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SALT LAKE CITY INTERNATIONAL
TATTOO CONVENTION 2006
by Max Brand
From the May 2006 issue of Prick Magazine.
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 The Mormon Church in SLC is a beautiful
sight. |
 Heavily Tattooed Bodies. |
 HOT! Work it baby. |
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WOW! That's the first thing I have to say about Salt
Lake City and its tattoo convention. PRICK penetrated
farther west than it ever has before to discover a
beautiful town surrounded by snow-covered mountains. The third
annual Salt Lake City International Tattoo Convention was held
February 17-19 at the Salt Palace Convention Center, an event center
built for the recent Winter Olympics. Flaco Productions and Lost Art
Tattoo Studio did a spectacular job putting on a first class, badass
show that also had the family experience in mind.
Droves of tattoo enthusiasts from SLC and the surrounding
towns were entertained not only by world class
art, but also by the belly dancing talents of the Desert
Journey Dance Company on Friday, the Porch Pounders and
Joshua Aker on Saturday, and the Skirt Chasers on Sunday.
Among the tattooers in attendance were a handful of
international artists, hence the name of the convention.
It's nice to have the opportunity to check out
artists from all over the world such as Lal Hardy of
New Wave Tattoo in London, Naresh of Flamin'
Eight Tattoo in London, Horizaru of Horizaru
Tattoo in Tokyo, Christian Nyguyen of Tatouage
Artistic in Switzerland, and Keone Nunes of Ta Tau in Hawaii
(yeah, I know Hawaii is part of America).
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They didn't skimp on the American talent either, and
I was surprised to see a lot of familiar faces from back east.
Some of the artists that graced us with their talents were
Rodney Raines of Ace Custom in Charlotte, N.C., Josh
Hughbanks of Guilt By Association in Federal Heights, Colo.,
Judy Parker of Pacific Tattoo in San Diego, Calif., Virginia
Ellwood and Claire Vuillemot of Ink Vision Tattoo in Boise,
Idaho, and Michael Fatutoa of Sacred Center Tattoo in Las
Vegas, Nev.Also from.Vegas was the Hart & Huntington crew.
They had an enormous booth with four artists working simultaneously
throughout the weekend. Obviously, with them
came the camera crews filming for A&E's Inked. The cameras
buzzed around the convention floor all weekend interviewing
different tattoo artists and tattoo fans. They also covered
some of the tattoo contests.
Speaking of tattoo contests, this show dished out
some of the nicest trophies and awards I've seen. Each day, a
Tattoo of the Day winner took home a Revolution
Snowboard with Custom SLCTATTOO Graphics and the
artist who did the tattoo won a custom tattoo machine built
by Dan Dringeberg. For the tattoo
contests held on Saturday and
Sunday, the winners walked away
with cash prizes and a beautiful silver
bowl on a wooden pedestal. I
was impressed.
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On Sunday afternoon I
finally had the chance to walk
around and check out downtown
SLC. Walking through the snow
and rounding a corner to see the
castle-like Mormon Church was a
breathtaking vision. I walked past
the open gate of the courtyard of
the church (which is surrounded
by a 10-foot wall) and was met by
hundreds of children and parents
filing out. They all headed to the assembly hall across the
street, a huge structure that looked like a mix between
an ancient roman temple and something from Star Wars.
I ducked into the courtyard for a second to catch a
glimpse of the beautiful gardens and fountains, then
headed through downtown and back to the hotel.
Did I mention there are mountains everywhere you
look?
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 On Sunday, Dave Scearce of Immortal
Images Tattoo made time
to get worked
on by the one and only Dave Fox. |
 Look for Sarah Mille on the
cover of a
future issue of PRICK.
She has some very
entertaining
tattoos by Dave Waugh,
Grez,
King Ron, and Matt Rinks. |
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To end a great weekend, I hopped on a plane
headed for a layover in Vegas.
I had about 15 minutes, and I quickly turned my
$20 into $40 on a slot machine at the terminal before
hopping on my flight to Atlanta. I was headed back
to the warm, dry weather, but I was already thinking
about my next visit to SLC.
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 Keone Nunes of Tat Tau in Hawaii kickin' it old school
(except for the cell phone). |
 Although Jack Rudy's birthday
wasn't for a few days, Sharon
Brouse
and Chris Longo
decided it was
time to celebrate! |
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For more information, go to www.slctattoo.com.
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