Ever since his days as a professional wrestler, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson has had a small tattoo of a bull on his right arm, but the ink underwent a major transformation this week, and the 45-year-old now sports a massive tattoo of a bull skull in its place, with intricate details that he says are “a reflection of my own personal history.” The Rock shared a video of the tattoo session in progress earlier this week, captioning the clip, “I got this tattoo when I was just a kid. Now I need it to reflect me as a man.” He then showed off the fresh bull ink just a couple of days ago, and the piece is pretty darn righteous.
The Rock’s new tattoo takes up the majority of his upper right arm, from shoulder to elbow, where his original bull tat was just a tiny image on a massively-muscled arm, and the fresh tat features an incredibly detailed bull skull, with an empty eye socket and cracks nearly penetrating the bone. Celebrity tattoo artist Nikko Hurtado is the man behind The Rock’s tattoo transformation, which reportedly took three sessions and 22 hours of tattooing, and still isn’t completely finished. The Baywatch star captioned a “before” and “after” photo of his updated arm tattoo with this extensive explanation:
Evolution of the bull. Blood, sweat & years. Every detail [of the bull tattoo] is a reflection of my own personal history. From the cracks and heavy damage in the bone representing life’s hard lessons I’ve learned over the years. Just like scars and wrinkles – I’m so grateful to have ‘em because they’re earned. To the horns, not pointing up or out to the side, but pointing straight ahead representing relentless energy and forward progress.
The core and anchor of this image is in the eye. Look closely and you’ll find the life, energy, power and you’ll feel the MANA (spirit). The eye tells the story of a disruptive positive energy always ready to dent the universe.
Depending on the light and angle, sometimes the energy’s subtle and sometimes it’s glaring. But it’s always alive and ready to disrupt the universe and love and protect my family and all things I love with intense passion and gratitude.
Cheers to living, learning, evolving and growing. And to the positive disrupters ready to dent the universe.
The Rock has always been a huge fan of permanent ink, and he is intensely proud of his own tattoos, which he says are a representation of “all the things that are important to me, that I love and that I’m passionate about.” For two decades, his arm carried that signature Brahma Bull tattoo, which, over the years, came to be as much a part of him as his charming grin and that infamous People’s Eyebrow. So, what do you think of the dramatic change the ink underwent this week??
