Skindeep - by Paul Callaby
Way back in the annals of time – well, 1994, to be precise – a new tattoo convention made its first appearance at the Aston Villa Leisure Centre in Birmingham. It was the first show in the UK to incorporate a custom bike show into a tattoo convention and it worked well. Tattoos and bikes have always gone hand-in-hand and there have been a few bike shows and rallies over the years that have incorporated a small tattoo show, so why not the other way round?
Well, it must have worked because, now in its fourteenth year, Ink & Iron has just had one of its busiest shows ever. This actually makes Ink & Iron the longest-running show in the whole of the UK... ever... and it's still going strong. When you think back to shows like Dunstable Expo and how big that was, you start to realise that what the organisers of Ink & Iron have done is no mean feat. Over the years the show has had its good times and a few years when the attendance dropped, but the past few years have seen it go from strength to strength again.
This year's show was held on Sunday, 1st April and was again at the Academy right in the centre of Birmingham. We were a little later than normal arriving this year and by the time we got there, the place was a hive of activity as tattoo artists and trade stands alike were all busy setting-up for the day ahead. The line-up of working artists was long and impressive, which is something Ink & Iron has always attracted. This year's wizards of ink included Kev Shercliff and co. from Midlands Tattoo Centre, Mandie Barber from True Love Tattoo in Kidderminster, Theresa Gordon from Tradition 180 in Derby, John Treharne from Skin Creation in Cardiff, Alan Hale and Stuart Lambie from Alzone in Gloucester, Stuart Muirhead from Hepcat Tattoo in Chelmsford, Mr Nu from Top Dog Tattoo in Portsmouth, Ruth and co. from Eternal Tattoo, Jo Harrison from Modern Body Art... plus loads of other great artists from all over the country. Sorry to all those not mentioned by name but there were just too many to list everybody.
I just had time to have a quick wander around and get a few shots of some of the awesome bikes on display before the doors were opened and the crowds of people streamed in. The engineering and paintwork on show had to be seen to be believed; the sheer imagination and not to mention the cost of putting some of these bikes together is unreal.
One thing the organisers do is provide plenty of entertainment throughout the day and over the past few years, they've had some really good alternative, piercing and suspension acts on, and this year was no exception. For the first time at any UK convention, the Psycho Cyborgs were performing, but more about that later. First up was a band called the Dixsons and then a bit later in the afternoon was Red Line. I didn't get chance to really listen to the bands because I was busy in the studio.
Anyone who has been to Ink & Iron will know that if they've entered the competitions the queue for judging is always a long one. This year, to try and alleviate the problem, the judging was being done all day rather than in a shorter time period, thus hopefully making the time spent waiting to be judged a lot less. The Academy was packed solid and this made hard work out of getting around to actually seeing what work was being done; but, from what I did see there were some cracking pieces being done, some of which I managed to get in the studio.
At this point I'd like to make a plea to all convention goers, both artists and collectors: if you would like to see your artwork in print in the UK's best-selling tattoo magazine, then please hunt me down at shows to photograph your work. It's a lot easier for you to find me than it is for me to find you! Thanks.