THE TATTOO GRATITUDE SERIES


Stay At The Center | Ravi Zupa


TITLE: Stay At The Center
SIZE: 18 x 24 Inches
MEDIA: 2-Color Screen Print
EDITION: 75
PRICE: $65 + Shipping

STAY AT THE CENTER

This poster celebrates the incredible knowledge and moral understanding that we arrive with when we land here on earth. The double-headed eagle has adorned countless flags and crests across Europe for most of the last thousand years—usually symbolizing empire and imperial power.

It’s a beautiful image, but it’s largely associated with deeply anti-democratic forces and sentiments—forces that believe that human beings need controlling. Chapter 19 of the Tao Te Ching, on the other hand (the passage on the inside of the composition) is an optimistic read of the nature of human beings—one that lends itself very well to the philosophies at the core of democracy. Trusting in the goodness and order inside people often produces order. This is what the American founding fathers and those of the French revolution believed.

Chapter 21 of the Tao Te Ching wraps around the perimeter of the piece.

Stay centered and move toward the best version of yourself residing inside.

Stay At The Center | Ravi Zupa



TITLE: Stay At The Center 1 Color
SIZE: 18 x 24 Inches
MEDIA: 1-Color Screen Print
EDITION: 20
PRICE: $50 + Shipping



TITLE: It Is Inexhaustible
SIZE: 18 x 24 Inches
MEDIA: 2-Color Screen Print
EDITION: 75
PRICE: $65 + Shipping

IT IS INEXHAUSTIBLE

Every year around springtime, there seems to be a lot of chaos and upheaval. Perhaps this is partly because of the change of seasons as we recover from the darkness of winter and begin our return trip toward longer days. Springtime is a violent and destructive phenomenon first, before it gives way to birth and nurture.

This fourth piece in the Gratitude tattoo series depicts a dragon, a cat who has caught a snake and a peacock. The words for this print are chapter 35 of the Tao Te Ching, reminding us that we have tools to center ourselves and stay clean-minded regardless of what happens outside of us. Good advice for such a time. I like this chapter because it describes this kind of clarity as utterly boring and ordinary.

Stay alert, stay ready and always draw from the well of calm inside you. That well cannot run dry. It’s inexhaustible.

It Is Inexhaustible | Ravi Zupa


TITLE: It Is Inexhaustible 1 Color
SIZE: 18 x 24 Inches
MEDIA: 1-Color Screen Print
EDITION: 20
PRICE: $50 + Shipping

Baraq and Mahakala | Ravi Zupa


TITLE: Buraqu and Mahakala
SIZE: 18 x 24 Inches
MEDIA: 2-Color Screen Print
EDITION: 100
PRICE: $65 + Shipping

BURAQ & MAHAKALA

Mahakala is a character that is a fierce, chaotic form of Shiva (husband of Kali) in Hinduism and plays a significant role in Tibetan Buddhism. Like his wife, he is a symbol of time and thus is bound by no rules or structures of morality that we comprehend. Facing Mahakala is the most alarming and frightening event in the life of any consciousness, but it is important to remember that he is not our enemy.

Buraq is the brilliant, beautiful, being that carried a number of prophets, including Muhammad, to Heaven in the Islamic tradition. This drawing is inspired by the Indian and Persian depictions of him.

The text from this print is pulled from the Finnish epic poem “The Kalevala” (as was the text from the last two pieces in this series). In this section, a character receives instructions on how to conduct himself when he embarks on his first spiritual journey.

These instructions are also very basic, good advice for all of us when in the scary, disorienting, psychological spaces that we occasionally find ourselves.

Love.

Baraq and Mahakala | Ravi Zupa

SOLD OUT
TITLE:
 Buraq and Mahakala 1 Color
SIZE: 18 x 24 Inches
MEDIA: 1-Color Screen Print
EDITION: 20


Medusa and Rangda

SOLD OUT
TITLE:
 Medusa and Rangda
SIZE: 18 x 24 Inches
MEDIA: 2-Color Screen Print
EDITION: 200

MEDUSA & RANGDA

This print is the second release in the Tattoo Gratitude series. It depicts two very similar characters from very different cultures: Greece’s Medusa and Bali’s Rangda.

The words for this print are from a chapter in the Finnish epic poem, The Kalevala, that is rather harsh. In it, an old woman tells a young bride how her new life with her husband and his family will be painful, lonely and difficult. She gives detailed instructions on how to best perform all her arduous chores despite the thanklessness and cruelty she will receive in return. The old woman then goes on to tell how she did all of this good work and ended up hated, rejected and homeless after doing everything right. It’s a rough go.

The stories of Medusa and Rangda describe an archetype of young female power and intelligence that receives so much cruelty and abuse that it becomes hardened and angry. These characters then direct that anger outward, arbitrarily and with great destructive force. It’s the same archetype that we find in characters like Japan’s lantern ghost, England’s Morgan Le Fay, Mexico’s La Llorona, Stephen King’s Carrie and to some degree India’s Kali. Tupac was referring to something similar when he said, “The Hate U Give Little Infants, Fucks Everyone!”

Medusa and Rangda


TITLE: Medusa and Rangda 1 Color
SIZE: 18 x 24 Inches
MEDIA: 1-Color Screen Print
EDITION: 200
PRICE: $50 + Shipping

TATTOO GRATITUDE PROJECT

To demonstrate gratitude for adorning your bodies with my art, I’ve released a special timed edition poster for 2019. This specially designed poster is available ONLY to those who have given or received a tattoo featuring my work, or that is highly inspired by my work. The poster will not be available for sale.

It seems to me that most tattoos are a symbolic means by which significant people or events are marked. It’s a ritual of passage. I like this about tattoos. I like that human beings can’t help but be symbolic and artistic.

I’ve even met people who say things like “I don’t know anything about art,” or “I don’t understand art,” and I will discover that the same person has an image tattooed permanently on their body. What a strange and wonderful mystery that is.

INSPIRATION

The design for the print is inspired by art from Asia and medieval Europe, with the words pulled directly from the Kalevala.

I chose the text in part because of so many changes in my own life, but also because tattoos so often mark events or periods of hardship in order to move forward. Anyone with a tattoo of a fallen loved one understands this very well.

It’s an optimistic and encouraging reminder that we are not at the mercy of our own minds. We can all place hands on our own minds and shape them to better serve us—something that everyone is always struggling with.

Tattoo Gratitude | Ravi Zupa

TATTOO SUBMISSION

If you have a tattoo based on my art, I’d love to see it.  And as a thank you for wanting my art in your life in this very permanent way, I’d like to send you this gift – an 18″ x 24″ two-color print called Gratitude.

If you approve of me sharing your image on my Instagram, please include your handle below. If not, no problem.