O grotesco e o feio na tatuagem

Abstract

This work investigates the relationship between the aesthetics of ugliness, the grotesque, and deformation in the construction of an authorial production in contemporary tattooing. It starts from the understanding of tattooing as an artistic language and a body modification practice capable of articulating body, image, subjectivity, and visual expression. The research aims to analyze how aesthetic categories historically associated with estrangement, deformity, excess, and the rupture of beauty standards can operate as poetic resources in the creation of tattooable images. To this end, the study develops a theoretical-practical research approach, combining a literature review, visual analysis of works by contemporary tattoo artists, and the development of an authorial series. The theoretical framework draws on authors who discuss tattooing as a process, the body as an expressive support, ugliness as an aesthetic category, the grotesque in the visual arts, and deformation as a resource for subjectivation. In the practical part, composition studies, drawings, experiments on artificial skin, and freehand applications are developed, considering anatomical fitting, bodily flow, the contrast between ink and skin, and the visual translation of feelings. The analysis demonstrates that ugliness and the grotesque should not be understood merely as a negation of beauty, but as expressive potentials capable of translating affects, tensions, and subjective experiences. It is concluded that contemporary tattooing can be conceived as a poetic practice in which body, image, and process are articulated to produce visual, emotional, and symbolic meanings.