BY BOB KRASNER | At first glance, East Village resident Jordy Trachtenberg does not look like the kind of guy who wears his heart on his sleeve. But look closely at his “sleeves” (a series of tattoos that cover one’s arm) and you’ll find that three of his ex-girlfriends are immortalized there, with one more on his leg.
Trachtenberg formerly worked in the music business. After the end of a 13-year marriage, he found a new love who ended up being portrayed as a mermaid (her idea) on his left arm. She was the only woman to be inked while they were still together and, post-breakup, Trachtenberg decided that a revision was in order.
He informed the original tattoo artist, Jason June, that he wanted to cover her face but wasn’t sure with what. June wanted to know why and was informed by Trachtenberg that “she’s dead to me.” June’s solution, naturally, was to turn her into a zombie.
The next two were also created by June. The women are depicted wrapped in shibari (a Japanese bondage style). Both women, he said, “are favorite chapters of my love life. It’s a nice way to memorialize them. Each one has a special place in my heart.”
His friend Billy Bob Thornton once told him that tattoos “are all emotional scars.” Number four in that series is the image of a woman whom Trachtenberg said he “met on the beaches of Kismet,” on Fire Island. “She was the kindest, gentlest soul. Absolutely stunning and so shy about her looks.”
But somehow she ended up being portrayed on his leg by Big Steve, amidst all of what he called “my vices” below the words “Man’s Ruin.”
“She wasn’t too happy about that,” he noted.
So, one wonders, where is the tattoo of his ex-wife, whom he continues to refer to as his “best friend”?
“She wants to know that, too,” he said. “I see her in a different light. The true tattoo of her is on my heart. It’s the one that no one can see.”
