Beneath the Skin

Form Follows Power, p. 191 (Stuart Ewen, 1988)
“Their bodies, often lightly oiled to accentuate definition, reveal their inner mechanisms like costly, open-faced watches, where one can see the wheels and gears moving inside, revealing—as it were—the magic of time itself. If this is eroticism, it is one tuned more to the mysteries of technology than to those of the flesh.”

This image of a popular tattoo style called "biomechanical" takes Ewen's critique of muscle-men a step further: A permanent image inked into this man's skin will forever portray a sense of a more realistic machine-man. Rather than well toned and oiled arms to display the inner-workings of his musculature, he has chosen instead to liken himself a robot or machine. Unlike the muscle-man who must work to keep his physique, this man denies that he even possesses muscles, and implies that he instead possesses a mixture of flesh and metal, thus creating some kind of super-human, strong and reliable, very much like the watch Ewen compares with.

In contrast, the image to the right shows a tattoo that intricately portrays the details of a man's musculature. Although the depictions of the muscles will not appear to operate in the same way that the ones beneath his skin do, this tattoo stays true to a fascination with how the human body works, and how it can be modified through exercise (and, obviously, tattoo guns).



Image Source:

http://www.tribal-celtic-tattoo.com/tends.htm

http://www.tattoonight.de/galerie/biomechanik/