Douglas Gordon

Some words between children

It might very well sound like hyperbole to say that two tattoos have the potential to change the relationship between two friends or even between siblings, and it raises the question of what kind of change that might be. In Berlin on 25 September 2007, Jeppe and Lærke Hein were tattooed by Douglas Gordon. Each tattoo consists of two words, so coupled that the inscription on the inner side of Lærke’s right forearm reads find me, while that on the outer side of Jeppe’s right forearm reads as you. The siting of the words means that when the sibling pair join hands one of two sentences is formed: find me as you or as you find me. These two sentences point up relationship features that are particularly salient between siblings – recognition and identification, for example, but also the indissolubility of the sibling tie. Jeppe and Lærke are now the bearers of a play on words that has to do with their relationship and which may, or may not, cause them to reflect on it a bit more, or look out for each other. Tattoos often function as the visible expression of something invisible or a rite of passage. From the tattooing chair, Lærke exclaimed, punningly: “You see! There’s nothing I won’t do for my brother and his ‘carrière’!” Apparently not, and she probably expects it to be reciprocated. The marking of the body, when it is as permanent as a tattoo, is a token, a promise and a wish, but it might also raise question marks. Gordon’s own first tattoo was a diminutive ‘Trust Me’, and as Gordon himself says, who needs to have that inscribed on his shoulder? Since then, Gordon has since done many tattoos, both on himself and on others. One example is Three Inches (Black), a man’s index finger tattooed black from its tip and three inches in, which is the permitted maximum length of a penknife in Gordon’s Glasgow neighbourhood, and also the distance from the surface of the body to the heart. That tattoo is about intimacy between people as something at once violent, beautiful and dangerous. Gordon describes this artistic interest in intimacy as an oscillation between youthful voyeurism and mature sadism. Which is to say a flip-flopping between wanting to see through and know everything and wanting to be transgressive just for the sake of it. To tattoo someone, even when it is the tattooee’s own choice, lies in this grey area. And when asked whether he had a personal relationship with the man who received the Three Inches tattoo Gordon brusquely replies, “Well, I have now!” As he also has with Lærke and Jeppe and with Karriere now. (NH)

Douglas Gordon, born 1966, Glasgow

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