Tattoo as art

Here's an interesting (though somewhat long) article on tattoos as art: 'Will a tattoo ever hang in the Louve?' The article focuses on the recent history of tattoos, mostly in Europe. I was however reminded of the fantastic art history/aesthetics courses I followed with Leon Kossovich back in São Paulo as an undergraduate. We discussed in particular the tattoos on the bodies found in the Pazyryk burials, dating back to the 6th to 3rd centuries BCE. These people were horse-riding Scythian nomads of the Eurasian steppes, and as such, their artistic production consisted predominantly of surfaces and media they could easily carry around: jewelry, tapestry, and of course, body art -- tattoos. (See below the fold for a sample.)

If this is not art, then I don't know what else would possibly count as art.