Joseph O' Sullivan (Spider Webb) 1944-2022 (Patreon)

(from our new issue of Nodal Points)

Spider Webb.

Along with Don Ed Hardy, Spider Webb - born Joseph O'Sullivan in 1944 - is a key figure in bridging academia, the fine art world, and tattooing during a period where the industry was mostly made up of journeymen and bikers.

A passionate advocate for tattooing, in the 1970s Spider ran for the office of Mayor in Mount Vernon, NY, in opposition to a candidate who pledged to ban the practice if elected. Saying, "He wanted to take my job away, so I was gonna take his," Spider's campaign proved so popular that his opponent dropped out of the race. Shortly after, taking the win, so did Spider.

Spider risked jail by tattooing adult film star Annie Sprinkle on the steps of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the MOMA during NYC's prohibition on tattooing (1961-1997), and when the Mayor of NYC finally lifted the ban, was on hand with a plumed tattoo machine to perform the city's first legal tattoo in over 36 years.

"To make tattooing illegal is to try to thwart one of humanity’s deepest desire - to make the body beautiful. One might as well try to legislate against love."