Back a few years ago, San Francisco was the center of the Tattoo Universe. Don Ed Hardy, Lyle Tuttle, Erno Szabady, Greg Kulz, Guy Matynuik and Henry Goldfield ruled the roost, with Bill and Junii Salmon making history of their own, upstairs on Van Ness. Then came Eddy Deutsche, Scott Sylvia, Juan Puente, Jesse Tuesday and Jeff Rassier at 222. No sooner had the dust settled than world-class innovators began to emerge, like Grime, Tim Lehi, Jef Whitehead and Colin Stevens. Mike Davis ruled at Everlasting, Marcus Pacheco at Primal Urge and Greg Rojas at Picture Machine. Barnaby opened Mom's on Haight Street. On the distaff side, Karen Roze, Tex and the talented blonde retro-dynamo Sunny Buick were holding their own and building global reputations.

Sure, other major cities had their own personal list of immortals: Jack Rudy in Anaheim, Crazy Eddie in Philadelphia, Brian Everett in Albuquerque, Terry Tweed in Portland, Greg James on the Sunset Strip, but nowhere measured up to San Francisco.

Then came the thundering hordes. Ten years ago, Modesto, California was home to Good Time Charlie Cartwright. Back then, it was two shops, a burro and a duck. Today, Switchboard lists 14 shops in Modesto and nearly 50 in San Francisco. So, what happened?

Tattooing exploded, that's what happened. Big cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles and Detroit no longer had a monopoly on talent. Bob Tyrrell thrives in Toronto, Chris Treviño's in Austin, Paolo Acuna in Scottsdale. Shops in Seattle and Omaha are booked months in advance. There's innovation abrew in London and Paris, Stockholm and Amsterdam. Paul Booth has a brand new dungeon in Manhattan, Mark Mahoney has the super-shop in SoCal and Kat Von D is signing her name for autograph hounds.

Quite honestly, many of us thought the tattoo craze would shrink to a whimper. That was about three years ago. It looked like the plethora of shops would strangle the market, the best artists would rise to the top, and America, Europe, Asia, South America, Canada and Polynesia would move on to the next crazy fad.

It didn't happen. What we didn't count on were two things: unwavering demand and an astronomical number of talented artists. From everywhere they came, small towns, big towns, suburbs, deserts and South Sea islands. It was the greatest art movement in history. The most challenging, commercially successful, wonderful opportunity for artists since the beginning of time.

So, don't just sit there. It's right in your lap. You don't even need a plane ticket to get there. All you have to do is grab your wallet and lace up your shoes. Chances are, there's a mind-blowing shop and a world-class artist just around the corner. It's your job to find them. And, guess what? You have SKIN&INK as a roadmap.

Bob Baxter
Editor in Chief

baxter@skin&ink.com
www.skinandink.com