“Rose is my middle name and I always loved roses,” said Jen Durso. She was sitting in a chair with her arm propped up on a pillow while Susy Tatusie tattooed a rose on her shoulder.
The occasion was Inked Out, the annual tattoo event at Meadowlands Convention Center in Secaucus. This year it took place from Sept. 12 to 14, bringing out more than 10,000 tattoo fans and 200 vendors.
“There’s a lot of talented people here, and I was able to look at a lot of artwork and compare it in a confined area,” said Durso. Ultimately she chose Tatusie to provide the rose, which complements her four other tattoos. “I asked so many different people and she had the personality and she cares for what I want. A lot of people say they’re going to put their spin on it. I mean, I do appreciate their work. It’s brilliant what these people are doing. But it’s on my body so it’s what I want.”
Tatusie, who works out of Holey Moley Tattoos, 518 Central Ave. in Jersey City, sketched a rose based on an image Durso provided, then transferred it to her skin and began tattooing. This was Tatusie’s third year at the show. A lifelong artist, she didn’t begin tattooing until her late 30s.
Asked what kind of credentials one needs to practice tattooing, she said, “Every state is different. In Jersey all you need is insurance and a Health Department license. In Jersey City all you gotta do is go to the Health Department.”
Roy Demauro, a Kearny resident who works as a facility maintenance mechanic for United Airlines, was having tattoo work done on his back by Oscar the Bear. Oscar apprenticed in New York for a year and a half before setting up his own shop, Jersey Ink in Elizabeth, about five years ago. “I love ink and this guy’s an artist,” said Demauro. “I follow him wherever he goes.”
Founded in 2001, the annual Inked Out convention attracted more than 200 vendors and 10,000 attendees this year.
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“I do love this show,” Demauro added. “Tomorrow I’ll bring my girlfriend, who has no ink, and I’ll show her all the freaky people.”
“A lot of the people that come here, some people call them different. Some people call them weirdos. I hear other people call them freaks,” said Tanya Jennifer Stanley, who had a booth providing spiritual therapy healing at the convention. “A lot of the tattoo artists and a lot of people that come here, they’re intrigued by mysterious things. Spiritual, the unknown. I get a lot of business from it.”
Jennifer (her professional name) has offices in Lake Tahoe, where she spends the summer and winter tourist seasons, and at 295 Morris Ave. in Springfield, New Jersey, where she spends the rest of the year – when she isn’t hopping around the country to tattoo and sex expos, a continuing source of clients.
“Do I love tattoos? Oh yes,” she said. But does she have one? “I’d rather not say.”
With a little cajoling, she admitted to having two on her hips. “I got them a long time ago and now as I’m getting older and I gained weight, I said, ‘Oh my God, that looks horrible.’ I have one of cherries because they used to call me sweetie when I was younger. And this side is an Indian leaf, because I’m Cherokee, with my ex-husband’s name and my name. Of course, it didn’t work out.”
Jennifer can be reached at (973) 376-0144.
Coming from afar
Some of the vendors traveled great distance to attend. Horitoshi1 came from Tokyo to practice his art at the convention. “Every year we come here,” said his apprentice, Shinji Horizakura. “The organizer is our friend.”
Unlike most of the other tattoo artists, Horitoshi1 does not use a machine. His tattoos are made with hand tools, long pointed instruments. “That’s Japanese traditional technique for Japanese tattoo,” said Horizakura. “Takes a long time. Usually just two to three each day.”
“In Japanese families they have one that’s the master, the sensei,” explained Mitch Gurowitz, who was waiting to get one of Horitoshi1’s stunning tattoos. The best apprentice, he explained, becomes Horitoshi2. “They’re not necessarily related but it’s passed down, kind of like when a king dies.”
Gurowitz, a concert photographer and more (he carries an assortment of business cards) from Piscataway, is extensively tattooed with Japanese designs. “Over here an apprentice is a student. It’s a way to get a cheap tattoo that isn’t very good,” he said. “Over there it’s an honor.”
