New York tattoo artist “Bang Bang” (we don’t know if that’s his legal name or not; if it is, then we’re strangely impressed) has long been known as an artist to the stars, but it appears he’s also a canvas to the stars, because he lets his clients work on him. People like Rihanna, Chris Brown, Katy Perry, Amar’e Stoudemire, Baptiste Giabiconi, and now Justin Bieber have all put their mark on the professional marker. Yes folks that’s right, a respected professional body artist has allowed the guy who sings “Baby” to permanently mark his leg; fortunately the tattoo didn’t turn out too bad…although the subject matter leaves a bit to be desired.
During a recent trip to Bang Bang’s New York shop, the Biebs inked a design of his cartoon alter-ego on the renowned artist’s calf. This alter-ego happens to be a cartoon mouse named “Swaggy”…who also has his own tattoo…and a six pack…and weird feet. As a group people who have crossed the line where the actual content of their ink now matters less than the story attached to it, we can understand allowing a random famous person to ink your leg in the name of running a good bussiness and getting good publicity, but why the hell would anyone want to be a mouse named “Swaggy”? To each his own; we guess. The new ink was part of an exchange between Beiber and the shop owner, who gave Justin the name of his new album (“Believe”) on his left forearm.
The new lower arm work is just the latest in a slew of tats for the “If I Was Your Boyfriend” singer. The Canadian-born pop prince has been getting inked since his mid-teens, and his collection already includes a Greek Chi (looks like an “X”, means “Christ”), praying hands with roses around them on his calf, Jesus on his leg, the Hebrew word for “Jesus” om his ribs, an owl, a crown, and a Japanese Kanji (it means “music”). We’re sure that he has more ink in his future, as he’s been so consistent with his work in recent years and he’s still in the middle of his prime tattoo years. We expect his to end up with a full sleave at some point, probably when he tries to transition to “more serious” music in a couple of years. We look forward to it, because say what you will about him as a person and an artist (we have plenty, trust us), but the kid usually has nice work done.
