The third and final Amsterdam Tattoo Convention 1995 clip; this one is the roughest with a little more shaky camera than I’m happy with, but ultimately a pretty fun little video. The sound has been removed due to copyrighted music in the background, so enjoy the silence.
I don’t have a complete list of the artists who tattooed Enigma- offhand I spotted:
I’m sure Henk made a full list, but….
It’s only taken me 242 months to get the video footage I shot at the 1995 Amsterdam Tattoo Convention digitized and uploaded. That’s a little longer than it takes me to accomplish most of the things in my day-planner, but not by much.
This first clip features Horiyoshi III and family.
I filmed this when I was twenty years old on an 8mm video camera without really knowing how to use it; twenty years later I did my best to take the little clips I shot and put them together into something watchable.
Stay tuned for parts two & three.
The Gypsy Gentleman – Episode 07: Japan Pt. I from Marcus Kuhn on Vimeo.
I keep missing these when they hit. I should be better about this kinda thing.
There’s not much I can say about this episode other than: Watch it.
The legendary Horiyoshi III and Shige get the deluxe treatment from Marcus and crew. Possibly my favorite episode to date; not only giving us insight into these living legends but about the intricacies of Japanese culture as well. Such amazing footage.
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Here in the U.S. some of us are celebrating Thanksgiving; a time for us to reflect on what
we’ve got (and hopefully what you offer) and how lucky we are to have it. That culminates in overeating and usually grumbles about how dry the stuffing is.
For me, I’ll be having a catered meal at Philadephia’s KNOCK along with my family then off to a night of work.
But as per tradition, here are the things I’m thankful for in 2011:
My girlfriend Claire accepted my marriage proposal, and in 2012 we’ll be husband and wife.
My creepy dog Bailey.
My family and friends.
My job.
Stability and Clarity.
I’m thankful for Occult Vibrations. I’ve been ‘blogging’ since we called them webpages/sites and used to publish ‘zines before that; and of all the projects I’ve ever done, OV is the most satisfying and personal.
So thanks go out to: Rick Lohm, Robert Ryan, Thomas Hooper, Deno and Scott Harrison for the amazing tattoos I’ve gotten this year. Thanks to Chad Koeplinger who’s going to hurt me in a few days. And thanks to every person who reads OV, takes the time to email or comment, and who helps encourage me to keep it up.
Today’s clip is from Signatures of the Soul; tattooist Mitsuaki Ohwada (Horikin) is prominently featured, though you can catch Horiyoshi III at the end.
Thanks everyone!
I just captured this footage from a 1987 Documentary called “Colored People Invade San Diego” and by sheer coincidence it features a Kaiju themed bodysuit from Mike Malone and two amazing Japanese Tattoo artists working in the traditional hand poke style. Synchronicity at it’s best given what’s been going on in the world over the last week. My thoughts go out to the citizens of Japan and their loved ones abroad who’ve been affected by the terrible Earthquakes/Tsunami. I’ve spoken to my friends in Japan and everyone is alright. Small blessings but so much devastation to work through.
The end of the excerpt features Paul Rogers talking about machine building. I could have listened to him talk for hours, regrettably the documentary only featured this short clip. Sometimes we have to take what we can get.
I could watch Freddy Corbin tattoo Jesuses (Jesii?) all day long.
Of all the tattoo conventions I’ve been to, Henk’s Amsterdam Tattoo Convention was hands down the best. My brother and I went in 1995, which was a few years after this documentary was made. Somewhere I have video from that trip on 8mm tape.
In the meantime, I’ve grabbed a few of the better moments from Stearn’s tape. It’s not the best of his Metamorphosis II output; very little in the way of interviews, Horiyoshi III and Suluape Petelo were sorely underused and there was far too much music (which was cut out in the excerpts I put together) but for the sake of posterity I’m glad to be able to share what I can.
Occult Vibrations 