Wear Your Dreams: My Life in Tattoos

Tattoo visionary Hardy has produced an engrossing memoir that serves as both a colorful guide to the history of the tattoo revival and a window on the life of an ambitious, blue-collar artist. Growing up in Corona del Mar, Calif., in the 1950s, Hardy had an unusual attraction to the disreputable world of tattooing, going so far as to mock up a tattoo parlor in the family den. A stint at the Art Institute in San Francisco immersed Hardy into the history of the fine arts and honed his approach when he finally returned to his first love: scribing images on human flesh. A career that led him to Hawaii; Vancouver, Canada; and Japan saw him both create and ride the wave of the body-art movement to international celebrity. Hardy is a thoughtful narrator whose self-education brought him into contact with central figures in both the gallery scene and the seedier environs of tattooing. He paints vivid thumbnails of characters like Sailor Jerry and Christian Audigier, as well as revealing influences as varied as pop art, custom car culture, and all things Japanese. Hardy has no shortage of anecdotes and he’s not shy about copping to his mistakes. His celebrity diminishes the last quarter of the book, which recounts his openings, product lines, and European vacations, but he never loses his genial tone. Tattoo couldn’t have a better spokesperson. Agent: Frank Weimann, the Literary Group. Color photos. (July)