Tattooing is the act of using a needle with ink to pierce the bottom layer of the skin and then draw a beautiful pattern.
In ancient China, tattoos were called tattoos. The tattooed person merges his beliefs and ideals with the pain caused by the tattoo, giving himself new sustenance and hope.
From ancient times to the present, tattoos are tattooed on their own bodies, and the pain is their own, so it does not matter whether it is right or wrong.
But have you ever heard of tattooing live pigs?
Wim Delva, for example, sprinkled his artistic inspiration on the skin of live pigs through tattoos.
The famous luxury company Chanel bought his pig skin at a high price, made it into two pig skin handbags and sold it, and Delva made a net profit of 500,000 yuan.
What kind of "art maniac" makes ordinary pig skins create such a high value?
"Art Maniac" Wim Delva
Born in Belgium in 1965 to a family of farmers, Wim Delva used to help his father and take care of the animals on the farm. In his spare time, he likes to carve strange and unique patterns on waste.
Delva was very creative at a young age, he was funny, willing to share his unique ideas with others, the most popular on the farm was animals, and the observation of animals over the years made him have many unclear artistic appeals in his mind.
Delva's artistic performances always challenge the world's perception of public order and good customs, and his works are constantly controversial.
Delva
Repeatedly challenging the boundaries of the art world, the maverick Delva was called an "art maniac" when he studied at the art academy, and was expelled before he could finish his studies.
His parents were very enlightened, and the people of Belgium were very tolerant of all kinds of strange ideas, and Delva's study of strange art was in full swing under the indulgence of those around him.
He likes to collect things that people think are scrap. For example, old car tires that can no longer be used are then carved with small carving knives with flowers, scrolls and various types of cutout designs. He enjoys the process of "scrap" regaining value.
It was in this unfettered, relaxed social environment that Wim Delva grew up and became a local folk artist, who had no prominent artistic background or outstanding artistic talent, but his head was full of curious ideas.
Delva on the farm
In 1997, 32-year-old Delva passed by a farm where a group of children were playing around a pig, which piqued his interest and when he stepped forward to check it out, he found themselves scribbling on the pig's body.
"Inspiration hit me, I'm going to give the pig a tattoo."
Delva didn't like pigs since he was a child, he helped his father take care of the farm when he was a child, he hated feeding pigs the most, pigs have long fat heads, big ears, full of filth, and can smell not very wonderful smells from afar.
Unless it's a roasted pig that's plated, Delva doesn't want to touch it.
But the children's behavior inspired him as an artist, and the children spontaneously used the brush in their hands to paint on the pig's body, just as a tattooist paints on the human body and carves a mysterious pattern.
Delva gives pigs tattoos
Delva was inspired to find that his artistic creations were still too conservative and vulgar, and that artists should be different and unconventional.
When all was said and done, Delva immediately bought a piglet from the farmer next door at a high price, and rinsed the piglet repeatedly until there was no strange smell that could not be accepted.
Then two friends were summoned, who had long been accustomed to the crazy behavior of the "crazy artist", and helped Delva carry the piglet to a large table and shave the pig's hair.
At the same time, Delva found a tattoo machine.
Delva is giving pigs tattoos
It is not easy to get a tattoo of a piglet, tattooing is a very painful thing, and when there is a large area of tattoos, the tattooist will use anesthetics.
The same goes for giving the pig a tattoo, Delva asked his friend to hold down the piglet, give it an injection anesthesia, and then tie it up, he is not sure if the dose is enough, if the piglet is half awake, he will give up.
Afraid of what was coming, Delva's tattoo was only halfway through, and the piglet woke up, twisting the pig's head on the table, issuing a terrible scream, and the first live pig tattoo was declared a failure.
The area of the pig's body is also very large, even if it is only a small pig, Delva naturally can not only tattoo a small area on the skin of the pig, which is not in line with his artistic pursuit. But the tattoo takes quite a long time, and he can't use too many doses of anesthetic at once, which would endanger the life of the pig.
Delva continued to anesthetize the piglet he bought, and the piglet would be unconscious for two hours at a time, and he continued to work on the pig skin.
