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Richmond Tattoo Fest: Not Just For Sailors and Bikers

John Donegan | September 25, 2018

Topics: Abby Hume, Big Island Mike, Black Rabbit Tattoo, Gia Rose, Heroes & Ghosts, Ink Master, Ink Master Angel, Jelena Wolves, Loose Screw Tattoo, Matt Grosso, Richmond Tattoo and Arts Festival, Sabrina Elliotte, Tattoo Nightmares Miami, True Tattoo

The Richmond Tattoo and Arts Festival of 2018 is the oldest tattoo expo in the United States, and the 26th annual edition is set to kick off this weekend. The convention will celebrate getting kicked off its parents’ health insurance in one of the most tatted-up cities in the country, and will feature a myriad of artists from across the state of Virginia and around the country.

Not only will local shops like Loose Screw Tattoo, Heroes & Ghosts, and Black Rabbit Tattoo be on hand, some big names are also expected to attend, including artist Christian Buckingham from Spike’s TV series Ink Master, along with Gia Rose from Ink Master Angels multiple artists from Tattoo Nightmares Miami, and Big Island Mike, straight from South Park and the tummy of Jackass cast members. Click this link to request an appointment from any of the artists before the festival.

Events begin Friday, September 28th at 3 PM and carry over the whole weekend, offering live music, seminars on artistry and design, fire dancing,  tattoo competitions, and of course, air sex championships. The festival will also feature several presentations  on the artistic process, spanning from advanced drawing techniques to a 3D-referencing workshop.

With attendance  expected to hit 4,000-5,000, the convention is sure to fill the DoubleTree this year with street art, live painting, and over 30 vendors including Kulture, Velocity Comics, 3d Central Printing, Eternal Ink, and Goatocado.

All told, the festival will showcase over 150 artists. RVA Mag spoke with a few of our favorites to get a closer look at their work and find out what to expect of this weekend’s festivities.

PHOTO: @bigislandmiketattoos on Instagram

Big Island Mike (Los Angeles)

Big Island Mike Castillo started tattooing in 2001 and has since built a reputation for tattooing many from the action sports community, including Travis Pastrana of Nitro Circus, Weeman from the Jackass crew, and legendary skateboarder Christian Hosoi. When he is not tattooing, Big Island Mike rides BMX; he has been a BMX judge for the X-Games for the past 24 years. He was even featured as a South Park character. His favorite style of tattooing is fineline pieces and pieces with black and gray coloring, but he is capable of all styles of tattoos. His tattoo work can be found on Instagram at @bigislandmike and @bigislandmiketattoos.

PHOTO: @jelenawolves on Instagram

Jelena Wolves (Black Rabbit Tattoo, RVA)

Jelena Wolves started tattooing out in Long Island, NY 10 years ago, and no, the inspiration for her nickname was not a fascination with wolves, but traditional sailor imagery and the impact of travel. “I loved the bold lines, bright colors and heavy black shading of traditional tattoos,” she said. “The idea of being able to travel and tattoo simultaneously is something that also appealed to me.” According to Wolves, this travel-based inspiration in her work also drew her towards Richmond, after years of bouncing between coasts and conventions across the country.

Currently at RVA’s own Black Rabbit Tattoo, Wolves enjoys making traditional tattoos, from Mickey Mouse to scorpions and skeletons. Nowadays, though, she says she experiments more, juxtaposing tough imagery with beautiful elements such as flowers. These experiments are an extension of the constant inspiration from her travels. “Traveling, everywhere from Iceland to Thailand and Japan, has been a constant source of inspiration to me,” she said, “as well as a reminder to always go be grateful to tattooing for giving me everything I have today.”

PHOTO: @lil_matt_tattoos on Instagram

Matt Grosso (True Tattoo, RVA)

Richmond based artist Matt Grosso’s art is influenced by R. Crumb’s Zap Comix and hot rod artists Ed “Big Daddy” Roth and Von Dutch, as well as his dad’s race car shop, where they build and paint race cars. “[The shop] gave me a huge outlet to be creative in,” he said. “Through this i got to meet my awesome friend Tracy, who eventually would get me into tattooing.” While Matt still designs for race cars, he has been an artist making a living in body art since 2010. He utilizes a hot rod aesthetic, big bold color work, neo-traditional, and new school niches: “bright and bold with a bit of a new school twist.”

