Badass Tattoo Artist

So the missus got a new tattoo by a fella called Duke Riley. The outline was done prior to our trip to Sweden. Here's a picture of the work being done:


When we returned the missus had Duke fill in the outline with some shading (there's apparently still a bit to be done), and here's how it looks today:


I accept that all tattoo artists are badasses, especially in comparison to me, an un-inked, office worker with hardly a callous on his poor writer's hands. But if I thought Duke was a badass before, it was nothing compared to what I thought about his badassedness after what he did today.

Duke is an artist, who pays the bills with his tattooing. For his latest performance/installation, Duke built a replica of a Revolutionary War "submarine" called "The Turtle."


Duke's mission was to get his submarine as close as possible to the Queen Mary 2, a monstrosity of a cruise ship currently docked in Red Hook, Brooklyn. He got pretty close. Here's Duke getting busted and looking quite pleased about it:


I implore you, dear B&E readers, to read the NYTimes city blog about the event. Be sure to watch the photo slide show (from which those last two photos are borrowed), as well.

Nice work, Duke. On the tattoo and on the artistic mayhem.