The 1st Singapore Tattoo Show

The 1st Singapore Tattoo Show is an event that was organised by Tattoos.com.sg and held in Singapore from 09-11 Jan 2009 at the Singapore Expo.

Sunday was the last day of the event, and Quinn and I decided to go check out the Show.

Here's some of the stuff that was going on in Hall 6B of the Singapore Expo that day...

Apparently more than 8,000 people visited this Show, and there were more than 100 booths set up in the hall with exhibitors from all over the world, showcasing the skills and artworks of over 60 tattoo artists under one roof.

Some of the star attractions of the Show included Chris Garver from Miami Ink and Bob Tyrell from Night Gallery... that's Chris on the right, and Bob on the left.

(Photo by Quinn Johnson)

Reverend Ar Jahn Tong from Fo Guang Hang

Needless to say, there was a long queue at Chris Garver's booth, as people queued up to meet the man in person. I decided not to join the queue madness, and instead opted to walk around the hall and see what there was to see... after all, I came because I was curious.

With exhibitors from 25 countries represented at the Show, one could travel all over the world collecting tattoos on one's body, all just by attending one Show...

Mummy Tattoo (CHN)

And this is one of my favourites of the day...

Among the featured highlights at the Show were traditional Borneo tattoos from Borneo Ink... apparently, the unique point about Borneo tattoos is that they do not fade, but actually get darker over time.

And traditional Thai Sak Yant tattoos from Fo Guang Hang... these tattoos are done by Thai monks and have spiritual significance to them.

As you can see, all these traditional tattoos are done by hand and not by machine.

There was a Tattoo competition with various categories, and the categories that day were Most Realistic, Large Black N Grey, Large Colour, Back Piece, and Tattoo Of The Day.

Quinn took most of the competition pictures, 'cos he was able to see over the crowd... LOL! :-p

These are my favourites... check out that tiger!

(Photo by Quinn Johnson)

And here's a pair of wings that I just adore!

(Photo by Quinn Johnson)

As we were watching the competition, we noticed someone rather familiar-looking among the contestants who was going onstage to compete, and it was kinda weird, 'cos this guy went up onstage with a video camera in his hand... LOL! :-p

(Photo by Quinn Johnson)

(Photo by Quinn Johnson)

Yes, it was Phat Chan from 24 Herbs!!! And he was taking video footage of the judges looking at his tattoo up close, and when he turned around to face the crowd, he was pointing his camera at the crowd, panning over the crowd, when suddenly, he spotted 2 people in the crowd, yelling out at him with hands raised in the air... one of them wearing a pink Alive Not Dead trucker cap... haha! :-)

I must say that Phat created quite a commotion just about everywhere he went in the expo hall that day...

Quinn and I managed to catch up with him during one of his "free moments"...
24 Herbs, yeah!!

This is a close-up view of the tattoo that Phat had on his calf... this piece of artwork was entered in the "Most Realistic" and "Tattoo Of The Day" categories of the tattoo competition that day...

The artist was his friend from Denixxx Tattoo (Hong Kong)...

So who won?? erm... not sure exactly, 'cos we left halfway through the competition to go explore the various booths in the Hall.

Other than the tattoo competition, there was a photo exhibition.

There were lion dance and dragon dance performances too, but we only managed to catch the dragon dance performance, which took place after the Tattoo competition. It featured a glow-in-the-dark dragon.

Also spotted at the Tattoo Show that day was Jonathan Leong of Singapore Idol fame, and if my eyes did not deceive me, I might have also seen Chris Ho somewhere in the crowd.

Not too shabby for the first ever Tattoo Show of its kind in Singapore, and from what I hear the organisers are planning to have a bigger and better one next year, including more interesting things like rock band performances and a motorbike show.

So did I get a tattoo? erm nope... but I did the next best thing, I got me a T-shirt! :-)

**All the photos in this entry were taken by Jeanette Chin, except where otherwise indicated**

Also, you might want to check out Ivan Chen's blog for more great pictures of the Singapore Tattoo Show - Ivan took more pics than I did, and they are beautifully taken pics too! :-)

**Thanks Ivan, for your permission to link my blog to your blog for all those amazing pics!**