Artist To Tattoo Designs From Red Hook's Library Of Obscure Books

RED HOOK, NY — A tattoo artist will set up shop in a bookstore this week to ink designs found in obscure books from a Red Hook library.

Doreen Garner, who recently held a pop-up shop in a Clinton Hill art gallery, plans to tattoo inside Pioneer Books, at 289 Van Brunt St., on Friday and Saturday. The flash sheets — pages of pre-drawn designs — were made by Garner with images from books in the Reanimation Library, which is currently housed in Pioneer Books.

Garner chose 35 designs from the more than 2,000 books in the library, which topics range from sports instruction to urban planning, to ink on people. The spots already booked up to go under the needle, but visitors can still check out the process during the event.

"The actual tattooing will be taking place in the library," said Andrew Beccone, founder of the Reanimation Library. "The library is going to be open all day so people will be able to come in and watch it as it happening."

Beccone started collecting image-heavy books for the library 15 years ago and started opening the library up in public spaces around the borough in 2006, with the hope people would come in to use the designs in their own work.

He said he doesn't choose books to preserve in the library that's just images, but usually outdated ones that use the images as references to teach or show something.

"You probably wouldn’t want to consult most of these books for the most current, up to date info," said Beccone. "They’re not like art books, the images themselves are sort of supporting cast to the text."

The space has held many events throughout the years and has frequently been the inspirations for visitors to get tattooed in the past.

"I certainly know people that have gotten tattoos from the library," said Beccone. "It’s a very, very common comment when people come and look at these books."

"Make It Last Forever..." will be held on Friday and Saturday from 12 to 8 p.m. at Pioneer Books. For more information, visit the Reanimation Library's website.

Image courtesy of Pioneer Works