PHOTO: @sabrinaelliotte on Instagram

Sabrina Elliotte (Loose Screw Tattoo, RVA)

Sabrina Elliotte is a Richmond based artist from Loose Screw Tattoo, where she works with her husband and fellow artist Gwooki. “We really compliment each other since we tattoo similar. He likes tattooing more dark masculine imagery and I like tattooing more soft and feminine,” Elliotte said. “Sometimes we end up tattooing couples, which is a lot of fun — it’s like a double date.”

Elliotte states her style of choice to be black and grey realism as well as fine line blackwork, or “anything feminine that flows well with the body, like filigree or flowers.” Elliotte and her husband also work on non-related art projects when not under the gun, and currently live in a haunted house. “It feels very natural since we are both so inspired by dark art, and are creative in different mediums.” she said. Creative across numerous forms of media, Elliotte is the kind of artist that, even when a piece may look perfect to most, finds it almost always deserves another shade of black.

PHOTO: @giarosetattoo on Instagram

Gia Rose (West Chester, PA)

Gia Rose is most well known from being an Ink Master (season 8) and an Ink Master Angel (season 1). She’s been tattooing for 15 years, and is a favorite at RVA’s annual tattoo festival for her unique shade of “Neo Traditional-ish” work. “[My style] is rooted in traditional tattooing with bold lines and flat colors, but also [incorporates] illustration in imagery and design,” she said.

PHOTO: @abbyhumeart on Instagram

Abby Hume (Seattle, WA)

Washington state resident Abby Hume began doing tattoo work in Rochester, New York around 2001, apprenticing under renowned artist Tom Sherman. But she made her reputation in Virginia Beach at Studio Evolve, using a distinctive style of watercolor-based tattoos. “I found my niche in watercolor tattoo about five years in, as people just started finding me for the work, raving on about the results,” she said. Hume keeps her work distinct from typical watercolor art; her palette of vibrant saturation and color scheme is all her own.

RVA Tattoo & Arts Festival celebrates 25 years with 150 artists, muralists and more this weekend

Malik Hall | September 27, 2017

Topics: Black Ink Crew, Black Rabbit Tattoo, Ink Master, Jack Brown's Tattoo Revival, Jesse Smith, Loose Screw Tattoo, RIver CIty Tattoo, RVA muralists, RVA Tattoo & Arts Festival, rva tattoos, street art, Two Pillars Tattoo

Tattoos and street art are undeniably Richmond to the point that we should erect a monument of a giant paintbrush on Monument Avenue. As of 2015, the city was the third most tattooed place in the country and has become apart of our culture just as street art is starting to. With the fascination and popularity of body ink, it only makes sense there be a place for artists, fans, and tatooed citizens alike to converge and celebrate the art of ink. 

This weekend will mark the 25th Anniversary of the Richmond Tattoo and Art Festival, bringing over 150 internationally known and local tattoo artists, 14 celebrity tattoo artists and muralists to the area for live tattooing, workshops, demos, along with competitions, performances, music and more.

The annual convention was started and previously led by Cj Starkey and Nate Drew, but for the last two years, Carytown’s Loose Screw Tattoo owner Jesse Smith and Kenny Brown of Jack Brown’s Tattoo Revival have served at the helm selecting artists to make this festival bigger and better than the last. 

“We’re still trying to get the base up, this year we’re more focused on trying to put together the best show we can,” said Smith, who has been adorning people’s bodies with art for 20 years.  “Me and my team have put 110 percent into this fucking convention, I want people to know this is passion for all of us.”

Artwork: Jesse Smith

Returning the festival to its original location of the Doubletree, formerly the Holiday Inn, is one of the changes being made under Smith and Brown. The spot has a rich history within the  local tattoo community and it predates the festival itself as it used to be an informal meeting area for a Tattoo club back in 1988 with local tattoo legends such as Grandpa Groovy, one of the men responsible for removing stigmas about tattoos by helping to bring about tattoo regulations to Richmond.

