Cream the Barber

In light of the first San Francisco 49er home playoff game in nine years, we knew a special design had to be done.  Granted, this piece was done prior to the Monday Night football game against the Steelers, we anticipated the momentum would carry throughout the playoffs. 

In our quest to select the perfect portrait piece to model after, we narrowed our criteria down to the most recognizable, face of the franchise, past or present.  After careful thought, Joe Montana seemed to be the obvious winner.  This yields great meaning for myself as Joe was my childhood sports idol growing up.  Joe has several iconic self portraits, from magazine covers to candid football shots, but one stood out completely.  A black and white photo, which seemed to be after a victory, showed Joe almost in disbelief with his helmet tilted atop his head.  It was tough to nail the piece due to the fact that he was standing at an angle, but we tried our best.  We knew that the feature that would make this a Montana piece was his famous chin, anyhow.

Regardless of where Joe Montana finished his career, his veins, alike his fans, will always be goldblooded. Who got it better?? NOBODY!!

In some parts of Asia, a red, white and blue barber pole is used as a symbol for a brothel. While prostitution is illegal in many parts of Asia, laws against it are often not enforced to the degree that all public solicitations for it are eliminated. The barber’s pole is used as a euphemistic way of advertising a brothel, thus reducing the likelihood of police intervention.

In South Korea, barber’s poles are used both for actual barbershops and for brothels. Brothels disguised as barbershops, referred to as 이발소 (ilbalso) or 이용실 (iyongsil), are more likely to use two poles next to each other, often spinning in opposite directions, though the use of a single pole for the same reason is also quite common. Actual barbershops, or 미용실 (miyongsil), are more likely to be hair salons; to avoid confusion, they will usually use a pole that shows a picture of a woman with flowing hair on it with the words hair salon written on the pole.

Legitimate barbershops had first dibs on the barber pole in an effort to entice foreigners and local lames who aren’t hip to South Korean prostitution, women stand in windows and beckon customers to come on in. Once inside you almost always find an isolated chair in the corner with a shower curtain above. When the customer chooses his prostitute she starts out asking what kind of haircut he’d like? If you ever go, never request a fade. Just tell her you need your hair brushed or something simple, cause guys who ask for cuts come out with misaligned edge ups.

Well, you know what they say: sex is like being a barber. After an amazing cut, they always come back for more.

My latest piece is another Jun Cha tattoo inspired piece.  I’ve never done a woman as a design piece before, so I knew going into this, it would be a challenge.  In preparation for the piece, I was searching for various pictures of the classic, symmetrical, beautiful woman, and I came across Megan Fox.  I feel She possesses your standard, symmetrical, beautiful face that I was looking for.  Combining Her features with the girl tattoo piece (pictured below) by Jun, I finally settled on a proposed project.  Having a limited canvas, I had to make some adjustments such as the length of the gun barrel, the subtraction of the clown features, and making Her appear upright instead of at an angle.  In addition, I decided to add some gun smoke, as well.  Nonetheless, here it is.

This rider chick really do got Her Man’s back….literally.

Looking at old Indian sculptures we notice most of the menfolk were clean shaven, except wandering wise men, and even the ones with beards got them shaped by razors. The buddhist monks had a shaved head, and the various hindu sect priests also shaved most of their heads but kept a pigtail. The institution of barber is a very old one in India. Usually barbers belong to a hereditary caste or clan, variously called Mangali, Vostaad, Hajjam, Nayee, or Nayi-brahmin. They point out, since they take part in “purifying and cleaning” for everybody, they can jolly well call themselves Brahmin.

A barber was usually attached to a village, and was paid every harvest in sacks of grain, granted some land which he could till, a place to stay and obtained some tips. In turn he had to look after the hair of everybody in the village. In some villages hairy species of water buffalo too needed regular skin shaves. Village barbers moved around, bringing along their kit as they move from village house to house. Gradually barbers set up shop under a convenient shady tree or crossroads or markets. In small villages today, a ramshackle wooden shed serves as a barbershop. There is usually a big mirror, an ancient wooden chair with an adjustable neck rest for shaving, and a frayed and worn shiny rexine (PVC) cushion, invariably a deep red colour with coir curls coyly peeping out at the corners. The red colour with yellow piping seems to be mandatory.

A true craftsman can perform in any environment.

Top of the morning to You. It seems like it was just yesterday when the San Francisco Giants won the first World Series championship since moving to the city. It only took fifty years, but who’s counting. The streets were flooded black and orange, there was smoke in the air, and the smell of Hennessey lingered in the wind. People were hanging from street lights, and others danced while cars were being lit on fire. The old reuinited with the young, and missing school and work seemed to be accepted as a norm throughout the city. I was once told that my haircuts bring good luck. Maybe I should begin planning a forty niner piece sometime before the playoffs. Whether you area sports fan or not, you cannot deny the fact that sporting events truly unite all walks of life.