GALLERY—SPIDER WEBB

November 1997

CONSUMMATE ARTIST, TRUE LEGEND—SPIDER WEBB

Spider Webb has been an indomitable force in the world of tattoo art. He was the first in so many creative areas. Recalling just one incident back in the ’70s, Spider exhibited—in a dramatic departure in what had gone before in the rather staid world of tattoo—half-naked, tattooed models at a very highfalutin art gallery in the heart of the Big Apple.

As his longtime friend Gatewood recounts: “The year was 1976. The place, the prestigious Levitan Gallery in New York. A heavily tattooed leatherman was playing ‘Amazing Grace’ on the bagpipes as I walked into the glittering exhibition space to see artist Spider Webb’s recent work. Hanging on the smooth white walls were giant photographic blowups of conceptual tattoos (showing, for example, digital time, tattooed on human skin). There were pictures of geometric shapes adorning body parts, plus a six-foot enlargement of a ‘tattoo brushstroke’ (an homage to painter Roy Lichtenstein). It was, I thought, one helluva curious show.

Even more interesting was the colorful crowd: Magicians and groupies, witches and priests, tattooed women with cut-out costumes revealing tattooed tongues licking sexy pierced nipples, and preening gay men with tattooed snakes slithering into secret hiding places. Adding to the frenzy were several television crews with lights and microphones, plus a hoard of flashing photographers, all circling the evening’s star, Joseph Patrick O’Sullivan, the celebrated body artist known as Spider Webb.”

Even more interesting was the colorful crowd: Magicians and groupies, witches and priests, tattooed women with cut-out costumes revealing tattooed tongues licking sexy pierced nipples, and preening gay men with tattooed snakes slithering into secret hiding places. Adding to the frenzy were several television crews with lights and microphones, plus a hoard of flashing photographers, all circling the evening’s star, Joseph Patrick O’Sullivan, the celebrated body artist known as Spider Webb.”

Spider was arrested for tattooing in front of Manhattan’s Museum of Modern, and, just in case somebody missed it, the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (for inking porn star Annie Sprinkle). All this in protest the city’s then ban on pushing ink. Who will forget the tattooed fetus, the thousand X project (a large X made up of one thousand tiny tattooed Xs), his flamboyant crowd-pleasing style, his electric crutch? But nothing approaches Spider’s dedication and almost-crippling months bent over a drafting table drawing poster after poster to commemorate the horror of the 9/11 tragedy (“Death from Above—The Drawings of Spider Webb,” Skin&Ink, November 2007). New York was Spider’s city and he poured out his heart in mourning its loses.

Books about and by Spider are countless. Among his Schiffer titles (www.schifferbooks.com) are Military Flash, Tattooed Women, The Big Book of Tattoos, The Great Book of Tattoos, Heavily Tattooed Men & Women, Historic Flash, Dragon Flash and Spider Webb’s Classic Tattoo Flash.

Presented here is a small sampling of Spider’s collection of over four thousand pieces of hand-drawn, original flash art. Reproduced in both simple pencil-line and finished-color renderings, this perfect reference portfolio is Spider’s gift to budding artists and seasoned pros alike. Our grateful appreciation and heartfelt thanks to this legendary pioneer and unforgettable character. It was Spider who made innovation and outrageousness a sorely-missed attribute in this incessantly diluted world of body art. Truly, when God made Spider Webb, She broke the mold.

Long live Spider Webb’s eagles. Long live Spider Webb!

SPIDER WEBB

Charlotte, North Carolina

http://www.Spiderwebbusa.com