Yesterday I spent a half dozen hours at the
Roseland Ballroom, where the
New York City Tattoo Convention was holding court. This was my third trip to the show, and each year, I have a different experience, as Tattoosday has evolved as a site (read about 2009
here and 2010
here).
In years past, I have only highlighted one or two pieces, as I go into sensory overload. What, outside of a convention's setting, would normally pique my interest, seems commonplace and ordinary. This year, however, I took many more photos, and actually interviewed four people, so this will be Convention Recap Week.
I do want to say the best part of the show was hanging and chatting with Marisa and Brian from
Needles and Sins, as well as with Nathan from
Knuckle Tattoos. It's not a portrait of future world domination, yet, but here's the three of us, masterminds of three of the best tattoo sites around, and hands and above, the best three inkbloggers at the show:
 |
| Nathan, Marisa and Me (photo by Brian Grosz) |
That moment of self-adulation aside, I spent the first few hours talking to vendors about advertising, chatting with colleagues, and saying hello to people I've met in years past, like
Greg who was the high point of last year's show for me.
I also like to introduce myself to artists whose work has appeared on the Site before, so I said hi to
Adam Rosenthal of
Th'Ink Tank in Denver, and
Vinny Romanelli at
Red Rocket in NYC.
I also took a slew of photos of people I didn't interview, so I will just throw them up here. Unfortunately I can't credit any of the amazing artists responsible. However, if you see your work here, shoot me an email and I can give you your proper due. Many of these shots were taken during the first round of the contest, which centered around black and gray work:
This one was one of my favorites, especially considering the woman's reflection in the blade of the knife:
And this Star Wars leg was totally cool:
Finally, through social media, my friend Ben in Hawai'i requested a shot of "80s West Coast punk rock logos." I thought I had failed in my quest until, as I was leaving, I captured this tiny
Black Flag tattoo on a guy named Crash, who works for
Tattoo Artist Magazine:
and this incredible
Misfits piece to boot:
Yes, we know, Misfits are an East Coast band. But it was too nice a tattoo to not photograph. Can you blame me?
Check out the Tattoo Artist Magazine blog
here.
Check back throughout the week to see what four tattoos I found most blogworthy for us here on Tattoosday!
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