Thursday, May 23, 2013

Celebrate the Brooklyn Bridge at Brooklyn Tattoo and Urban Folk Art® Gallery!


The Brooklyn Bridge, an icon that represents our borough, was completed 130 years ago and the good folks at Brooklyn Tattoo and Urban Folk Art® Gallery are hosting their fourth annual celebration in honor of the anniversary.

Owners Willie Paredes and Adam Suerte (who recently tattooed yours truly - here) are hosting the Brooklyn Bridge tattoo special - $30 Brooklyn Bridge tattoos - today, from 12 Noon to 7PM. From the shop's event page on Facebook:
"Those interested in receiving a Brooklyn Bridge themed tattoo can show up at the shop-Brooklyn Tattoo®, 99 Smith Street, Brooklyn, and pick from several flash (pre-drawn) images that evoke the spirit that has defined New York’s iconic skyline. Tattoos will be done by several of the Brooklyn Tattoo® staff on a first come, first serve basis. Also, for those not committed enough to join ink to skin, copies of the flash design sheets will be available for purchase as well as a limited edition book Adam Suerte put together showcasing 50 Brooklyn Bridge tattoos he’s done in the past."
Here's what you can expect from past year's designs:


If you're not down for a new tattoo, you should definitely consider attending the opening of the art show, tomorrow, May 24, 2013.

Again, from the Facebook event page:
"Urban Folk Art® Gallery will be honoring the 130th anniversary of the opening of the Brooklyn Bridge with a group show of over 30 local artists of varying mediums. In their third show of this type, artists will be showing their homages to the bridge with one common element. In February 2013, curator and contributing artist Adam Suerte aquired five 5 gallon buckets of surplus paint from the NY Department of Transit that was used to do touch ups on the Brooklyn Bridge (http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/02/05/surplus-paint-from-the-brooklyn-bridge-now-could-be-yours/).
As an undying fan of the Brooklyn Bridge that is evident in his artwork, he was compelled to get some. Each artist in the group show will be using the 'Chocolate Brown Enamel' in some way within their piece. Painters, comic artists, graphic designers, photographers, screen printers, tattooers, graffiti artists, toy designers and artists of other mediums will be contributing. Suerte, as one of his pieces, has repackaged some of this paint in a limited edition quart size cans that will be for sale at the show. 
If you ever wanted to own a piece of the bridge, this could be considered pretty close.
The show opens May 24th from 7-10."
 Here are a few of the pieces on display:

by Dave Tree
by Steven Weinberg
by Paul St. Savage aka Angry Eel
Even if you can't make the opening, the work will be on display through the end of June, so, if you find yourself in the Cobble Hill section of Brooklyn, you should definitely stop by and check out the amazing art!

Also, if you get a tattoo, feel free to e-mail us a photo at Tattoosday@gmail.com, along with a sentence or two about why you wanted to get this Brooklyn icon inked on you, and we'll share it on the site some time in the next few weeks.

Happy Birthday, Brooklyn Bridge!


This entry is ©2013 Tattoosday.

If you are seeing this on another website other than Tattoosday, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit http://tattoosday.blogspot.com and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

FINAL TOUCH.

I did a final touch on this one today.





Gina Shares Two Amazing Tattoos by Bugs! (NYC Tattoo Convention)


Every year I attend, one of the highlights for the NYC Tattoo Convention is seeing the artist Bugs in action. He has taken tattoo art in a new direction, and his style is not only unique, but positively mind-blowing.

That said, it was a wonderful moment when, while wandering about Roseland, I chanced upon one of his clients, in the form of Gina.

Gina initially selected this piece from her inner arm to share with us:


I mean, really, how amazing is that?

Gina is a huge fan of Bugs' work and has, in her words, "donated my body to him."

This piece is in honor of her mom. She told Bugs the concept and she "let him take it any direction he wanted to go."

I was so happy to be able to meet one of Bugs' clients, that I asked if I could take a picture of the piece on Gina's upper arm as well, and she happily complied:


When I asked Gina about this piece, she elaborated, "
It's actually for me ... it's my interpretation of myself ... a Rubenesque woman ... and that's what he came up with."



Bugs works out of Los Angeles, but he frequents many conventions, and is a regular at Roseland. Gina makes a point of seeing him every year he is here.

Thanks to Gina for sharing her amazing work by Bugs here on Tattoosday!

Be sure to visit Bugs' website here to appreciate more from this amazing artist!!

This entry is ©2013 Tattoosday.

If you are seeing this on another website other than Tattoosday, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit http://tattoosday.blogspot.com and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Jessica Wears Sylvia Ji (from the NYC Tattoo Convention)

At the New York City Tattoo Convention on Saturday, I saw a lot of wonderful work, including this bright and colorful piece on the upper arm of Jessica:


This tattoo is based on the artwork of California artist Sylvia Ji.

© Copyright, Sylvia Ji 2012 
Jessica is an admirer of Ji's work and she collaborated with tattoo artist J.J. Claudio to recreate this piece on her arm. J.J. Claudio just recently joined the crew at Tattoo Frenzy in Lindenhurst, New York.

Thanks to Jessica for sharing her lovely tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!


This entry is ©2013 Tattoosday.

