Branded Pigs
What are these people doing? Of course! They are tattooing a pig with the pattern of the luxury bag brand Louis Vuitton. For those who want something more special than the mundane poached tiger pelt to decorate your home.
The tattooed pigs are a project by Belgian artist Wim Delvoye, who says his pigs are treated humanely and they are given sedatives before being tattooed. You can buy the tattooed pigs live or purchase their tattooed skins.
See also: Branded butterfly wings, Cat bag, human animal hybrid.
Now I’m not a “Partij voor de Dieren” or even “GroenLinks” voter, but this just seems…stupid. To me, this just seems like complete and utter waste of animals for a totally useless purpose disguised as art. Sure, he probably has some social statement he wants to make through this project. Artists and bullsh*t go hand in hand when it comes to making up statements.
Besides, LV and such could sue him for using their brand…and they should.
Also tattoo artists use pigs to practice their skills on, so the can improve it instead of tattooing someone else.
@ arik: before we move on with this discussion, I am curious: are you a vegetarian ?
Some interesting boomeranging metaphors going on here as well, as the notion of ‘branding’ stems from the branding of animals as a proof of ownership and only later became associated with corporations and the ‘branding’ of products. In this example the idea of branding returns to the source.
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Yet I was reluctant to tag it as a boomeranged metaphor. I am not sure whether this tag should be reserved for metaphors from the digital domain that boomerang into our physical environment or whether it should be interpreted more broadly?
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More on boomeranged metaphors: http://www.nextnature.net/?p=3473
@ Koert van Mensvoort: I love meat
First of all I am vegan and tattoed (a lot).
Tattoo artists have sinthetic skin where to practice much more resemblant to human skin than pig’s skin.
This is not the worst thing done to animals in our society but tells how idiot can disrespect towards other living beings be.
At least I can hope these “artists” get swine flu!
As a tattoo artist (learned through apprenticeship) myself I see nothing wrong with this. As a general rule of thumb I wouldnt do anything to an animal I wouldnt do to myself and I have several tattoos. Yes, a person has choice, but it is not likely that the pigs really care what art is or is not on them. It is no worse than feeding them a certain food before butcher.
I also think this would make a great learning aspect for tattooist. Yes, there is false practice skin and anyone whose ever apprenticed likely is familiar with honeydew melon, but something that breathes, moves and has muscle twitches is much different than any of those. This could bridge the gap and help further new artistic techniques as well.
For reference, no I am not vegan though I have many friends who are and I am involved with several rescue and non-profit animal groups… Neither of which changes my opinion of the matter.