Largest tattoo exhibition ever comes to Barcelona art gallery

The largest exhibition on the history of tattoos arrived in Barcelona on Tuesday at the CaixaForum art gallery.

‘Tattoo. Art Under the Skin’ is a collection of over 240 historical and contemporary works, including paintings, drawings, photographs, audiovisual displays and books, as well as objects such as tools, masks and stamps.

The show documents tattoo artists and tattooed people both past and present to explore the development of the art form into one of global artistic expression.

The works originate from all corners of the globe, from Japan to the USA, France to Polynesia.

Among the tattoo artists with their work on display is 104-year-old Filipino Whang-od Oggay, considered the last to use the traditional handmade batok method.

Other renowned artists with works at the show are Horiyoshi III, Filip Leu, Mark Kopua, Kari Barba, Colin Dale, Jee Sayalero and Laura Juan, from Madrid, whose work reflects on social isolation and uncertainty during the pandemic.

The exhibition has been produced and organized jointly by the Musée du Quai Branly - Jacques Chirac museum in Paris and the “la Caixa” Foundation.

The exhibition will run until August 28, and tickets cost just €6, and are free for under-16s, and clients of the La Caixa bank.

Elsewhere at CaixaForum

Further to the tattoo exhibition, visitors to the gallery will be able to see the show on the surrealist artist René Magritte, as well as witness the newly-restored tapestry originally made by Joan Miró.

Outside the site, there will also be a new vertical forest on the old wall of the Metallurgy Palace, part of Fira Montjuïc congress hall, featuring 22,000 plants from 40 different species and 15 suspended trees of nine varieties.