With tattoos covering thousands of people, over 20 books published and artwork exhibited in galleries and museums worldwide, Spider Webb has quite the knack for all things involving tattoos. And with over 200 designs on TattooFinder.com alone, he also knows a thing or two about tattoo flash! Spider's introduction about tattoo flash, given to us before our interview with him, shows his true passion for the art form. Check it out...

With a simple and well executed design nothing is lost, but lack of detail. All the detail can be constructed in the viewer’s mind without cluttering the actual piece. For example, every scale of a serpent does not need to be rendered to capture the essence and movement of the snake. With a few well executed lines, the snake can be very aggressive, passive or evil. Therefore, well-executed flash, beautiful lines and intelligent placement of colors set up no confusion and tell a story so clear that even a child could understand and appreciate it. The urge to create art and tattoo oneself is a fundamental human pursuit. No other creature on planet earth does it. Art and tattoo is a match made in heaven and practiced on earth. Being a part of this chain of events is a very nice pastime between life and death. I created my first flash a thousand years ago and I’m still at it with no end in sight. - Spider Webb

TattooFinder: Thanks for this interview, Spider. We wanted to start off with your thoughts on a somewhat historical note. You’ve written before that in 1890 the Europeans really started picking up on tattoos. Then by the 1940s and 50s it was almost “taboo” in America. How have tattoos in the U.S. evolved from being taboo to being a huge part of mainstream society?

Spider Webb with fellow TattooFinder.com artist Friday Jones

Photo © 2008 Brad Hutchison Used With Permission

Spider: The same thing that happened with, let’s say, playing pool, going to bowling alleys, pornography, motorcycles ... just having fun. People saw other people having fun, which was taboo at the time, and they started thinking, "Well, maybe that’s OK, I’d like to have a little fun too."

TattooFinder: But why had tattoos become taboo?

Spider: Because of religion — that f$@#&%g shit’s down the toilet now. I mean, people don’t buy that anymore. It’s all organized religion. And that’s just another word for politics, isn’t it?

TattooFinder: Anymore, absolutely!

Spider: F$%#@n’ A, so there you go. People take so much shit. They’re going to f#%$@n’ pick up their pitchforks and march to the castle. But before that happens, people need to f&%@$#g loosen up a little with this shit. You know, let them play some f#$%&@g pool! All those things I mentioned like motorcycles, bowling alleys and things that people really enjoyed that were natural things to do — gambling and stuff — that is all f@$#&%g natural stuff! So they [authorities] threw back some of the coins, and tattooing was one of the coins they threw back. You can’t f$%#@&g stop it, so what do you do? You try and regulate it.

TattooFinder: Speaking of regulations, tattoos generally aren’t that regulated overall in the U.S. However, the FDA is starting to look into the inks and pigments that tattooists use. What is your general sentiment about a federal regulation or state-by-state regulation?

Spider: Following the money. That’s what they’re doing, they’re following the money. My personal view on the thing? I don’t give a f@#k what they do. I’ve tattooed illegally, I don’t give a shit. It’s not going to stop. No one’s going to stop it, no one is going to stop tattooing. They can pull all the f&%$#@g regulations they want! You know? I could care less what the f@#$%&g federal government or any government does. You have to be your own little government. You can’t look to the other people to make those decisions for you. Be aware of consequences? So big deal! What are they going to do? Put you in prison? Wow, you’re going to stop tattooing in prison then, too?

TattooFinder: Lyle Tuttle believes that tattoos are more for women than for men. How do you respond to that?

Spider: What? Does have his f@#&$%g head up his ass? Stupidest f&$@#%g thing I’ve ever heard! [Laughs]

TattooFinder: He said that guys usually use tattoos to make themselves look like bad-asses, where as women like to use them to beautify their body. He thinks that that’s more poetic. How do you respond?

Spider: Like I said, what is he, a f&%@$#g idiot? That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. He’s one of my best friends — I’ve known that guy for 40-50 f@#$%&g years! He says really cool things because that’s what people want to hear. I mean, I don’t know if he really f@#$%&g believes that! So I don’t want to respond to it, but, well ... yeah, you can say I called him a f@#$%&g idiot, I don’t care! [Laughs]

TattooFinder: It seems like, while tattoos are in every culture and every aspect of life, no one can agree on anything!

Spider: That’s what I did when I said what [Lyle] said was stupid. Tattoos are like trees, they’re just there. They’re just like a f@#$%&g tree. And oh, someone just discovered it and thinks they discovered tattooing and they think it’s all f&@%$#g new. It’s nothing new under the sun. It’s just like a f#%$@&g tree! It’s just there. I don’t think it’s macho or this or that. Somebody has a f%@#$&g skull and they think they’re a tough guy. Some other guy gets a skull and doesn’t think that at all. Big deal, you know?

