The
call came in kinda late from the impeccable Elsa Rensaa, but there it was.
We were in as press at the Tattoo Convention as promised. We got in the
car and actually found a parking space at 53rd and 7th right on the corner.
We pumped in a few quarters and dashed off to Roseland a block away at
52nd and Broadway.
We waltzed
in to be greeted by ArtCall artist John Penley and we were whisked right
in. It was almost too easy. He showed off his back work, but the pictures
at 72 dpi can't do much justice to the tattoo we saw. Kind of like the
'Girl Of The Day' that's on the the right in the trio of pictures on the
top. There were many little swirls of activity constantly breaking out
and it was fun going from event to event. We are now even in the cyber
tattoo store era.
The first
scene we encountered was tattoo artist, Spider Webb working on a lady worthy
of being anyone's grandmother. These scenes were very brief but very, very,
very intense. There was this sense of exhibitionism going on, yet it was
all very personal at the same time. Spider had revealed that he had a 'virgin'
area on his body. And it was all on the polaroid he held in his hand.
We finally
found Clayton Patterson
running around (some said 'like a chicken'....) however, he was in a jovial
mood as he was in his element. Mr. Patterson was one of the original founders
of the tattoo convention back in the 80's. Clayton has perhaps the most
extensive collection of tattoo photographs known. Banners and signs from
all over the E/V were present. We forgot to get a piece that said 'MOM'
on it but the banner in the middle here is awfully close. And then another
'mini-event' broke out as Mr. tattoos.com,
Lyle Tuttle, "Kilroyed" E/V resident Jodi Head. Lyle was in from California
where he holds court.
There were
more people to meet than we had time for. The
Ice Cream Man From Hell is a case in point. From Linden, NJ he plys
his trade and stops by the convention before the busy season takes hold.
BeBe Bullet, performance artist was also in attendance with a set of finger
gauntlets that were to die for!
Now tattoos
are a fun kind of artistic diversion, and as we slunk down Broadway, other
images began to jolt us back to reality. It's also repetition that makes
a tattoo. These two examples are of modern extraction. CATS, by the way,
is due to close soon. So if you haven't seen it, now is the time to do
so. Closing night seems a good time for 'memories'. And the NASDAQ
site creates a new setting for the tattoo scene as the numbers may change,
yet the presentation box is as permanent as any pigment ever used on human
skin. Besides... you can make money reading the NASDAQ tattoo!
Jottings:
Tribes
Gallery Sunday evening - performance art extravaganz!(we will be here)
American Fine Arts Co. Thursday Late Christian Phillipp Muller. Monserrat
Gallery Group show tomorrow early. P.S. 1 in Queens Saturday for a loft
tour. Holly Hughes finishes her P.S.122
Sunday. And "Cook Gecko Cook" is at 'Collective Unconscious' on Sunday
at 7PM for a performance dinner.
photos ©carol braddock aka red ed
artworks©Spider Webb, Lyle Tuttle, Ice Cream Man
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