Gagosian Gallery’s stand at the New York Art Book Fair at MoMA PS1 this month will include an unfamiliar feature: a tattoo booth. Visitors can choose from designs by gallery artist Douglas Gordon, or artists Genesis Beyer P-Orridge, Kim Gordon, or “freak folk” singer Devendra Banhart.
According to Art News, tattoo pros Fernando Lions and Gill Goldstein of Brooklyn’s Flyrite Tattoo will be doing the actual inking, however. Designs are priced at $250 and are available in an edition of six. So if you decide to get one you can rest assured that in a city of millions the odds of you being in the same room with somebody with the same tattoo as you are fairly low. (Except if you work in Chelsea or the Lower East Side.)
Having become a 16-branch mega gallery, Gagosian is perhaps seeking to get some edgy credibility back, and remain relevant to younger art collectors. Regardless, a mobile tattoo parlor certainly adds something new to the book fair.
As expected, the tattoos are selling out fast. All six available appointments to get Genesis Beyer P-Orridge’s design of a howling wolf are no longer available. Book your appointment for the remaining designs here.
Turner Prize winner Douglas Gordon designed a tattoo for the event. Courtesy of Rasmus/PatrickMcMulan.
Billed as “the world’s premier event for artist’s books, catalogs, monographs, periodicals, and zines,” the fair, which runs from September 15-18, attracts over 370 bookshops, antiquarians, artists, institutions, and independent publishers, with 28 sellers traveling to Long Island City from abroad.
NYABF16 will also host a series of programs and events running parallel to the main event including ‘The Classroom’ a curated program of informal talks, workshops, readings, and artist-led interventions. Meanwhile, the fair will also host the 9th edition of the Contemporary Artists’ Book Conference, featuring two days of discussions on issues facing the art book industry.