Sac Convention Center gets inked

2009-06-21T03:58:48Z

Guns and needles took over the Sacramento Convention Center Friday.

Tattoo guns and needles, that is. The first day of the eighth annual Forever Tattoo’s All American Tattoo Festival kicked off the weekend with the best of the best in the ink industry, tattoo contests and circus-style side performer George the Giant.

Sponsored by Tatt life, Tattoo Energy and Budweiser, the festival gave ink fans the chance to peruse and purchase the work of more than 80 tattoo artists from not only the United States but as far as Sweden (Living All Tattoo), Greece (Nico Tattoo) and Italy (Cherry Tattoo).

“I usually go to the festivals in San Francisco, but this is the first year I’ve gone to one [in Sacramento]," festival-goer Zachary Bacon said. "They have a lot of great artists and I’m really impressed."

Some festival-goers had blank flesh canvases and others had mere inches of available space to tattoo. A few artists offered “festival” specials, knocking anywhere from $20 to $40 off their prices, and some charged several hundred dollars to customers, who more than willing to pay for their expertise.

Newly tattooed festival-goers have the opportunity to enter their pieces into contests, which will continue throughout the weekend. Friday’s contests included best sleeve and leg tattoos, and the recipients of the coffin-themed plaques (and bragging rights) were Samantha Schue and Matthew Kleinhauas (pictured).

The evening’s main attraction, besides fresh ink, was George the Giant, a stunt performer who starred in the movie Big Fish and was on “America’s Got Talent.” George stunned his captive audience by swallowing a sword, hammering a nail through his nose and inviting an audience member to walk on his face, which was resting sideways on a pile of broken glass.

In the center of all the action, an art showing that will remain through Sunday lined the aisle leading up to the stage. The tattoo-themed paintings were created by various local artists whowill be inking throughout the festival, including Sacramento’s American Graffiti and Folsom City Ink.

Tattoos weren’t the only things being hawked, however. Livermore’s Charlotte’s Web sold tattoo-inspired clothing and Belzel Books set up a tattoo book nook. Tattoo aftercare companies took the opportunity to boasts their products as well, with companies like Tattoo Genie and Tattoo Goo claiming faster and better healing.

Hells Angels Sacramento, whose many members are tattoo collectors, set up shop to sell their gear and promote their organization. Passion Parties representatives handed out free samples of their intimate party favors, and Nos energy drink supplied boosts to the crowd.

Tattoo fans of all ages roamed the convention center until the doors closed at 11 p.m., many preparing to return the next day and get inked.

The All American Tattoo Festival will continue through Sunday, June 21 at 7 p.m. Tickets are $25 at the box office, located in front of the Sacramento Convention Center.

For Saturday and Sunday's schedule, click here

All photos taken by Jonathan Mendick

All American Tattoo Festival this weekend

2009-06-18T05:31:08Z

Tattoo artists from across the country and around the world will join local tattoo artists in offering their inking services to Sacramento for the eighth year in a row at the annual All American Tattoo Festival this weekend. The festival begins Friday and will continue through Sunday at the Sacramento Convention Center.

The festival is organized in a joint effort between local promoter Alan Mahon and the owners of Sacramento's Forever Tattoo. Attendees can view over 100 art pieces, submissions of mainly paintings and drawings from the artists that won't include tattoo designs, on any of the three days of the festival, in addition to getting tattooed by world-renowned artists.

“Fifty to 60 percent of tattoo artists should not be tattooing anybody,” Mahon said. He explained that the festival provides tattoo-goers the opportunity to get a “better than average tattoo” by expert artists they normally don’t have access to, since many of them are overbooked or live in other parts of the country or the world.

Contests will be held each day for best tattoo pieces, in addition to special appearances by renowned sideshow art performer George the Giant. The festival will also host the worldwide debut of Shige, a book based on the life and work of world-renowned Japanese tattoo artist Shigenorii Wasaki. Both Wasaki and Horitaka, the author, will be tattooing at this year's festival.

Artists from local tattoo shops like American Graffiti, Modern Body Custom Tattoo, Monster Ink, Legacy and River City Tattoo will be stationed at the festival, in addition to the artists from Forever Tattoo.

Anyone wanting to get inked by unfamiliar or foreign artists can choose from a wide selection of tattooers from the West Coast, Texas, Missouri, Florida, New York, Japan, Germany, Spain and Italy.

Brent Patten, an organizer of the festival and co-owner of Forever Tattoo, pointed out that the festival offers more options than just needles. Attendees can get tattooed with the Japanese hand-painted method Tebori using a brass wand, or with a Tahitian method using a "tapping" stick.

"You get to see all these people from all around the world," Patten said. "You read about them in books, [and to] maybe get tattooed by them is really cool."

For several local artists, participating in this year's festival will be a first-time experience.

Steve Shippey, who has been tattooing for five years and specializes in horror realism, portrait and cartoon-inspired pieces, will tattoo for the first time at the festival along with Ronnie Grizard, on behalf of Sacramento's Modern Body.

Ten-year tattoo artist Tuan Tran will also participate for the first time on behalf of Monster Ink, a newer two-and-a-half-year old tattoo shop in Sacramento. Tran specializes in Japanese-style tattoos, along with realism and demon-inspired pieces.

Both Shippey and Tran expressed their excitement about the festival and an opportunity to meet other artists from around the world.

If there's anything to not look forward to, it's bargain hunters.

"Sometimes you get people who think that they can walk out with $20 in their pocket and get a three-hour piece for next to nothing," Shippey said.

For more information about tickets, schedule times, the artists and parking, visit this link.

Author's note: All photos courtesy of All American Tattoo festival.

Newest articles on The Sacramento Press tagged as "george the giant"

Sac Convention Center gets inked

All American Tattoo Festival this weekend