Bang Bang Tattoo makes cool tattoos for cool people – his portfolio boast clients like Rihanna, Justin Bieber, LeBron James, Miley Cyrus, and Cara Delevingne. But when speaking to Bang Bang (yes, Keith McCurdy introduces himself as Bang Bang), there’s not a whiff of his ‘most famous tattoo artist in the world’ reputation. He’s actually just a tattoo geek, in the best sense of the term. So you can only imagine the excitement in his voice when he speaks about his deep love of tattooing as an artform, and the next step in the evolution of this ancient tradition.
If he’s right, it could transform how we think of tattoos: Bang Bang has created tattoos that turn on and off, and on and off again, as many times as you like.
“‘Magic Ink,’” he coined it. It sounds like something out of science fiction. Bang Bang, CEO and co-founder of HYPRSKN, the nanotechnology company behind Magic Ink. “I'm not very motivated unless I'm inspired. And this inspired me,” Bang Bang tells Teen Vogue. “Magic Ink breaks with what we know about this industry. Everyone I've shown has been blown away. We’ve shown some of the world’s greatest artists, and their reactions are like when you see a street magician.”
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The experience of getting a Magic Ink tattoo is the same as any other, but this ink is infused with photochromic particles sensitive to lights at a specific wavelength. This means you can use a special light pen to activate or deactivate the ink in your skin, quickly and painlessly – the light triggers a change in the molecular structure of the ink. “It’s so different from what you know, it’s hard to understand. People just want to play with it,” says Bang Bang. Due to the ink's light sensitivity and the typical healing process required for tattoos, it's strongly advised to wait until you've fully healed before attempting to alter your design.
Bang Bang is even more keen on the next Magic Ink trick: “People will be able to actually change the picture inside their skin.” By using the light pen, you can choose which ink particles to activate, either drawing freehand or selecting from stencils. “You could have a heart one day, a word the next,” says Bang Bang. “That blows my mind.”
As Magic Ink challenges the notion that tattoos are for life, does ever-changing ink change the meaning of tattoos? While the Magic Ink allows you to transform your tattoo, it makes no promises to fade. “No one gets a tattoo with the intention that it won't last forever. … But you will change, you will be a different person someday, and that different person may not want this tattoo anymore,” says Bang Bang. Among the 32% of Americans who have tattoos, 24% have second thoughts. “Everything in life fades in time, and that's okay. … That's the beauty of life! Tattoo inks fade, and when I'm old, my tattoos will be nearly indiscernible. I'm good with that.”
While only time will tell for sure, Magic Ink is engineered to resist fading, as it’s made from polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA): “If I could get just a touch more into the science,” says Bang Bang, leaning forward. “Your immune system is destroying your tattoo. That's why old tattoos are blurry.” The body slowly disposes of ink particles under 200 nanometers in size, but because Magic Ink is larger, it’s inert in the body. While keen to stress that traditional ink is completely safe, Bang Bang believes PMMA inks will eventually take over: “I think in the future, all tattoo inks will be made in this manner.”
Bang Bang has consistently aimed to close the divide between tattooing and fashion. “When I first encountered tattooing, it was in the gutter – it was not a well respected artform at all.” A lot has changed since then – tattooing has become widespread in popularity and styles, and is now a rich tool for personal expression. “What is fashion, if not change? I think that in the future, you will program your tattoos in many different ways,” says Bang Bang – maybe with phone screens, or with methods that go beyond light activation altogether, enabling artists to create tattoos that are currently impossible.
Rest assured, safety is our priority – Bang Bang Magic Ink has been put through rigorous trials to ensure total safety. Teen Vogue has even consulted with leading dermatologist, Adarsh Vijay Mudgil, MD and they gave it the thumbs up. Learn more about Intradermal science here.
Not that Bang Bang wants to replace traditional tattoos. “I love tattoos – I want to add to tattooing, not take from it.” Instead, Bang Bang sees Magic Ink as an addition to an age-old tradition that could make it appeal to even more people: “That’s what we want to do. Tattooing is for everyone.”
