The Story Behind...The Tattoo

The Story Behind Kelly Hailey's Tattoo

Robert Dyer is an eclectic Rockland artist who advertises on his website he’ll draw on anything, “paper, canvas, skin...” That led to a request from a friend, Kelly Hailey, to have Dyer give him a tattoo. Both happened to own a particular graphic novel, Jimmy Corrigan, the Smartest Kid on Earth by Chris Ware and appreciated the visually stunning artwork in the book, particularly around the innocence of the panels that depicted a kid using a mini microphone to record a bird in a tree.

Hailey explains, “The reason why I was drawn to this piece is because it had very modern, yet very antiquated, old world visual aesthetics. I went to school for sound design. To me, hearing is one of the most beautiful senses and this image that he tattooed on me from this book is all about that.” It took about two or three hours to sketch it out in black and white and add layers and color to the first panel. It is still unfinished and a work in progress.

“For me it was a homegrown, very organic, a beautiful piece,” said Dyer. “It was just a couple of hours with us talking about our lives as I tattooed. We became close—dove into our personal sides.”

Hailey chose to have the tattoo located on his right side from under his arm to just above the waist line. “I feel so many people are getting tattoos,” said Hailey. “I’m at a place where it’s much more of a private thing at this point. I don’t feel the need to show it off. This was just a conscious decision where I put it. I think if you are going to get a tattoo, it should resonate with you personally more than anyone else viewing it.”
 
For more of Robert Dyer’s artistic work go to www.dyerink.com
 
Panels:
Panel 1 is a bird in a tree.
Panel 2 is an image on an old fashioned cassette recorder.
Panel 3 are the kid’s fingers pressing “play” on the recorder
Panel 4 is the kid holding up the mini mic as the bird sings in the tree.