Here’s some fascinating body modification for you, story courtesy of Bizarre. Rick is tattooing his entire body as a zombie. He’s had 24 hours of tattoo work to add bones and guts to his skin with intricate shading and designs. The Bizarre interview with him reveals a positive body mod attitude that I appreciate, as well as positive life effects from his modifications.

Rick says that he sees his tattoos as “celebrating the art of obscenity and the macabre,” arising from his love for zombies and Romero’s Living Dead movies.

When asked if he worries about how he’ll look when he gets older, Rick reveals a sentiment that I agree with: “No, fuck it. Everybody ages – me too. Are you worried about what you’re going to look like when you’re 60? It’s just life…” Unfortunately, many people in our culture are worried about what they’ll look like when they’re older, and they seem to be worried about how other people will age, too. I’ve had more than one person ask me about my tattoos and how they’ll look as I age, which is a concern I just don’t get. I’m not worried about how my boobs will look when I’m older; I’m not worried about wrinkles; I’m not worried about gray hair; and I’m not worried about my tattoos, either. I guess for people who are worried about changes to their body over time, having tattoos would be one more body feature to stress about. For me, though, everyone ages, and I expect changes to occur, including to my tattoos.

Rick comments that, “There are a lot of people I meet who just don’t understand, but there really is nothing to understand. I’m realistic, sane and intelligent.” I get this, too. There have been times when I’ve been asked why, whether it’s about tattoos or ear lobe stretching, and I don’t exactly understand the question. Why do you color your hair or choose a certain outfit over another or wear jewelry? There doesn’t have to be any deep, meaningful answer to these things. We all see ourselves in a different aesthetic light, and it shouldn’t be a surprise that others enjoy different looks for themselves than you do.

I ran across the Bizarre post about Rick by way of Sociological Images, where they discussed people acting differently based on how they’re treated.Prior to becoming tattooed, Rick describes himself as hating “pretty much everything and everybody,” and wanting “to fucking kill everybody,” which is part of why he started tattooing himself as a skeleton in the first place. After tattooing, though, that started to change:

“As time went on, I started getting all this positive feedback – people would come up to me and say how cool they thought it looked. I started getting invited to parties and bars all the time. Strangers ask to have pictures taken with me. I’ve been having so much fun with it that life has definitely changed for the better.”

Rick goes on to describe his life philosophy:

“You’ve got to respect that everyone’s different and has to do what they’ve got to do. I can’t tell you what to do, you can’t tell me what to do – but we can still get along just great.”

I’d say that Rick sounds like one pretty cool guy, and his body is an amazing piece of art. Check out the Bizarre page for the full interview and more pictures.