If you are seeing this on another website other than Tattoosday, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit http://tattoosday.blogspot.com and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.

Monday, May 20, 2013

Hannah's Skull by Shawn Barber (NYC Tattoo Convention 2013)

As I briefly mentioned in my initial post from this year's New York City Tattoo Convention (which concluded yesterday), I met a woman named Hannah, who I spotted near one of the many booths. It was her tattoo on her upper right arm that really jumped out at me:


My curiosity about the tattoo was not unfounded, when Hannah informed me this was the work of famed artist, Shawn Barber.

Hannah hails from Southern California, and got this tattoo at Memoir Tattoo in Los Angeles.

Hannah talked about her appreciation of the art of Shawn Barber, his influence on her own work, and his creation of her tattoo:
"He was a huge influence ... I was never into oil painting until I saw his oil paintings and I'm obsessed ...  I'm really into skulls and succulents ...that's my main choice of what I like to paint ... I told him what I wanted and let him go with it ... probably one of my favorite parts is the little squiggle [above the eyes] ...
... and the cactus flowers coming through the cheekbone ... I didn't really ask for flowers or anything and he put those in and that's one of my favorite parts... they're all succulents, like aloe plants and cactus ...".


It is always a thrill to share work of people I meet who have been adorned by the creations of artists at the top of their game. If you want to see an amazing array of Shawn Barber's work, visit his web page here.

Thanks to Hannah for sharing this incredible tattoo with us here on Tattoosday!


This entry is ©2013 Tattoosday.

If you are seeing this on another website other than Tattoosday, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit http://tattoosday.blogspot.com and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.

Sunday, May 19, 2013

Dispatch from the 16th Annual NYC Tattoo Convention, Part 2

The second day of the 2013 New York City Tattoo Convention flew by in a blur of images, fueled by the unlimited supply of free Rockstar energy drinks.

So Many Energy Drinks, So Little Time
What follows are some of the highlights, for me.

Hanging out at the Sacred Tattoo booth, I chatted at great length with Adam France, who tattoos out of Red Tree Tattoo Gallery in Columbus, Ohio. Adam was tattooing earlier in the week out of Sacred, in a guest spot, and was soaking in the atmosphere of the show. Aside from appearing in a recent episode of America's Worst Tattoos (in which he covers up something bad with something amazing), Adam is part of the organization that hosts the Hell City Tattoo Convention.

Here is the cover-up that Adam completed on the Worst Tattoos show:


Adam is a third-generation tattooer, whose father and grandfather also worked in the business, albeit in much different times.

As a disagreement between some a couple of female convention-goers broke out nearby, we laughed at the 21st century novelty of everyone's instinct not to intervene, but to document, as camera phones popped up like prairie dogs in the vicinity, trying to capture a whole lot of nothing, while convention security quickly diffused the situation.

Such activity was very minimal and high spirits abounded.

One of the first booths you see when you come in to Roseland is that of Brent McCown, of New Zealand.


He always has a crowd about, watching him tattoo in a traditional tapping style:




Close up, it's amazing to see...


Before the tattoo judging was held, there was a lot of activity up on stage, which included a lot of sideshow activities, like a woman dancing with a large albino boa snake


and this young lady, who had the crowd transfixed:



In case you couldn't tell, this performer is suspended and swing from hooks in her thighs and back. Ouch!

What is so often lost in these events, is that you can really invest time in watching talented artists at work. Of course, in the real world, tattooists don't have the luxury of editors to abbreviate their performances for the viewing audience. So, it is great to come back and see your own time-lapse version of a tattoo's transformation over the course of a day or, is some cases, years.

Take, for example, one of my favorite highlights from last year's convention - watching New York City's own "Bad News Becca" Roach at work on her client Kate. This was Becca in action last year:


I got a chance to say hi to Becca and then got a hug from Kate when we ran into each other later on. Kate has a back tattoo that was featured here last year on Tattoosday.

Yesterday, Becca had moved to filling in the top of Kate's back:




I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Can't wait to see the final product! Bad News Becca tattoos out of North Star Tattoo in Manhattan.

Of course, one of the things I love to do is to interview people about their work, and there will be no shortage of convention profiles in the week to come. I captured a lovely back piece by Dutch artist Leslie Reesen, who works out of Mad Science Tattoo in The Hague, Netherlands, and was honored to interview a collector of body art by the mind-blowing Bugs, out of Los Angeles. Here's a taste:


I'll end on that stunning note and remind everyone that today is the final day of the NYC Convention, and Roseland is open from 12 Noon to 8 PM. It's a rainy day here in the Big Apple, so what better way to spend it than heading indoors and seeing some amazing tattoo work!


This entry is ©2013 Tattoosday.


If you are seeing this on another website other than Tattoosday, without attribution, please note that it has been copied without the author's permission and is in violation of copyright laws. Please feel free to visit http://tattoosday.blogspot.com and read our original content. Please let me know if you saw this elsewhere so I contact the webmaster of the offending site and advise them of this violation in their Terms of Use Agreement.

Saturday, May 18, 2013

PRAYING HANDS.

The brother Alex was at the studio yesterday to lay the first session on his chest plate. You can' t go wrong with some praying hands… I still want to do an other pass on it.