Courtesy of True South: True Tattoo and friends will be hosting a charity benefit for our friends Turbo, Ben, Rob and families on 11/11/12 at 8 p.m. at True Tattoo in Hollywood, CA…
The event will include raffle items, a live auction, gifts and more from Tim Hendricks, Chad Ramsay, Tim Beck, Ron Meyers Greywash, Krooked Ken, Nick Colella, Bell Helmets and others. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to Hurricane Sandy relief as well.
While we’re waiting for the premiere of Tattoo Age’s Thom DeVita killer episode, we just released some Valerie Vargas Bonus Footage. Vargas takes us to meet the legendary English tattooer Lal Hardy who has been tattooing since 1975 and is generally considered to be one of the people who elevated tattooing in the UK in the 1980s.
The next Tattoo Age series is about Thom deVita. Thom is an artist on many levels, and tattooing is just one of the ways he expresses himself. He began tattooing in New York City in the late 60s, when the practice was illegal. In this episode, which starts on November 21, we will hear from Don Ed Hardy, Nick Bubash, Scott Harrison, John Wyatt, Angelo Scotto, Bubba Reeves, and Robert Ryan, as we try to tell the epic story of Thom deVita, the artist. (more…)
Cover By Byran Burk Interview by Miguel Montgomery & Adam Warmerdam
Miguel Montgomery: On a little bit of a different note about your tattooing, I’ve seen some Japanese tattoos with American roses in the background. I haven’t seen too much of that. Did something spark that made you want to do that? Or did you just take it upon yourself, like ‘this snake needs a rose next to it’?
Bryan Burk: There were a few conversations I had when I was working with Bob about how we should try doing that stuff. And there were some kids that I had tattooed on, one was my friend Jeff, who’d gotten a bunch of tattoos and wanted to fill in all the space around them. So he was one of the first people that I filled in with roses and water around everything because it kind of fit in all these little spaces he had. On his it worked, and I think if you’re gonna do blue water with roses and some American stuff, it works. As long as you kinda keep it pumped up on the American side of town; color clouds and blue water with black behind all of that, like Eddy Deutsche, like Eddy meets late Sailor Jerry-type Japanese compositions, it’ll work. But I think if you’re doing black Japanese background with grey water, for whatever reason, roses look weird… (more…)
In Part 3, Mutsuo reflects on the blurry line of legality of tattooing in Japan, along with the prejudice against tattooed individuals that still lingers within society today, where people with tattoos are not welcome in public baths, beaches, pools, etc. He muses on why tattooing makes him happy and provides personal thoughts on spirituality, while bringing us to local temples of his hometown and introducing us to his lovely family. (more…)
Kore Flatmo: Yeah, and growing up, you must have seen a lot of Jack and Freddy’s work too.
Chente Rios: Yeah, my dad gets tattooed by Freddy, well, when they were young.
And Mike Brown from the 80s?
Yeah, all them. My dad has work from the Pike, Good Time Charlie’s. I’ve been around this since I was a kid; watching all of this unfold. I grew up in East L.A. right around the corner from Good Time Charlie’s… (more…)
By Big Gus
Hey guys! What’s the deal with Spike TV’s Tattoo Nightmares? Yes, the name sounds scary and confusing at first…
I had the opportunity to be cast as one of the main artists on the show. Man, what an experience it was! I was pulling 16-hour workdays six days a week for a little over a month, which was not an easy task. You may think that it would be, but besides the filming, it also takes major focus to be tattooing while being filmed by over four cameras at a time, which adds to the already chaotic environment… (more…)
In this episode of Tattoo Age we delve into the history of Three Tides Tattoo. We hear from Mutsuo, Chris Garver, and Masa Sakamoto, as they give us insight into how western-style tattooing gained ground in Japan after the 1999 Tokyo Convention. We also hear about all the guest artists who have contributed to making Mutsuo the artist he is today.
Crash: Okay, let’s start with a basic history of yourself and then I want you to talk about the shop and it’s crew.
Horitaka Kitamura: Sure man, basic story… Well I was born in Japan and my parents moved to America when I was a few years old. My parents were bilingual so they taught me Japanese as well, which opened a lot of doors for me later on… So I grew up here and probably had a very similar interest in tattooing like many of my generation, I was a skater, turned punk rocker and liked tattoos from my junior high school days. I do recall liking the tattoos in an old Japanese TV show, “the tattooed magistrate” where the hero shows his cherry blossom tattoos before he kicks ass at the end of every episode. So I guess I’ve long had an affinity for tattoos. I know in high school I had already decided I wanted a body suit, didn’t know what the hell that meant or what was good but I just knew that I wanted tons of tattoos! (more…)
The new Tattoo Age features Mutsuo, he has more styles than the first of day school.
