London Tattoo Convention, Truman Brewery
Tattoos are such a widespread part of modern culture across the globe that you could never really predict what kind of crowd to expect at an international convention in a major capital city. Will it lean toward the more old-school, traditional end of the spectrum with bikers and the rock ‘n’ roll audience, or the other end of the scale with the fashion conscious crowd anxious to follow in the footsteps of the Beckhams and Jolies of the world? The answer, it turns out, is all of the above and much more in between.
For those across the pond, London’s Brick Lane is curry heaven for locals, visitors and tourists alike, pretty solidly packed with restaurants offering all the delights of distant lands (well, how much you can argue that curry in England is still regarded as ‘exotic’ is definitely up for discussion, but we’ll work with the romanticism). It’s funny to see the guys who usually are out in the street trying to coax punters into their restaurants with cheaper and cheaper meals, now watching with slightly stunned and confused faces as all manner of inked types stroll past, ranging from girls with delicate shoulder work to full head-to-toe-eyebrow-implanted lizardmen. Sat right in the middle of Brick Lane is the huge Truman Brewery which these days serves as an exhibition centre. The Tattoo Con takes over all 4 floors of the building, making it a fairly imposing prospect to get round in the shamefully few short hours I can be here, so I pick the ‘random meandering’ method.
The ground floor is mostly taken up with trade stands - t-shirts, Wildcat jewelry, belts and buckles - everything you could ever wish for to look that little bit different from the norm. There’s a fairly light attitude to proceedings so it’s no surprise that there’s also a fairly hefty bar area at ground level for the freshly pierced to come and soak up their pain, and an expectant crowd gathering in front of screens for England’s World Cup Rugby match against Australia (rugby, beer, tattoos… best Saturday ever). The first half of the bridge floor is all about the industry - guns, needles, inks, creams and general supplies. I have no idea what half the stuff here is but it’s cool to look at for a little while, taking in all the crates of shiny, pointy things and picking up a few ideas for colours I didn’t even know existed as an ink. It’s interesting to see that there’s a dedicated niche industry for customising tattoo guns themselves, crafting incredibly detailed dragons and beasts out of metal just waiting to spill some blood from the next innocent youngster. On the bridge floor there’s also a fairly redundant art exhibition of painting and photography. Don’t get me wrong, I would (well, I do) happily look at photos of ink and tattoo art, but someone seems to have forgotten to organise this area properly which is a shame. As it is the art is too sparse and random to really make it feel like a proper exhibit.
It’s when you get into the second half of the bridge floor and then on up to the top floor that things really start to get interesting. From way off you can hear the rhythmic buzzing of a hundred needles pushing fresh ink. With pretty much one look around you can take in anything from traditional Polynesian through to Sailor Jerry rockabilly designs, then on to the most cyber-punk Japanese stylings. Pretty much every table has someone lying, sitting or leaning with an artist over them and a crowd gathered round watching. I’ve never really thought of tattooing as a spectator activity but I guess at a convention anything goes. Those stalls that don’t have someone getting inked are either dealing with customers or are manned by a lonely artists doodling in patience no doubt for an appointment to come. It all makes me desperate for my next piece, unfortunately my bank balance wouldn’t quite allow it this year. In among the artists are book stalls and flash design vendors. The Suicide Girls are tucked away in a corner trying desperately to reel in some attention. The international feel is wall to wall - I spot a few familiar faces from last year - Drew Horner from Sweden, Daredevil Tattoo from New York, Juan Puente from Brazil with his heavily Japanese-influenced designs, plus UK-based talent including Mo Coppoletta’s Family Business which is the nicest and most comfortable shop I’ve ever been in and where I got my last piece done by Saira Hunjan. A personal recommendation - honestly, they make it so relaxing I almost fell asleep while ink was being put into my shin.
Probably the best thing about the day is just looking around: having a wander and keeping your eyes peeled. Tattoos are, obviously, a visual artform and the whole building is full of things to look at - ever seen a Wonder Woman tattoo? There’s one. Always been interested in Giger-inspired cyber goth? Over that way. It’s also an amazing day for seeing how varied the crowd is. It’s no stretch to say that tattoos don’t carry quite the rebellious air they once did but they’re still a definite statement of intent about yourself and your position within whatever your culture is. I won’t try and come up with a philosophical ending about the solidarity and variety of the tattooed nation but have a look around - in the same building you have huge bikers chatting to stunningly beautiful 50’s retro girls who are standing next to a couple of metallers looking over the shoulders of some extremely fashionable kids, who are themselves inspecting the ink of a couple of fully-fringed emos. It’s a family day as well, with the age range of people I see somewhere from 5 to 80 years old.
Last word: Best design artwork/sketches definitely goes to Human Fly Tattoo who I think is from Spain. Look it up on google, his work’s amazing.
