Interview With Geoff Ostling: Tattoo Legend Donates Body of Work (His Body) to Museum

Like many fine art collectors, Geoff Ostling plans to leave his greatest treasure to a museum, so that others may enjoy it long after he's gone. He'll just need a taxidermist.

The 65-year-old tattoo legend plans to be skinned, so that his "flesh canvas," a celebrated work of art, can be put on display in one of Australia's most prestigious galleries.

"This is my desire," Ostling tells me, agreeing to the interview only after I promised not ridicule his "tattooed body suit," a masterpiece that he has been wearing for more than two decades (and I urge you to check out the pictures).

No need to question my intentions. At Weird News Central, we've long celebrated body painting, and extreme body modification. Ostling has taken skin arts to new heights, and I praise him.

In 1988, Ostling began working with the renowned eX de Medici to create a neck-to-ankle work that he calls, "All the Flowers of a Sydney Garden," complete with roses under his armpits, and a cornucopia of blue water lilies, orchids, and flowering gum sprawling across his belly and creeping up his backside.

Now, Sydney taxidermist Sascha Smith is challenged to preserve Ostling's skin when he dies, so that it can be put on display at Australia's National Gallery in Canberra.

I conducted my interview with Mr. Ostling via the Internet just days after a documentary, Skin, premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival.

So, here's a closer look at Mr. Ostling's tattooed excellence, and our conversation.

Weird News Central Interviews Geoff Ostling

Wolf: Does the tattoo on your body -- "All the Flowers of a Sydney Garden" -- live up to its name?

Ostling:The tattoo includes 62 separate flowers -- all drawn from nature and not copied from photographs in books. And very few of these had been tattooed before, anywhere in the world. Of course there are many more than 62 separate flowers grown in a Sydney garden but not all of these are suitable images for a tattoo.

Wolf: Which flower is the most exotic? And where on your body is it?

Ostling: Probably the most rare and exotic is an Australian native, the Gymea lily. It is the tallest flower and one of the largest flowers in the world. It grows naturally in only a small area of Sydney, but was one of the reasons for this area to be set aside as only the second National Park in the world, called the Royal National Park, south of the city of Sydney. It stands tall on my back beside the image of the Sydney Harbour Bridge and the Sydney Opera House. The other special images are the red waratahs and two white waratahs.

Wolf: How will your skin be displayed?

Ostling: Most of the skins I saw in Japan are stretched flat and are displayed in airtight perspex frames. You do not see the head or genitals of the person. In my case, there would probably be two frames -- a "front" and a "back."

Wolf: Which part of your tattoo are you most proud of?

Ostling: The two bears in the middle of my stomach - they are tattooed from a statue I own and represent me and my partner. He has an identical tattoo on the same place on his body.

Wolf: Which give you (or your friends) the biggest laugh (if not the rose in the armpits).

Ostling: Among all the flowers and greenery and close to my groin area is a large penis. It was the tattooist's idea. She said she was tattooing it because 'Your problem Geoff is you can never keep your dick inside your Speedos'. People tell me they have to look for it but once they see it, they are amazed that everyone usually misses it. But there are a lot of other images to see. It brings lots of laughs.

Related:
• Eye Ink: Lawmakers Seek Eyeball Tattoo Ban (Extreme Body Modification)
• 6,500 Holes . . . and Counting: Meet Elaine Davidson, the World's Most Heavily Pierced Woman (Human Pincushion)
• Bequeathing Skin: More on Geoff Ostling (Unleashed)

Photo © Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images
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