POMONA — Tattoo enthusiasts and the merely tattoo-curious converged on Fairplex for a three-day tattoo show this weekend.
The Pomona Body Art Expo and Music Fest brought together more than 300 tattoo artists and body piercers at Fairplex. Although tattoo artists came from as far away as Las Vegas and Provo, Utah, most of the booths belonged to Southern California shops.
Once mostly the province of the counterculture, tattoos have gone mainstream in recent years.
“It probably all started with (the television show) ‘Miami Ink’ and crept up from there,” said Amber Anderson, co-owner and artist at Brave New World California in Upland.
Benjamin Hook, one of her partners at Brave New World California, pointed to the popularity of heavily tattooed West Coast musicians from Los Angeles and Seattle in the late 1980s and early 1990s as the start of the growing acceptance of tattoos.
But things really exploded in 2005, when cable TV channel TLC began showing “Miami Ink” and its spin-off reality shows.
“I think television had a lot to do with it,” said Ryan Koscielski, an apprentice at Ink’d Chronicles Tattoo and Piercing in Pomona.
The stars of one of the “Miami Inked” spin-offs, Ruthless from “LA Inked,” was scheduled to appear at the expo.
Still, rebellion remains a part of it.
“This generation wanted to separate from the Baby Boomers,” said Brave New World California partner Andrea Evrard.
“It also has to do with taking ownership of our bodies,” Anderson said.
But the mainstream acceptance and popularity of tattoos has a downside as well.
“It’s a really bittersweet thing in the tattoo industry,” Koscielski said.
People giving tattoos at home – “scratchers,” in industry parlance – were a source of concern for several local shops at the expo. They pointed to the uneven economic playing field where unregulated and unlicensed home businesses don’t face the same financial obstacles professional shops.
There’s also health dangers for customers getting a tattoo in someone’s home, according to the professionals.
“You could have the cleanest home, but it doesn’t mean it’s a good tattoo environment,” Koscielski said.
The expo included live music from tribute bands covering the Doors, No Doubt, AC/DC, Rage Against the Machine and, perhaps showing how much tattoos have penetrated into the mainstream, the Beatles.
The Pomona Body Art Expo and Music Fest continues from 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. today. A one-day pass costs $20. For more information, visit BodyArtExpo.com.