Don Ed Hardy

With 40 years of tattooing and legendary status among the tattoo community, Don Ed Hardy is known as "the godfather of modern tattoo", for his sophistication, depth and sense of experimentation. California native Don Ed Hardy is recognized around the world for his technical brilliance and mesmerizing imagery. Don Ed Hardy pulls from life experience to meld American, Japanese, Cholo, tattoo, surf and hotrod iconography. This broad spectrum of taste and experience, coupled with an ongoing investigation of various art histories and a mastery of technique, give his work a unique range and depth.

Don Ed Hardy is a painter, printmaker and tattoo artist. Fascinated by tattoos since childhood, Hardy has become a master of his craft while continuing his work in the more traditional mediums of painting and drawing.

In 2000, he completed a 500 foot long scroll painting of 2000 dragons in honor of the turn of the millennium and the Dragon year. The scroll has been exhibited at Track 16 Gallery, Santa Monica, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Denver, the Cuenca Bienal in Ecuador and the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco.

Don Ed Hardy curated the exhibition, "Pierced Hearts and True Love", which was shown at The Drawing Center in New York in September 1995 and traveled to several other museums. His work is represented in the collections of The Honolulu Academy of Art, The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu, The San Francisco Fine Arts Museum Achenbach Collection, and the University of Colorado Fine Art Galleries.