With his own skin as his canvas and needles as his tools, artist David Cata demands a pound of flesh from himself in return for his creative expression. That is to say, each individual piece takes a toll that may require a healing period before he can begin another – something that can’t be said about most other kinds of artistic media. Previously known for embroidering photographs of his family members onto his palms, Catá now turns to scenery and still life as his subjects of choice.

But don’t worry, it isn’t too painful, and only barely draws blood. Working just on the surface with the layer of skin that’s mostly dead and easy to pierce, Catá typically ‘sketches’ whatever’s right in front of him, whether that’s the sleeping figure of a woman in bed, photos of his relatives, a snowy landscape or – as in the case of his most recent piece, Horizonte 07. La Musicá – the keys of a piano. He has also sewn tiny pockets for soil into his skin to support seedlings.

The artist leaves his works in place for mere minutes, recording their creation or photographing the results before ripping out the stitches. He says the resulting ‘tracks’ stay on his body for about four weeks. In an interview with Citizen Brooklyn, he said, “Somehow, all of the portraits I’ve done are permanently living on me, even if they are not visible. Each print is latent on my body. But, if I had to pick one, I’d keep my great-grandmother Perpetua’s portrait.”

Modern tattoos are less about sailors, pin-ups and ‘MOM’ and more about bold black lines, complex geometry, architecture, esoteric imagery, glitches and even blacking out entire body parts to cover up old work. These standout themes represent some of the most visually striking, imaginative and artistically challenging styles gaining popularity in recent years.

Black & White Snake Tattoos by Mirko Sara

Alone, white ink isn’t the greatest choice for a tattoo, according to many artists: it looks splotchy and uneven on all but the clearest, most evenly pale skin, fades quickly, and has a tendency to disappear into a blurry mess within a short period of time. But if you’re willing to get it touched up often to maintain it, it can be really beautiful, and it sets off black ink beautifully. Take the work of artist Mirko Sata for example – whose most common subjects are intertwined snakes.

Blackout Tattoos

What do you do when you’ve got a large number of old tattoos you want to get rid of? Laser surgery is an option for the removal of smaller tattoos, but some people get beyond that whole ‘permanent’ aspect of inking the skin in a different way. Blackout tattoos are growing increasingly popular, blocking out large areas of the body with solid swaths of black ink.

Though the lines from the old tattoo still tend to show through, and several painful sessions are often required, the look can be pretty incredible. Some people get blackout tattoos on virgin skin just for the dramatic effect. Tattooers working in this style include Chester Lee of Oddtattooer, Alex Arnautov, Simon Mora, Josh Stephens and Kenji Alucky.

White Ink Over Black Work

Fresh white ink applied over healed blackwork can also be a fun way to cover up old mistakes, and the contrast is pretty incredible right after it’s applied. Subjects have to sit for as many as five sessions to go over the white ink to make it opaque enough to stand out, and it can take years to finish a single piece. Artists who have experimented with this process include Esther Garcia, Nathan Mould, Ruslan Batyrbaev and Wayne Fredrickson.

Architectural Designs

Architecture can be a particularly striking tattoo theme, especially when it takes up large areas of the body. Artist Maxime Buchi of M-X-M has tattooed traditional Russian architecture across people’s backs, arms, legs and chests, and someone loved Haight Ashbury enough to get imagery of the famous San Francisco intersection inked onto their body by the tattoo studio of the same name. Dmitriy Tkach depicted a Victorian house with roots wrenched from the ground like a plant, while Wang Lei designed an intricately shaded classical church. Thieves of Tower, appropriately enough, often tattoos spindly towers onto their subjects.

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Modern Markings 42 Bold Black White Tattoo Designs

Body modification is an ancient tradition in many cultures. As tattoos become increasingly commonplace, body mods are becoming increasingly complex and pushing the boundaries of technology and taboo.

(Images via dowbrigade, wired, boingboing, nursing322sp10)

Subdermal implants are placed beneath the skin and then held in place once the skin grows around them. The human tentacle in the top left is a dramatic example of several being placed in a row. Shannon Larratt’s prominent star implants are profiled in the next photo, which match his facial tattoos. Subdermal implants have been around since 1994 and have become increasingly sophisticated, as is visible by the skull shaped fist implants featured above. A simple star in the last image is an example of a less prominent modification that is still striking.

(Images via technabob, lttspring2011)

Rob Spence is on a quest to create an eye that can contain a power source and working camera. In order to gain publicity for his Eyeborg project, he proved that a power source could, in fact, be placed within an eye socket, by creating a shocking red LED eye. This stunt has launched the project into the limelight.

(Images via instructables, digitalbusstop, efixroy, strangebodyart)

True fantasy fans or nature lovers feel an affinity for Elves in their favorite fantasy stories. This process is called “Ear Pointing” and involves cutting the end of the ear and carefully structuring the healing process to produce a shape very much reminiscent of fictional characters.

(Images via vanishingtattoo, bobiland, oddstufflab, monkeyreview)

Dennis Avner, otherwise known as “Cat Man” has been modifying himself to become increasingly catlike his entire life. With implanted whiskers, filed teeth, cheek implants, and stunning tattoos, he has come quite close to achieving his dream. Erik “The Lizard Man” Sprague has similar aspirations, and has spent years pursuing the appearance of a reptile. He’s had his tongue split and has methodically placed scale tattoos over the majority of his body. Lucky Diamond Rich is a performance artist who holds the record for the most tattoos, with 100% of his body inked. He stole the record from the former holder, Tom Leppard, whose name matches his inspiration.

(Images via incorrectlogin, , alternativelooks, mplsbikelove, worldpierced)

Placing gauges in the ear to slowly stretch the cartilage has been around for untold generations in some cultures, but in the United States, it’s still considered shocking once the gauges hit an untraditional size. A huge gauge is pictured in the top image, while a decorative heart-shaped gauge shows a bit of variety. Nose gauges are still considered quite unusual, and can be shocking to the uninitiated. Septum piercings are typically quite small, but this image is the perfect example that anything can be taken to an extreme.