Tattoo Article 8

"The First Singapore Tattoo Show — What an Experience!"

History was made on 09 January 2009 as the first ever large-scale tattoo show to be held in Singapore opened. The show spanned over three days and I was proudly there on the first day the moment the doors were opened to the public.

With an S$18 (US$11) ticket in hand, I cautiously approached the entrance of the exhibition hall at the Singapore Expo amid loud techno-music coming from a temporary stage in the background.

And when I had to leave more than two hours later – I had to rush for a birthday celebration – I was left with only one conclusion in mind: this is by far the best eighteen dollars I have spent for a long, long time. How I wished I could stay till the show ended on that day!

The layout was spartan by international standards, with tattoo artists from all over the world cramped into booths no bigger than seven by four feet. In fact, most booths had problems fitting in more than one walk-in customer. In total, there were more than 120 booths squeezed within a 2,000 square meters hall.

Besides the novelty of the show, amid the current economic woes, visitors kept streaming in and had no qualms parting money to catch a glimpse of celebrity tattooists Chris Garver from television hit series Miami Ink and Paul Booth from famed Last Rites Tattoo Parlor.

My personal observation is Garver was amazingly pleasant and soft-spoken. Being his first time in Singapore, he patiently signed autographs and posed pictures with his legions of adoring fans who actually had to queue up in front of two ear-splitting music speakers for at least an hour! In addition, Garver even went on stage and drew a tattoo design on-the-spot that was later auctioned off for charity.

Booth, on the other hand, seemed to be more in a mood for research, as he instructed one assistant to video-tape every tattoo he inked on that day while the second furiously took handwritten notes. Well, perhaps Booth was trying to find out more about Asian skin, which tend to be softer for tattooists. Even then, he and his partner Xiao Long enthralled the crowd with their photo-realistic tattoo masterpieces. Without a doubt, Last Rites ranks among the best in the world.

Would you believe it? Some young parents I witnessed came not only sporting macho tattoos on their bodies but also their babies in prams. Yes, it was pretty much organized chaos but plenty of fun.

Without a respectable tattoo on my body, I was surrounded by plenty of tattooed locals who relish a rare chance to showcase their body art. I felt embarrassingly underdressed. Many people were clad in attire to flaunt their tattoos such as women who wore sleeveless or bare-back clothes, while men chose shorts, T-shirts or even went topless. What about going topless for me? Well, thanks but no thanks.

Overall, the show was a lot milder than similar tattoo shows organized overseas owing to strict local censorship laws. But then again, I saw enough exciting and titillating moments over two short hours to set my heart racing and survived to file this report.

I trust that things will get only better with greater public acceptance of tattoos as an art form rather than gangs-related. On the final day of the events, organizers announced an impressive figure of more than 10,000 paying visitors. Needless to say, I can’t wait for the second tattoo show next year. Cheers.