With an expected 4,000-5,000 attendees, up from 2,800 at last year, and over 30 vendors including Kulture, Velocity Comics, 3d Central Printing, Eternal Ink and Goatocado, it continues to be one of Richmond’s most popular for tattoo fans and fellow artists alike.

“My goal is to eventually turn this into one of the biggest art events on the east coast,” said Smith.

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Big names in the tattoo field expected to attend are artists from Spike’s TV series Ink Master such as Tatu Baby and Christian Buckingham, along with tattooers from Ink Master Angels, Tattoo Nightmares Miami, and VH1’s Black Ink Crew.

 “As far as the public is concerned, We have a lot of guys from the Ink Master show and we also got my friend Melody Mitchell,(a street artist) from the Black Ink crew. We have a bunch of TV celebrities that are going to be there,” said Smith.  

Richmond’s own Mitchell Canter from Heroes and Ghosts Tattoo as well as Loose Screw’s Jason Stephan will be attending. Fellow Richmond tattoo shops Black Rabbit Tatoo, Two Pillars Tatoo, and River City Tattoo will also be at the convention. Click this link to request an appointment from any of the artists before the festival. 

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Artist: Charles Berger of Two Pillars Tattoo

Most artists that were selected were hand-picked by the team. “Talent, we based it off of reputation, we base it off of personality…Sometimes you a have really awesome artist that are assholes and then you got artists who aren’t as good as them but, really cool and easy to work with,” said Smith on this year’s lineup. “I want to have good people at the show, good people, and good personalities getting all of those is a tough package.”

Body ink might be the main attraction, but street art is also a big part of the RVA Tattoo & Arts Festival. The show with feature 10 different street artist coming out and painting on 6×6 canvases and that will be sold to the public. Colorblind street artist, Toobz Muir and surrealist master Ekundayo (artists of one of my favorite murals in RVA) will be two of the 10 taggers. All of the proceeds will be given to Art 180, a local non-profit involved in inspiring youth through art.

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“Professional Purveyor of Good Times” and Richmond’s Best Burlesque Performer, Deanna Danger, will return this year to host the 2nd Annual Miss Pin Up Competition. First place will receive a cash prize, a crown, a sash and some goodies as well as the glory of the “Miss Pinup RVA” title. Boom Boom Basics Burlesque & Performing Arts Studio will also be wooing peering eyes with their burlesque and variety show.

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The RVA Beard League will also be out there recruiting new bearded members and will host a contest of their own. The attendee with the gnarliest beard and/or mustache will win a $200 certificate to Loose Screw Tattoo. No criteria is given for the competition, but I can only speculate it won’t be too different from the league’s own Mid-Atlantic Beard and Stache Championships. 

While you’re checking out all the dope ink and chatting with artists make sure you check out the freak side-side attraction that is the air-sex competition. Participants simulate sexual acts in an improv comedy style to their choice of music and it’s pretty much one of the greatest performances you will ever see. You can read more on the air sex championships in our coverafe here.

“I’m not gonna say it’s a must-see, but something I’m definitely interested in seeing is the air sex competition,” said Smith.

Fitting the vibe of the entire show, there will be the 4’8 Ozzy Osbourne impersonator, Little Ozzy. The dead will rise again as going on 40 years together horror punk band, The Undead will play. Left Cross, Mistaker and Cody Spicer will also grace the festival with their tunes and a fire performance will be delivered courtesy of Party Liberation Front.

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Tattoo competitions will be spread throughout the weekend, from awards based on best of size to the best of the weekend, best color, best black and gray, and a kids tattoo competition; allowing the little ones to get their taste at becoming a master inker.

The 25th RVA Tattoo & Arts Festival will take place this Fri. Sept., 29 through Oct. 1 at the DoubleTree by Hilton – Midlothian, located at
1021 Koger Center Boulevard. Tickets range from $20(Friday & Sunday) to $35(3-day pass), and you can grab yours 
here.

Photos courtesy of Richmond Tattoo & Arts Festival and Jesse Smith

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