'You wouldn't burn or bury a Picasso': Tattoo artist's skin to be preserved, framed

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The tattoos that covered nearly all of a Saskatoon man’s body are being preserved and framed by a U.S. company.

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“He used to always say, you know, tattoo ‘til death,” Chris Wenzel’s widow, Cheryl Wenzel, told CTV Saskatoon. “And I think he really took it to a different context!”

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the artist discovered Save My Ink Forever: an American company that preserves and frames the tattoos of the deceased. In a process that takes about three months, one’s skin is surgically excised before a special formula is used to conserve it.

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“Tattoos, you know, tell a story about a person,” Sherwood told CTV Saskatoon. “And for someone to get something tattooed on them that they’re displaying for life, you know, means something to them… You wouldn’t burn or bury a Picasso and that’s what some of these pieces are.”

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Wenzel’s preserved tattoos will be unveiled at an expo this spring. It remains to be seen where his inked skin will hang after then.

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