At the Boston Center for the Arts on Sunday, the buzz of intellectual and artistic exchange was matched only by the metallic buzz of tattoo machines injecting ink into skin.
The Boston Tattoo Convention (BTC) was in its third and final day, concluding a marathon of an event that has been held every year since 2002. In the large, sweeping space of the center on Tremont Street, a similar image is repeated in every booth — artists crouched over their subjects, who in turn endure the pain through gritted teeth and resolve.
Jeff Gates, who received his first tattoo on Sunday, described the sensation as "shards of glass being dragged across the surface of your skin." His new tattoo was a large skull in the center of his back, flanked by two dragons on either shoulder blade — all in black and white.
An artist who goes by the name of Canman was tattooing Gates. Canman described the design as "a dark, nightmarish vision of sorts," as he wiped away the excess ink with a wet cloth. While the skull is a symbol of Gates' "dark past," the dragons are the "protectors of right from wrong," he said.
Canman said he usually advises his customers to "start out small." But Gates said his first foray into the world of tattoos had resulted in a monumental design that he will "carry on my shoulders until I die."
Canman began his tattooing career almost 15 years ago, starting with simple and straightforward designs, and eventually progressed into the extremely detailed and realistic designs that he now fashions. With years of experience under his belt, Canman usually chooses large-scale projects and is selective about what he tattoos.
"I try to get a little personal, work with the customer's ideas to come up with cool pieces," Canman said. As it turned out, he was a perfect fit for Gates.
It took Gates two years of searching to find a tattoo artist who was willing to tackle the design that he had in mind. Canman's availability during the BTC finally gave Gates a chance to fulfill his dream.
For the duration of the BTC's three-day extravaganza, more than 100 body artists and vendors work to serve and entertain approximately 5,000 customers and spectators. Scattered throughout each day are a variety of burlesque, circus and daredevil performances — lively respites from the down-tempo
art of tattooing.
One of the myriad customers was Mike, a blossoming tattoo artist himself. While many people get tattoos with deeply personal meanings, others do so simply out of appreciation for the art form. Mike considers himself to be in the second category.
With his arm twisted at an awkward angle by artist Evan Olin, who was the winner of the Best Tattoo of the Day award on Saturday, Mike described how he himself began tattooing only a couple of months ago.
He said his degree in fine arts and design "translated well into tattooing," something that "was one of the few things that actually got me paid." Since few people are willing to be tattooed by an inexperienced artist, Mike began learning the trade by practicing on squashes and compiling an artistic portfolio.
Olin's tattoo on Mike's forearm was an intricate portrait of a Japanese geisha. "I've been tattooing for the past five years," Olin said, "and now I concentrate mostly on portraits, realistic stuff." Olin's extensive experience with portraits seemed evident as he chose colors from a palette of thimble-sized ink containers and switched through varyingly shaped needles for specific features.
The differing philosophies of tattooing were also illustrated by William Silf, a 24-year-old tattoo artist with 70 percent of his body covered in ink.
"I don't really care whether I get a sh---y tattoo, as long as it's by a good friend or someone I trust. I'd rather have that than a good tattoo by someone I hated," he said.
To elucidate his point, Silf showed his first tattoos — clearly amateur efforts by "friends who tattooed [him] on the couches of their houses." But he refused to cover them up. "Every single tattoo that you can find has something wrong with it, and that's what makes it special," Silf said.
Currently, Silf works as both a tattoo artist and a traditional two-dimensional artist, always carrying around a sketchbook to portray his newest ideas.
And so the tattoo community finds itself stuck between self-expression and a commercialized art form. The existence of the BTC and its growth in numbers and representative talent over the past seven years speaks to the increased acceptance and respect tattooing is gaining as a modern-day art form.
For "Lil" Dave Williamson, tattooing is his universe — and he has tattooed the universe onto himself over a period of 25 years. The result is a colossal piece that covers almost all of his visible body. It begins with the Big Bang in the center of his chest, progressing into the birth of planets and earth's many life forms.
"As long as there's empty space on my body, [this project] will never be completed," he said.
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Lorrayne Shen contributed reporting to this article.