Photo © 2008 Brad Hutchison Used With Permission

TattooFinder: In your book, Pushing Ink, you say that it was the first book to approach tattoos as fine art. How do you see the evolution of tattoos as art from 1979, when your book was published, to 2002 when it was re-published, and into today?

Spider: It’s the same except that there are more people with fine art education that are getting into tattooing, where in the earlier days they didn’t. It was left to other people to do the tattoos. When I challenged the law in New York - 25 years ago or something - I called different art organizations to help support me to lift the ban on tattooing — all these different organizations in relations with art and every one of these f@#$%&g ass@#$%& said, “Oh, tattooing is not art!” That’s like saying a crayon isn’t art. Tattooing is a medium. Who’s got the f&%$#@g paintbrush? Who’s making the art? All it is, is making a mark. The first movie I’ve ever seen that showed tattooing in the light that should shine on it is called The Stone Cutter.

TattooFinder: Oh cool, we’ll have to check that out.

Spider: It’s a brilliant movie. It just shows what tattooing is all about. The whole movie is based on a circle, which is what all life is based upon, the way we understand it. You can take some f@#$%&g crystal, put it under a microscope, and it’s made out of round atoms. You can’t get away from it. There are no sharp edges in life.

TattooFinder: Unless it’s the one at the end of the needle.

Spider: Put it under a microscope ... it’s round. Look at the atoms. Look at the molecules. They keep getting smaller and smaller. You can’t get away from it.

TattooFinder: Interesting point. Going back to the idea of more trained fine artists entering the tattoo industry, some say there was a “Tattoo Renaissance” around the 1990s. They say there were a lot more people getting into the industry with fine art degrees, there was the birth of the Internet, there were conventions, more magazines started coming out for the public, instead of just trade magazines. How do you feel about that?

Spider: I think that’s when that group of people came into it. There’s a chapter in Pushing Ink where I talk about the future of tattooing, and I said it would be coming into its own in the 1980s. To me that’s more of an accurate call. Maybe that’s when f@#$%&g MTV was putting tattoos all over the f&%$#@g world — it wasn’t in the 90s, it was in the 80s! Lots of people would say the real tattoo renaissance started in the 60s. Again, you know, with birth control and things like that people were free to express themselves — f@#$%&g hippies running around. I’d have to say that in the 90s it was pretty much already established. The magazines, they were already f@#$%&g there, all over the world. The TV was there. The Internet, I don’t know if that was there, maybe that was in the 1990s. The f%#@$&g Internet is like a screen. It’s like a TV screen. People get their ideas about tattooing from things like MTV, where you jump on a worldwide thing where some f#$%@&g guy in China or Russia didn’t want a tattoo but then he sees his damn hero with a f@#$%&g tattoo. Now he wants one! Whoa, well now you got a f@#$%&g problem.

TattooFinder: Let’s talk about the commercialization of tattooing. A lot of people have tattoos today and, like you said, they’re all over the place — on TV, on the Internet, on T-shirts. How do you feel about that — the widespread avenues that tattoos have these days?

Spider: I don’t really think about it, but it’s f&@%$#g cool. I mean, yeah, why not? Why the f#$k not? It’s just like a tree. They’re there! People like the designs. It’s stuff they can relate to. Put them on T-shirts, put them on cards, I don’t give a s*#t. I think it’s great. The important thing with tattoo stuff is that it won’t go away. I’m staring at a tree while I’m talking to you, and with tattoos it’s just the same. You know? It just is. Do other people think that there’s some sort of conflict with the commercialization or something?

TattooFinder: It goes back to what you were saying about the government and following the money. They’re afraid that there are some people out there who are going to follow the money and make lousy ink, set up bad shops...

Spider: Yeah, you said the magic words right there. You said, “They’re afraid.” I rest my f%$@#&g case. They’re afraid, I’m not. There’s nothing to be afraid of. I don’t care about regulations, I don’t care about the f#$%&@g government, I don’t give a f@#k. There’s no fear! Once you have fear then you have some serious f@%#$&g problems. You worry about another tattoo shop, you worry about somebody making a T-shirt... How the f%@k are you going to live if you worry about that crap? I feel sorry for people that are afraid. I mean, what’s the worst? Prison? Been there, done that. I’m not afraid, I’m looking forward.

TattooFinder: What are your thoughts about re-working a tattoo versus cover-ups?

Spider: It makes no difference to me. It’s whatever the person wants. It’s their body, they should have what they want. If they want it covered up, they should cover it up. If they want it restored, they should restore it. Why look for somebody else to make that value judgment? It’s whatever people want to do with their own bodies.

TattooFinder: It’s always a pleasure chatting with you, Spider. It’s been great having you involved with the TattooFinder.com website — showing your flash off to the world. Visitors appreciate seeing it. And we appreciate the interview!