Laughter filled the MultiCultural Center last month when Kip Fulbeck introduced his audience to the stories behind his new photographic book, “Permanence: Tattoo Portraits” (Chronicle Books, 2008). It’s a common reaction to the UCSB professor of art, who is a gifted performance artist as well as writer and photographer.

However, Fulbeck took pains to instruct his mostly young listeners that respect for the artistry and rituals of tattooing is what opened doors in Japan and America to him for both tattoos and the subsequent book. “Money alone is not enough to have the masters work on your body,” he told them.

In addition to carrying the masters’ art on his body, Fulbeck was able to persuade one to write a short introduction for “Permanence.”

Fulbeck’s book is full of quirky reasons and humorous comments by a few of the estimated 40 million Americans who sport tattoos. Among them is UCSB rockfish expert Milton Love’s take on marine tattoos, which can be seen online at <www.lovelab.id.ucsb.edu/Tattoos.html>. He is on record as saying all real marine biologists wear tattoos; the rest are “wannabes.”