Two days later, Delva finally completed his first pig skin tattoo, but the poor little pig was beaten for two days in a row, and could not withstand the devastation, and with a whimper, Delva had to make it into a specimen.
Word of tattooing live pigs soon spread, and the locals became aware of the "art maniac."
Eye-catching live pig tattoo
Delva knew very well that if it could be done so easily, how could it be called art? Learning from the failed experience of piglet death, he began to make a detailed plan.
The first is to buy another batch of piglets, this time Delva decided to use multiple tattoos, taking into account the pig's ability to bear, every two weeks for two hours of anesthesia, and then according to the plan, only a small part of each tattoo, when tattooed, but also need the help of people around to keep the pig skin moist.
Delva's work
At first, Delva gave the pig a tattoo alone and found that the progress was too slow. He called two more artist friends to help, and his patience was excellent, so he stuck in time, tattooed on the anesthetized pig every day, and half a year passed, and a special batch of pigs appeared in Delva's studio.
These pigs are hairless throughout, and the smooth pig skin is printed with "artistic" patterns left by electric ink pens, such as Disney princesses, the same tattoos of Russian prisoners, and logos of various luxury goods.
These tattoos gave the pig a special beauty, and Delva tried to hold an exhibition that caused an uproar in the art world.
Some people don't understand, why let the pigs suffer this kind of pain? Some people are very fond of tattooed pigs, believing that there is a high artistic value, and many people buy it at a high price.
Delva carefully selected a few of his most satisfactory tattooed pigs to sell, and obtained a good income.
Not long after, Delva came to Shunyi, Beijing, China, and opened a pig farm in the suburbs that specializes in raising tattooed pigs. At this time, Delva already had a small savings, directly bought a hundred piglets, ready to make the tattoo pig art bigger and stronger.
When a pig is bought, it is just a very ordinary animal, and for the public, the pig's final destination is processed into food, but after the tattoo creation of Wim Delva, the pig has become a living work of art.
There is a market where there is demand, and de Waal has repeatedly exhibited his own work of art, "Tattooed Pigs", which are sought after by many merchants, who spend thousands of dollars to buy these pigs with "patterns" and then sell them for a higher price.
Delva also made a lot of money, and a few tattooed pigs on the pig farm made more money than they made before the age of 32 combined.
Tattooed pig exhibition
Convince Chanel
Wim Delva's growing fame attracted the attention of some organizations and businesses, and resistance followed.
Members of the Animal Protection Group strongly opposed the practice of tattooing pigs because of the intense pain of tattoos, and they believed that Delva's artistic acts caused severe mental and physical damage to animals.
Delva did not think so, and he replied with sarcasm:
"Artists with talent and vision do not rely on animal cruelty to their eyeballs."
Apparently, the animal husband did not understand the tattoo process of this "art maniac", and he would anesthetize the piglet in advance to avoid causing pain.
Tattooed piglets
In addition to the opposition of the animal protection, Delva also received a court summons from the luxury giant company Chanel. The reason is that Dalva used Chanel's brand LOGO as material when creating tattoos, and the company believed that it infringed intellectual property rights, so it filed a lawsuit against Dalva.
If Dölva just tattooed the Chanel logo on the pig, there would be no problem, because it could be interpreted as an artistic act, but Delva would eventually sell the pig for a profit, so it became a commercial dispute.
At this time, Delva had just entered the peak of his creation, soaking in the studio every day, exerting his inspiration on the pig, and he did not expect to be hindered by this kind of thing.
But Delva did not panic, since it was a commercial matter, it would be solved by commercial methods, and he personally went to the Chanel company building, intending to reconcile with Chanel privately.
He considers himself an artist, and it is a disgrace to fight a lawsuit with a brand.
Chanel's head of the brand received him, del val was prepared, smiled and proposed an idea, and came up with a detailed cooperation plan, the person in charge touched his chin after listening to it, obviously impressed by De Waal's idea.
