The genius of Ed Hardy needs no special introduction and mention as to his Herculean popularity and why ""the godfather of modern tattoo"" is conferred on him particularly to those who know his willingness for experimentation and crave for sophistication in his art. Ed Hardy is also a multifaceted talent that is obvious from his tattoos, prints and paintings. He has earned an enviable position in the world of art for his pioneering contributions to the cause of integration of fine art and pop cultures. Ed Hardy’s professional life began as a tattooist in his mother’s garage in Southern California in the 1960s and he is known as a pioneer of pop tattoo art. Today he is free following his retirement from tattoo art but is engaged in the art in the capacity of mentoring his students in his studio, Tattoo City. Starting from 1980s, he worked tremendously on many types of art that includes drawing, printmaking, non-tattoos and painting, which brought him name and fame. Ed Hardy launched his own publications in 1981, called as Hardy Marks Publications. With his wife he published as many as five books that are appropriately christened as Tattootime. This was amongst many that later with Body Art and Modern Primitives advanced the cause of tattoo heavily into unchartered waters. Beginning from 1993, Hardy has dedicated his life for exhibitions of both nonprofit establishments and galleries. He also gave countless lectures at different places that mattered in the circle. He was featured in periodicals and global movies, which is a big recognition to his growing influence in world of the fine arts. Ed’s high point was when he was appointed by Mayor Jerry Brown of Oakland to the Cultural Arts Commission and the award of Honorary Doctorate from the San Francisco Art Institute followed. Ed Hardy’s Tryst With Big Money Year 2002 was the year when Ed Hardy saw the taste of big business when he accepted Ku USA, Inc’s proposal to jointly produce a line of clothing that was to be based on his art. Saks companies followed suit in the next two years with which Don and Ku USA joined to form Hardy Life LLC. Ed still owns copyrights to his imagery. In 2004 Christian Audigier entered the fray and licensed Ed Hardy’s creations to produce high end line of clothing. Audigier was the leading designer and marketer at Von Dutch Originals prior to this. Audigier brought with him the tremendous marketing strategies he employed successfully at Von Dutch Originals, which is based on direct selling to celebrities and launching showrooms in upmarket areas. Now we have more than 30 Ed Hardy showrooms around the globe; so much to the genius of that marketing maverick. Ed Hardy had approved Christian Audigier to produce exclusive clothing series, which is totally based on Ed’s creations. By this time, Audigier was already a big name in fashion designing and still not many were aware of his business acumen and brilliance in marketing till he joined â€The Donâ€, Ed Hardy after he left Von Dutch Originals for ever.
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