Juan Carillo came to the convention from California with eight guys, including his three brothers. “We drove all the way up here in a motor home. A lot of gas. $1,800. We’re selling jewelry, piercing, body modification. Body modification is pretty much like tongue splittings, implants underneath the skin. We do a lot of silicone implants on the penis. Adds texture for the guys.”
Carillo’s brother James has, along with countless tattoos, an implant on his hand. “Surgical silicone,” he said. “I was the first one in our town to do it. I got it like 10 years ago. And now they’re everywhere. I’ve had piercings. I’ve been hung by the back, suspended. I’ve done it all. Just to see what the hype was.”
And did he enjoy being suspended by hooks inserted into the flesh of his back? “Nah. It didn’t work for me.”
James was at the convention largely to document it on video. A filmmaker who is deep into production on his independent feature Muerto Amor, an anti-bullying horror movie, he prowled the convention with his camera conducting interviews with the intent of pitching a reality series to a network, following him and his brothers around the world.
Also from the entertainment industry came attendee Chuck Zito, the tough-guy actor who played Frankie Diamonds on Sons of Anarchy and Chucky Pancamo on Oz, among other roles.
“A dear friend of mine is Mario Barth who is running this thing,” he said. “I come out here and support him every year. And of course I bring my books and my shirts and everything else and I do signings.”
Zito hosts the popular radio show “Chuck Zito’s View,” on which he says “I can do anything I want. It’s great. I’m on Howard Stern’s 101 in New York. Even Howard says I have the best show on radio.”
Upcoming projects for Zito include the recently completed movie Homefront with Jason Statham. “And on the 20th we’re doing a movie out in Texas. Remember Any Which Way But Loose with Clint Eastwood? This is calledAny Which Way They Come, with Clint Eastwood’s grandson 30 years later. And of course I play a biker. That’s why I’m growing this [goatee] again. It’s myself, Christopher Walken, Goldberg the wrestler, Kurt Angle, Don Frye the MMA fighter, Frank Trigg the MMA fighter. Last time it was a comedy. This is going to be a serious movie. It’s going to be pretty wild.”
Zito sports a collection of tattoos from artists Adam Kaplan, Louie Lombi, and Mike DeMasi, including a large one on his arm of his dad, boxer Charles Zito Sr. “I have four idols,” he said. “Bruce Lee, Elvis Presley, Muhammed Ali, and my father.”
Something for everyone
“The first Inked Out convention was held in September of 2001 – shortly after 9/11 – at the Meadowlands Expo Center, hosted by Mario Barth,” said publicist Patricia Mui via email. “The show’s popularity has grown so much throughout the years with vendors and tattoo artists that Mario took the show out to Las Vegas in 2009, namely The Biggest Tattoo Show on Earth.”
There was no New Jersey show in 2008 or 2009, but the demand was so strong that in 2010 it returned, and conventions are now held annually in both New Jersey and Las Vegas.
In addition to tattoo artists, piercers, and body modifiers practicing their trade, the event includes entertainment. This year the musical performers included Lullwater, Constantin Luger, Saint Caine, Tattoo Money, and Jimmy Gnecco of the band Ours. Raquel Reed provided a risque burlesque performance onstage several times throughout the weekend.
Daily tattoo contests featured best back of chest, best color, best black and white, best tribal, best design sheet, and best of day.
Even children had their niche. “Because this convention is a family event, children under the age of 12 enter for free,” said Mui. “We have a section for children to play, which includes carnival games, a bounce house, face painting and temporary tattoos.”
Union worker Jon Koromhas, who spent Sunday checking out the convention with his infant son Elliott, is one of the people responsible for putting up the booths at the convention center. “I set this show up and then at midnight I’m taking the show down until the next show comes in,” he said.
“We got a crew of guys with the union here, local 59,” he said. “If it’s a big production sometimes it’ll take two or three days. This show only took a day. But this is the busiest convention center in the country for its size. In our busy season we’ll have back-to-back shows all month. The slow season we might see two shows a month.”
Busy season for the convention center is winter, with the summers slowing down. “This year’s been great,” said the Bloomfield resident. “I hope it rolls out until 2000-forever.”
Art Schwartz may be reached at arts@hudsonreporter.com.