This series revolves around an artist named Mutsuo who tattoos at the world-famous Three Tides Tattoo in Osaka, Japan. Mutsuo went from being one of the shop’s first customers to its first apprentice, and now he is considered its most senior tattoo artist. He learned the trade from all the American tattoo masters who visited Three Tides, and got what Chris Garver calls “a 90s-style tattoo education.” Enjoy.
In the last part of our Valerie Vargas episode, we take a closer look at the tattoo power couple that is Stewart Robson and Valerie Vargas. When we began shooting this piece, we didn’t know how close these wonderfully talented artists were and found ourselves pleasantly surprised by their shared pleasure in tattooing. P.S. Be on the look out for a little Valerie Vargas bonus part coming out later this season. Enjoy.
Second installment of Tattoo Age’s Valerie Vargas piece is now live! We take a closer look at Frith Street, the tattoo parlor where she works, and its owner, Dante DiMassa. Valerie also gives us insight into her development as a tattooer and why London will be her home base for the foreseeable future
Valerie Vargas grew up in Scotland, but has lived and worked in London for the last five years. You can find her at Frith Street Tattoo in SoHo, where she’s known for doing the prettiest “lady heads” in the world. Valerie has only been seriously tattooing since 2007, so she’s proof that talent and hard work will never fail you.
Courtesy of The Craft and Folk Art Museum: L.A. Skin & Ink, is an exhibition that explores the unique role that Los Angeles played in the tattoo renaissance that took place in the United States. The exhibition will move through the 60-year transformation of tattooing from its traditional base of military and outlaw cultures into an art form of great distinction and adoption into contemporary culture. The exhibition will be in view from September 29, 2012 through January 6, 2013. (more…)
Courtesy of VICE.com: In this season of VICE’s acclaimed show, we travel the world to feature different artists from all ends of the tattoo spectrum, including Valerie Vargas of the UK, Mutsuo of Japan, and Thom deVita of New York City. Each artists’ episodes will include three installments, airing every Wednesday on VICE.COM. First up – Valerie Vargas, whose first installment will air next Wednesday, September 12th.
Story by Aaron (Tex) Finnin and party photos by Casey Keener:
One month ago Jordan Teear and I were high-fiving in celebration of his first 24-hour Friday 13th super party completion. It was to kick off our long-awaited 4,000 mile summer ride from Los Angles to New York City to meet up with our buddy Oliver Peck. We spent the next 48-hours recovering from messed up sleeping schedules and wrenching the final details on our bikes before heading east. That Sunday the 15th of July the absolute worst wrench was thrown into our adrenaline plan. “We didn’t even make it to the freeway,” became Jordan’s favorite line as he chuckled and told the story of his broken legs and ankles numerous times followed by one of his token light-hearted jokes over the next three weeks… (more…)
Courtesy of Tattoo Nation: On Thursday, October 11th the premiere for Tattoo Nation, the first feature length documentary about the revolutionary style of Black and Grey tattoo art, will be held at the ArcLight Theater in Hollywood. The film traces the origins of tattoo and its explosion into mainstream culture… (more…)
By Paul Dobleman: Once again! Yes you know… Assholes happen! Here is the winner for October!!! (more…)
Courtesy of True South: True Tattoo and friends will be hosting a charity benefit for our friends Turbo, Ben, Rob and families on 11/11/12 at 8 p.m. at True Tattoo in Hollywood, CA…
By Big Gus 
Courtesy of The Craft and Folk Art Museum: L.A. Skin & Ink, is an exhibition that explores the unique role that Los Angeles played in the tattoo renaissance that took place in the United States. The exhibition will move through the 60-year transformation of tattooing from its traditional base of military and outlaw cultures into an art form of great distinction and adoption into contemporary culture. The exhibition will be in view from September 29, 2012 through January 6, 2013. (more…)
Story by Aaron (Tex) Finnin and party photos by Casey Keener: 
Courtesy of Tattoo Nation: On Thursday, October 11th the premiere for Tattoo Nation, the first feature length documentary about the revolutionary style of Black and Grey tattoo art, will be held at the ArcLight Theater in Hollywood. The film traces the origins of tattoo and its explosion into mainstream culture…
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