ASHEVILLE, NC.- The Asheville Art Museum presents Under the Skin: Tattoos and Contemporary Culture, on view through Sunday, October 29, 2006 at the Appleby Gallery. Tattooing has been practiced since prehistory, yet it has been only in the past decade or so that the art and practice of tattooing has moved from the margins towards the mainstream of American culture. The exhibition Under the Skin: Tattoos and Contemporary Culture brings together objects, photographs, tattoo ephemera, flash (tattooists’ drawings) and contemporary artwork to consider the effect and popularity of tattoo imagery and culture on America today.

The exhibition will comprise a selection of images and objects from various international sources, including Japanese, Native American, and Maori tattoos, which demonstrate the diversity of historical sources; a look at motifs and developments in American tattoo design since the 1930s as seen in the work of the most esteemed tattoo artists of the 20th and 21st centuries, including Thom deVita, Kandi Everett, Don Ed Hardy, Scott Harrison, Sailor Jerry, Ruth Marten, and Paul Rogers and art by contemporary artists whose work incorporates tattoo imagery or who consider tattooing to be a cultural phenomenon, including Vito Acconci, Nan Goldin, Kay Rosen, Thomas Woodruff and Sherri Wood. Western North Carolina tattoo artists and tattoo photography opportunities will be included with the exhibition and associated public programs.

Under the Skin: Tattoos and Contemporary Culture is sponsored in part by Greenlife Grocery, io design & illustration, Public Interest Projects and Vincenzo's Ristorante and Bistro. The exhibition is organized by the Asheville Art Museum and Curated by Ron Platt and Consulting Curator Ward Mintz.