Bang Bang Tattoos

Katy Perry

Katy Perry continued her tradition of getting tattoos for each of her albums by getting this Prism tattoo in March 2015. In each case she has turned a motif from the album into a cutesy cartoon face complete with eyelashes.  She has a strawberry for One of the Boys, a peppermint candy for Teenage Dream, and now a rainbow-colored triangular prism for Prism. The adorable design was created by tattoo artist Keith “Bang Bang” McCurdy.

“I always bring Bang Bang in for my most special tattoos—the ones my touring team and I get at the end of a tour to commemorate another successful journey together. Each time, he’s created the definitive symbol of that era of my life.”

She pays Bang Bang to join her on tour for weeks at time so that he can tattoo her whole crew and entourage. It’s important to her that everyone involved with the planning and production of the tour has the opportunity to get inked because the tattoos are a bond that they share. She told The Project:

“It comes towards the end of the tour because it’s kind of the payoff. We’re all like ‘we’ve done 100-plus shows, let’s shed some blood together’ we do it as like a family thing.  It’s to commemorate.”

The Prismatic World Tour lasted for well over a year with 149 shows in six continents from May 2014 to October 2015.  Although the tattoo marks the successful completion of the Prism album cycle, the tour wasn’t over when she got inked at the end of the European leg in March 2015. After a few weeks at home, she went back on the road for her final shows in Asia and Latin America.

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Demi Lovato

Demi Lovato got a tattoo of a lion’s face on the back of her left hand in August 2017. She stopped by artist Bang Bang’s New York City studio while she was in the city for the Time 100 Gala.

The lion has many meanings: it is the symbol for her astrological sign Leo, a icon of strength, and a reference to her song “Lionheart.” The song is about about finding strength through love and was partly inspired by her deceased dog Buddy, whom she called her little lion heart. A lionheart is someone with exceptional courage and bravery.

Demi has said that if she were any animal she would be a lion and if she could have any animal as a pet she would have either a lion or a unicorn.

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Ruby Rose

Ruby Rose got a tattoo of British comic book character Tank Girl on the left side of her back in February 2011. The tattoo is done in a more realistic style than most of her others and she was very impressed by artist Bang Bang’s work. “Can you believe it is possible to tattoo like this,” she tweeted.

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Rihanna

In January 2014, artist Bang Bang gave Rihanna this tattoo of a cross on the inside of her right wrist. The intricate cross design is made from negative space and is surrounded by black ink.  Rihanna also expanded the henna designs — which has previously only been on the back of her arm — all the way up to edges of the cross, making it one cohesive piece. (more…)

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Rihanna

Rihanna added the final piece to her hand tattoo in October 2013, incorporating both the Maori tribal design near her thumb and the chevron lines. It is an abstract design inspired by Indian henna art. Artists Bang Bang and Cally-Jo worked together on both the design and the implementation of this tattoo. The duo got out their needles and worked on different sections at the same time. “@callyjoart and I spent hours and hours drawing on different designs, we finally found one that worked! So proud we made it pretty,” Bang Bang wrote. (more…)

Rihanna

In June 2012, Rihanna covered up her music notes tattoo and replaced it with a large Egyptian falcon. She shared a picture of the ink on twitter with the caption “Falcon: a light that shines in the darkness! Never close their eyes during sleep.” Bang Bang – who inked this tattoo – told US Weekly “It’s the first tattoo she wanted as a teen….She wanted it across her back back then.”

It appears as if the bird has been tattooed in a way to look like a handgun, although Rihanna could have gotten the inspiration for the tattoo from a 2,300-year-old faience falcon. The falcon is on display at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, where the tattoo artist does most of his work.

Rihanna told Oprah the meaning of her tattoo: “Back in the day, they would carve into the walls and they would carve a falcon, because they didn’t have another way of saying a king in the sky.” (more…)

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Rihanna

In March 2012, Rihanna got a small and simple cross tattooed on her left collarbone. Artist Bang Bang cut the ink with water to make the tattoo light, the same technique that he used for the “Rebelle Fleur” tattoo on her neck. Rihanna chose this placement on her neck so that she can easily hide it with a necklace when she wants to, but she can also show it off. (more…)

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Rihanna

In August 2010, Rihanna got a tattoo of the text “rebelle fleur” written in script on the left side of her neck. The tattoo translates to “rebel flower”. Many people claimed since the adjective usually comes before the noun in French, the phrase should say “fleur rebelle.” However Rihanna stands by the tattoo and swears it’s not a mistake. In a text message to the artist Bang Bang, she said:

“Rebelle Fleur translates to rebel flower, NOT rebelious flower, its 2 nouns so in that case fleur does not HAVE to be first! Fyi, cuz they will ask”.

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