In years past at the NYC Tattoo Convention, A staples has been seeing the artist Bugs in action. I didn't see him at the convention this year, but I was thrilled to stumble upon his work on a guy named Justin. At first, I didn't immediately recognize it as Bugs' style, but once I really looked at it, I was reminded of his palette and quality:
Justin is a fan of racecars and told me this is "a piece that is continually being worked on, with plans to complete the sleeve of antique 1920's racecars."
He got this tattoo started with Bugs about three years ago when the artists was doing a guest stint at Screamin' Ink Tattoo in Fair Lawn, New Jersey.
Thanks to Justin for sharing this cool work with us here on Tattoosday!
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It's always exciting when I find work by artists I admire out on the street, so when I met Maria on Saturday at the Coney Island Mermaid Parade and I learned that her sleeve was by Bugs, I was thrilled:
I love Bugs' take on the Bird of Paradise flower here and the sleeve is punctuated on Maria's fist with this skull:
Bugs works out of L.A., but I've seen him work at the NYC Tattoo Convention and Maria said some of this sleeve was completed when he did some guest spots at a shop in New Jersey. See other work I have featured by Bugs on Tattoosday here.
Thanks to Maria for sharing this great work with us here on Tattoosday!
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Late last month, I received an inquiry from Amy MacLennan about the Tattooed Poets Project. April was already full, but she was kind enough to agree to be another Tattooed Poet o' the Week. Check out her work:
That's a mirror image and is a little blurry, so let's take a close look and hear about the work.
Amy tells us:
"The original tattoo was done in a London studio by the artist Bugs in 1992. He agreed to do the design freehand with the stipulation that I brought him a peacock feather. I was working in a cheap youth hostel at the time, but a friend managed to find the feather for me. I remember that Bugs told me to drink a lot of water and eat something sugary after. I drank a blended mango drink and then had a good cry with a friend, and later that night got drunk on stout. The tattoo has had two color touch-ups, but I've never had the design changed."
Bugs is a phenomenal artist who is respected worldwide. We've featured some of his work before when we've spotted it at the NYC Tattoo Convention in years past (most recently here).
The floral part of her back is actually comprised of two different tattoos of flowers:
Amy told us that the small flowers were tattooed in 2012 "by Kory Kidd at Epic Ink in Medford, Oregon." She explained, "I wanted something flowery and red/coral toned. Kory worked with me endlessly to get the design and color right."
As for the large flower, she elaborates:
"In 2013, Kory added this one. I wanted to cover a small, grey salamander that I'd had done in the Fillmore in 1990 when I was young and desperately stupid when it came to tattoos. My intentions for a first tattoo had been good, but my choice of tattoo artist was not. I needed more color and balance to the work already done."
If Amy wasn't generous enough to share her tattoos, she also gave us a poem, which originally appeared in February 2014 in the 30/30 Project from Tupelo Press:
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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!!
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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!
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