One of the finest people I ever met in my life was not tattooed. There wasn't a single dot of ink anywhere on his skin. The man was my grandfather.

Sure, he died when I was ten, but Marvin B. Parker probably had more influence on my sense of artistic balance than anyone I have ever met. It was Marvin, you see, who delighted and intrigued me from the start. Being a kid, I hated it when he bounced me on his knee, but loved to watch him "conduct" Mozart in his double-breasted suit and wire rimmed glasses in front of the Victrola. He'd flail his arms and bellow "ta-ta-ta-ta" in time to the music. What did I know? I thought every kid's grandfather did that.

And who could forget the fish? He had a large, perfectly tended aquarium stocked with flowing fantails and black Moors, spotted goldfish and special buffalo heads that came to the top of the tank for food when he rang a silver bell. And the cupboards and shelves of Chinese art. The rows and rows of snuff bottles, the blue and white porcelains, the Foo dogs. It was how he lived his life-surrounded by priceless beauty.

I don't know if Marvin knew much about tattoos. He never mentioned them as far as I can recall. He was an expert on Oriental art and had a wonderful collection of antique Japanese prints. I remember his lessons about selecting Ming dynasty snuff bottles, but I don't remember a single conversation about tattooing. So what has Marvin to do with SKIN&INK?

A great deal, for Marvin was the one that gave me my greatest gift, a sense of taste, a sense of balance in art. The ability to arrange and organize random objects into an aesthetic whole. He walked me through Chinatown in San Francisco and taught me to separate good art from bad. He traced his fingers over the perfect curve of a celadon vase in a way even I could understand. He taught me to recognize the passion of Rachmaninoff, the humor of Daumier, the delicacy of Manet. He gave me a gift. And that gift was a phrase; a few simple words to pinpoint the qualitative difference between the great and not so great.

"It may be worth seeing, but is it worth going to see?"

Just a simple message, but, oh so important. My grandfather's way of selecting the very, very best. That's why, when SKIN&INK hears about a new artist to feature, we ask ourselves, "He may be worth seeing, but is he worth going to see?

At SKIN&INK, we only bring you the artists worth going to see. It's the only way we fly."

Bob Baxter
Editor in Chief

baxter@skin&ink.com
www.skinandink.com