Friend of BME, Ary from VIMBY Video, just sent us this new piece profiling a man who needs no introduction, Paul Booth, at his Last Rites studio in New York City. Paul discusses trades he’s made for tattoo work (example: a torture chair), tattooing rock stars, shows off “Skeleton Christ,” and more.
Earlier today I got an email from Ary over at VIMBY. They’d just done an interview with Shawn Barber, who I happen to think is the bees knees and so I wanted to share the first video with you. Shawn’s new book Forever and Ever is available from several places online, including the publisher that I linked to, and it is definitely worth picking up.
It also doesn’t hurt that Ary sent over a couple of videos about CanvasLA, with a segment about the gallery itself and another video featuring the opening of Guy Aitchison and Michele Wortman‘s Scratch Art show. It was an amazing collection of work from some of the best tattooers in the industry.
I posted the extra studio/city videos because I felt like these videos are much better than the various “Ink(ed)” shows on cable. They don’t give you the same manufactured lines that you hear over and over again which come off more like the producers feeding the stories to the people getting tattooed. Want to see more videos like these? Let me know in the comments section..
allesistscheisse is going to help me out with today’s public service announcement. One of the great things about tattoos is that most people can’t tell good tattoo work from bad tattoo work. It’s a pro but also a con. The primary thing is that it makes the wearer of the tattoo happy. When I posted Norm’s vimby video, a comment was made that you could get good script from any reasonably good tattoo shop, which I wholeheartedly disagree with. I know some amazing tattooers who just can’t do good lettering. One of the quotes that I’ve heard is that “good tattoos are ruined by bad lettering”, like if you see an amazingly well done sacred heart with a really cruddy “Mom” in the banner. It just kills the tattoo.
As long as Kevin is happy, that’s what matters in the long run.
“homemade tattoos rule, taken from my favourite book about tattoos ever from thomas jeppe.”
See more in “Lettering Tattoos“ (Tattoos)
So what is the lesson that we’ve learned today? Friends don’t let friends give each other home made tattoos. Unless of course your friend happens to be a kick ass tattooer.
Last week I was out in Los Angeles, working on remodeling the Gallery with my partner Todd. We’ve done a lot in the very short year that Canvas has been open, but we’ve definitely stayed true to what we’ve tried to do. With that said, I’m starting to wonder if maybe Vimby is just following me around. They seem to e-mail me at all the right times and happened to show up on opening night for our one year anniversary show. If you look closely, you can see me hiding from the camera!
Special thanks to Todd Burnes, Russel Victorioso and Shawn Barber for helping put together an amazing Visionaries II. Hopefully we have another great year of helping tattooers showcase their art, as well as growing as fine artists. Check out more work from the Visionaries II show after the jump or click here.
Michele Wortman
Kim Saigh
Jeff Gogue
Jason D’Aquino
Ary from Vimby sends us three new videos from shops around the Los Angeles area. Broken Art Tattoo, 264 Customs and House of Freaks are included in this batch. Don’t forget to check out their websites as well. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, I like what Vimby is doing. Having met some of their producers/directors/editors over the past weekend, they definitely have a love for what they’re doing and it shows.