Monday, January 4, 2010

RUSSIAN CRIMINAL TATTOO






a few weeks ago i picked up a copy of the russian criminal tattoo encyclopedia vol. 1 and it blew my mind. this three volume series was put together by a russian prison guard who spent his lifelong career documenting over 3,000 prisoner tattoos. most of the tattoos are really, really intense -- these are a few of the more toned down ones. if you're into this kind of stuff i highly reccomend these books.

8 comments:

erin / atlantictreefox said...

man, so satisfying to look at. what a great book. i love the first one & the cat.

ms Givens said...

Intresting. I never would have guessed such a book exisited.

orange you lucky! said...

It's even more interesting if you could read russian. It's all 'destiny of pain' theme. I'd have to check out this book:) thanks.

Leililaloo said...

These images are fabulous, thanks for sharing them!!!

Catherine Shu said...

I have to echo ms Givens... I'd never have imagined such a book existed! These are so cool. I wonder what kind of hidden meanings and symbology they contain.
the renegade bean

Katy said...

Wow! I love the pipe-smoking cat!

Alex.Anikina said...

Oh, how on the earth amazon has something like this? If these are not translated in the book, I can do that for you.

Russian Criminal Tattoo said...

first tattoo:

I see my fate