Delva's idea was to make Chanel spend money to buy her own "Chanel LOGO Tattoo Pig". Of course, instead of letting Chanel buy a pig and bring it back to offer, he made it into a limited edition bag and sold it as a gimmick.
It was a two-bird strategy, and not only did Delva make money, but Chanel also got a low-cost marketing opportunity.
The person in charge also thinks it is worth a try, and instead of arguing in court, it is better to plan a marketing. The two hit it off immediately and immediately communicated about the withdrawal of the lawsuit.
On the same day, the two sides reached a private settlement and signed a cooperation agreement, in which Chanel bought a tattooed pig related to the Chanel trademark for 5.5 pounds, equivalent to about 510,000 yuan at the time.
Removing the cost of buying pigs and raising pigs, Delva made a net profit of 500,000.
When the news came out, Chanel's loyal fans were shocked, not expecting that an ordinary tattooed pig could sell for 500,000 yuan?
What a magical pig it was, had it grown up eating art?
This strange thing even appeared in fashion magazines, and was talked about by luxury-loving ladies who wanted to see the real face of the art pig.
Global limited edition pigskin tote bag
Unfortunately, the pig's life has arrived, and after Channes got this tattooed pig painted with chanel's trademark, it completely peeled it, and then used the pig skin as raw material to make two global limited edition pig skin handbags.
This has plunged luxury-loving consumers into madness, and they all stare at these two unique handbags, which are booked at high prices while they are still being made, and are snapped up as soon as they are on the shelves.
This is a win-win situation between Delva and Chanel, because this full of artistic pig, Delva has a reputation and net income of 500,000 yuan, and Chanel has completed an excellent marketing that attracts the attention of all consumers.
Fame and fortune
After chanel's marketing storm, Delva's pig farm in Shunyi, Beijing, is booming, with a steady stream of banknotes.
How artistic the tattooed pig is, people don't know, but this group of "living works of art" can indeed satisfy people's curiosity.
Unfortunately, Delva's collaboration with Chanel lasted only once and was unsustainable by strong condemnation by animal protection groups.
Animal protection members believe that they are abusing pigs for non-food purposes and must stop this behavior immediately. Considering that the conflict with the non-profit organization would affect Chanel's brand image, the agreement had to be canceled, and the two tattooed pigskin tote bags became out of print.
Tattooed pigs brought huge traffic, and Delva took the opportunity to hold an exhibition at the Mailer Gallery in Beijing, not only showing his precious tattooed pigs, but also showing his previous years of art, including "art tires", muses, industrial style and other themed sculptures.
But people are more interested in the tattooed pigs walking around the stadium, and Delva cleans them clean. These pigs do not smell, but there is a fragrance in the air. Tattooed pigs are not curious about people walking around, squatting or walking around, showing visitors the wonderful patterns on their pigskin.
In addition, he also filmed the story of his own training of tattooed pigs into a three-screen video work "Farm Art" to let people know more clearly about the artistry of tattooed pigs. Many people began to appreciate his artistic style.
From time to time, there are rich people who collect tattooed pigs at high prices, which makes Delva taste the sweetness and decide to carry out the art of tattooing pigs to the end.
Few question Wim Delva's artistic achievements. Instead, I think it's a bold artistic innovation, and art needs such imaginative works.
Kodelva's excessive consumption of pigs has caused many people to resent, pigs are really just animals, if in order to eat it, it is unloaded in eight pieces, and will not be blamed by others, but he will remove the pig from a small hair, anesthesia and tattoo, which is naked abuse.
Some people think that live pig tattoos and live pig peeling are too cruel, so that pigs are tortured for the rest of their lives, not worthy of being called art, animals are also painful, and people should reduce their pain as much as possible when handling animals.
Tattooed pig
Regardless of what the outside world says, "art maniac" Wim Delva doesn't care, and for those who don't understand his art, he responds:
"I don't know anything about sports, but I can't be stopped in football because I don't know sports, that's a terrible thing."
He believes that everyone can come to see his art exhibitions, do not need to know much about art, anyway, most people know very little about the so-called "art", which does not prevent everyone from having the right to taste art.