KC INKThat is Chet Duvenci of Mercy Seat Tattoo peering over my freshly inked arm. I got it for the holidays. It reads, "Ars Gratia Artis." It means, art for art's sake.

"Art for art's sake" affirmed that art was valuable as art, that artistic pursuits were their own justification and that art did not need moral justification — and indeed, was allowed to be morally subversive.