A few tattoo points of view

Michael Miller

Chris “Pilgrim” Carson, the owner of Skulls Ink, admits that his

product is “really lowbrow art.” The San Diego-based dealer, who

makes a living selling designs to tattoo parlors around the

Southwest, has a gallery full of images that tweak every rule of

taste. When he visits his conservative home state of Texas, however,

there’s one design that even the bikers won’t touch.

No, it’s not the devil, or the centerfolds, or even the

partially-dressed nun. The offending image is a cartoon by artist

Derek Hess, showing a baby Adolf Hitler pointing a gun into his

mouth. In California, it’s one of Carson’s most-requested items, but

buyers pass on it three states away.

“My theory is that people just have different theories when it

comes to guns,” Carson said on Saturday during the Body Art Fair at

the Orange County Fair and Exposition Center. “I’m a hunter, and that

should never be allowed to happen. People there have a greater

respect for guns, and a greater responsibility when it comes to gun

ownership.”

On Saturday, however, the baby Hitler was among the tattoo designs

offered on Carson’s table at the Body Art Fair. Behind a curtain next

to the booth was a tattoo artist, ready to replicate the sticker on

any prospective customer’s skin.

“I got a degree in criminal justice and I ended up doing this,”

Carson explained with a laugh. “I didn’t want to go to work in a

prison every day.”

Carson was one of over a dozen body artists who populated the

Exposition Center on Saturday and Sunday As electric needles hummed

and heavy metal music blared over speakers, customers sampled the

latest designs and often stopped for new tattoos and piercings on the

spot.

In addition to sales, the two-day event featured seminars on the

artistic and medical aspects of body art, as well as a tattoo contest

held at 6 p.m. each day Attendees competed for prizes in “Best

Portrait,” “Most Unusual,” “Best Male,” “Best Female” and more.

Most of the booths were occupied by tattoo artists, but some

represented less visible parts of the industry. Rob Lavariere, the

owner and founder of Glove Guy in Huntington Beach, has sold latex

gloves and anesthetic to tattoo parlors for the last 10 years. He

credited Angelina Jolie, Drea de Matteo and other entertainers with

helping to boost tattoos’ popularity.

“It’s been extreme lately, really extreme,” Lavariere said. “Thank

God for Hollywood. When they get tattooed, everyone does.”

Susan Church, director of education for the International

Institute of Permanent Cosmetics, had a different attitude toward

body art. Her firm, based in Costa Mesa, offers cosmetic surgery for

burn victims and others with noticeable scars. The studio indulges

clients a bit, though, offering to permanently tattoo lipstick,

eyeliner and eyebrow color onto faces. Church has had this treatment

done on herself.

“I get up in the morning and I just go,” she said. “My UPS man

used to tell me, ‘I’ve never seen a woman who could get up in the

morning, come outside and look as good as you do.’”