tattoo artists and experts working in ethnographic and other specialized styles. Amongst these friends, we have hand-tattooists from Borneo, Polynesia and Japan as well as some of the world's leading artists in Blackwork and Dotwork coming to visit. Check the homepage http://www.skinandbone.dk/ to see some of the work



Wednesday, 17 September 2014

Thor's Fishing Trip



Today is the Opening of "The Body Electric" an exhibition of art by tattooists 
being held at the Ricco/Mareska Gallery in New York.
I was contacted by the guest curator Margot Mifflin about exhibiting a few works in the show and was very honoured to do so... especially after seeing the quality of the artists list.
I presented two original pieces, both representing the saga of Thor's Fishing Trip.



Thor's encounters with his nemesis are legend, but perhaps the most popular of them is when he goes out on a fishing trip wth the giant Hymir. Hymir is described as being a bit reluctant to go fishing with Thor. When Hymir refuses to provide Thor with bait, Thor strikes the head off of Hymir's largest ox as bait. 
 They row to a point where Hymir often sat and caught flat fish, where they drew up two whales, but Thor demands to go further out to sea, and does so despite Hymir's warnings.
Thor then prepares a strong line and a large hook and baits it with the ox head, which JörmungandR/The Midgaards Serpent bites. Thor pulls the serpent from the water, so hard that his foot goes through the bottom of the boat. The two face one another, Jörmungandr dribbling poison and blood. Hymir goes pale with fear, and as Thor grabs his hammer to kill the serpent, the giant cuts the line, leaving the serpent to sink beneath the waves.


An 18th Century Icelandic manuscript illustrating the story

A Runestone/Picturestone from Sweden

One of my hand coloured prints of the original drawing and inspired by the runestone
(Temporarily out of stock)

The Midgaards Serpent tattooed on Jesper below some previous work

A new freehand piece showing Thor about to smite the Serpent with his hammer Mjolner

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