I’m not a fan of reality television but a new series called Best Ink, may have potential. It sounds like they’ve finally come up with a tattoo show that focuses on the art rather than the drama going on in the shop or in the lives of the artists.
It’ll be premiering on Oxygen and begin on January 30th of 2012. It takes talented tattoo artists from across the country and has them compete for the title “Best Ink” – the best tattoo artist of that group. The grand prize is $100,000 and a cover story in Tattoo magazine. Not too shabby. The artwork is judged by a panel consisting of Joe Capobianco and other people in the industry. A guest judge will be rotated on the panel.
Each episode consists of two challenges for the artists. The first will challenge their creative as well as their artistic skills. They’ll be given challenges like coming up with a tattoo design to commemorate a life or based on a personal inspirational story. The second is to determine the most talented artist with the most artistic ability.
Artists will be eliminated as the competition progresses. As times goes on, the challenges get more difficult and eventually only one artist will remain at the end. It’ll be interesting to see if they can keep the show focused on the talent and steer clear of the pumped up drama you see on most of these shows. I think there are more than enough fans of tattoo art that would be interested in a show focusing on the artist’s skills only.
Snake Yates (he legally changed his in the ‘80s) is well known amongst tattoo artists. He was born and raised in Colorado Springs and was one of the first artists in the state. He still owns Snake’s Tattoo shop in Colorado Springs. He’s now 62 years old and has been tattooing for over 40 years. And now Yates is becoming well known for his talent for restoring old dental chairs to be used in tattoo shops!
Dental chairs are the perfect choice for tattoo work because of their various adjustment choices and their maneuverability. Yates said using one of these was a real back saver and although he tried to properly care for his chairs, they eventually wore out. The upholstery would get ruined because of the chemicals needed to clean it.
After spending big money getting his chairs repaired again and again, Yates bought an upholstery machine and so began a second career. After years of repairing his own chairs, he now collects and repairs them. He buys chairs from local dentists, old dental offices in Mexico, or scavenges them from dental suppliers. Other artists have gotten wind of his talent and will hire him to repair their tattoo chairs.
Yates has now expanded his skills to include wheelchair repairs. Nice to see someone is restoring a useful piece when we’re so used to chucking anything and everything that wears out or breaks.
If you’re a fan of Paul Booth chances are you’ll like Ryan Gillikin. Gillikin was recently featured on Weird News because of the oddities he collects and displays in his tattoo shop. Gillikin and his wife have owned the shop, Almighty Studios, for ten years and both are fans of body modification. Gillikin has horns and a surgically bifurcated (split) tongue which helps add to the atmosphere he’s going for with his collection.
Some of the items Ryan has on display in his shop include a pickled hand, an original piece of artwork by John Wayne Gacy, and a mummified cat. Creepy, dark stuff.
Part of his collection will be featured on the show “Oddities” which is shown on the Science Channel. It’s about a ventriloquist’s dummy that is thought to be possessed. Dummies, dolls, and clowns – they all freak me out.
Here’s a story about how people are using the popularity of tattoos to raise money for a good cause. Last weekend NASCAR fans were able to receive free tattoos of a limited set of designs affiliated with NASCAR championship contender Matt Kenseth. With no preplanning, seventeen people stepped up to get some ink. The money was raised for Air Force Enlisted Village charity which helps out the surviving spouses of retired Air Force personnel.
The project was worked out between Matt Kenseth and Jeremiah Weed who donated $100 for every tattoo inked but he was so impressed with the turnout, he ended up donating a total of $5,000. A great success. How can you go wrong with free tattoos?
OK – I admit this is unrelated to tattoos but I just discovered this kid who has been competing on one of these live entertainment shows – X-Factor. I don’t watch the show (why I’m discovering this kid now) – This girl is 13 years old – in 8th grade – and sings like an old blues soul – This is one of her auditions as well as one of her performing pieces – Rachel Crow – She blew me away and she’s cute as all hell-
Zombie Boy is a Montreal-based fashion model who you may recognize from the startling tattoo work that covers the majority of his body and face. His intent is to look like a rotting corpse. This transformation has actually turned into a couple of working gigs for Genest. This year he joined Lady GaGa in the ‘Born This Way‘ video and now he is being used by Dermablend for advertising purposes.
Removing and covering up tattoos has turned into a big business. The advertising big shots at Dermablend came up with a winner when they choose Rico Genest, who is better known as Zombie Boy, to advertise their tattoo covering product. Check out the video.
Each episode consists of two challenges for the artists. The first will challenge their creative as well as their artistic skills. They’ll be given challenges like coming up with a tattoo design to commemorate a life or based on a personal inspirational story. The second is to determine the most talented artist with the most artistic ability.
