TattooSnob.com

As many of you are well aware, the Seattle Tattoo Expo is going on this weekend. I haven’t seen a ton of work from the convention, but I did spot this hand tattoo by Big Gus.

Tattoo by Big Gus at Art Junkies Tattoo in Hesperia, CA

The opening reception of Carlos Torres’ Timeline Gallery was earlier this month, and Sullen Clothing was there covering the event.

At the event, they discussed Black and Grey’s Finest with Big Gus, which opened last night. For more information about this project, check out the official Black and Grey’s Finest website.

Jinxiboo recently interviewed Big Gus, a true powerhouse in the field of black and gray tattoo work. His soon to be released book, Black and Grey’s Finest, boasts an impressive list of contributing artists–you can easily see how it would take two years for this book to come into being.

To find out more about the book, as well as details on the art show and auction being held March 26th in San Pedro, CA to help raise money for Autism awareness, check out the full interview on Jinxiboo.com.

If you don’t watch any other video that we post, you need to watch this.

Video of: Big Gus at Demented Image in Los Angeles, CA

Big Gus managed to cover Darnell Dockett, defensive tackle of the Arizona Cardinals.

I’m glad to see that there’s at least one pro athlete that spends some money to get quality work done. It’s always been mind blowing they make so much money, but a majority of them have the worst tattoo work ever.

Tattoo by: Big Gus at Demented Image in Los Angeles, CA

The Pint Size Painting canvas was the talk of the tattoo convention in Detroit on Sunday. As the 2″x3″ canvases were being handed out, some artists gazed at the tiny canvas in amazement, as others didn’t hesitate to get their masterpiece started.

The following week I was fortunate enough to see the paintings in person, and I was blown away. Just when I thought I found my favorite one, it was quickly replaced by another moments later. The amount of detail and time put into these paintings was indescribable.

As we sat around talking about the different paintings, I was able to ask Durb and Tony some questions about the project and their future plans. Read below for the exclusive interview.

Tattoo Snob: What exactly is a ‘pint sized painting’?

Pint Sized Paintings: A Pint Size Painting is a unique miniature masterpiece, art done on a very small scale. All the paintings are on a 2”x3” canvas board, and each one has a huge visual impact.

TS: How many of the paintings were handed out?

PSP: So far we have shipped out almost 1000 canvasses, and received more than 400 back.

TS: With that many handed out, I’m sure you won’t be able to recite everyone that participated. Is there an official list online?

PSP: Yes, you can go to our website, PintSizePaintings.com, and see the list of artists who have submitted art work.

TS: Will we be able to see them live in person?

PSP: We will debut the entire Pint Size Collection at the Hell City Tattoo Festival, May 21-23 at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Killumbus. Following that, the show will go to Sacred Gallery NYC in July. From there we will display it at Hell City Phoenix at the Biltmore, August 27-29. Then it will travel to Coil Tattoo Gallery in L.A.

TS: All of the paintings are going to be featured in a book, right?

PSP: Not all paintings received are printed in this first book from Pint Size Publishing. The book is a 224-page hardcover collection of these miniature masterpieces, with 208 of the paintings displayed in full color and printed to actual size.

TS: Will the book’s pages be 2″x3″ as well?

PSP: The book is 6”x9” landscape, and there are two paintings per page to give the focus to the amazing artwork. The book is printed in an art gallery format with bright, white pages and a very clean and simple view so as to not take away from the small paintings.

TS: Where can people pick the book up at?

PSP: You can of course pre-order the book from Pint Size Publishing on our website, Hellcity.com, and they will be available with a limited edition ruler/magnifying glass at Hell City Killumbus, available with the first 200 books purchased.

TS: I hear you’re already working on volume two? Is this true?

PSP: It is true, with the amount of Pint Size Packages we have already sent out, each submission received now is for Volume 2. Submissions pour in on a daily basis. There are hundreds of artists who have not yet sent in their Pint Size Paintings, and more want to be involved every day. Numerous artists have heard of this project heard through the grapevine, plus with the excitement for the release of Volume 1, Pint Size Paintings will most likely have quite a number of editions.

TS: If an artist is interested in being a part of volume two, who can they contact?

PSP: They can simply send us their mailing address to info@hellcity.com and let us know they want to be a part of Pint Size Paintings. We will ship them out a Pint Size Package containing two of our boards (required to use) and a release form, along with some promotional material. We encourage artists from all genres to participate, not just tattoo artists. Spread the word!

For up to the minute tattoo goodies, nothing beats Twitter. That’s how I came across this photo of Big Gus with Carey Hart after tattooing his shin. It’s occurred to me that it’s a pretty serious compliment when someone who owns multiple shops still seeks you out to be tattooed by you.

Sullen Clothing went out to film and celebrate the grand opening of Lowrider Tattoo. They interviewed Estevan Oriol, showed off the amazing artwork at the shop, and shot some footage of people just having a good time.

The heavily tattooed blonde girl interviewing Estevan Oriol was my personal favorite part. Anyone know who she is?

The guys at Lowrider Tattoo had this to say:

We want to thank everybody for coming out and supporting us…ESTEVAN ORIOL KARI BARBA. CARLOS ROJAS. NIKKO HURTADO. STEVE SOTO. SID STANKOVICH. TRINA CENTOLA. KORE FLATMO. FONZY. FRANCO VESCOVI. BIG GUS. LINDSAY CARMICHAEL. TONY OLIVAS. BRIAN EVERETT. PINT. THOMAS KYNST. ESTEVAN ORIOL. BLOOD AND OIL CAM RACKAM. ROBERT ATKINSON. TIM SHELTON. KYLE CROWELL. LAURA SANTANA. TATTOO ANGELS. MISTER LUCKY, SICK JACKEN, OG ABEL, BOBBY TRIBAL, BOO YAA TRIBE…. and everybody in between…all the helpers and Lowrider Family members that gave it their all to make this possible…THANK YOU a million times…also a special thanks to the SULLEN team, Ryan and Bernadette, for the wonderful footage above…

The Sullen Clothing crew has posted their latest issue of Sullen TV. They spent the day at the Carlos Rojas art show, to help raise money for some unexpected medical bills that Carlos encountered. The host of the video is Big Gus owner of Demented Image Tattoos, which happens to be the same shop that Carlos works at.

I’ll refrain from getting on the soap box and discussing our health care system, but this is a great example that something does need to change. $45,000 for one surgery is ludicrous, and thankfully Carlos has the guys at Demented Image Tattoo and Sullen Clothing to help him out.

I was totally blown away when I first stumbled upon Sullen Clothing. In a time where I often cringe at the idea of a tattoo related t-shirt company, Sullen Clothing is a breath of fresh air. The roster of artists they have is absolutely ridiculous – and it continues to grow.

I shot the Sullen crew a couple questions about the brand, and what the future had in store. Jim was nice enough to answer them, and even nicer for tossing in a discount code for you!

Tattoo Snob: How did Sullen first get started? Who was involved at square one?

Jim: Sullen trademarked in 1999. In March of 2001 we sold clothes off our couch in an apartment in Downtown Huntington Beach. Ryan Smith and Jeremy Hanna were the primary partners in the beginning, an investor came along around year 5 to help make the ship run smooth.

TS: How many are involved in the daily business now?

Jim: Currently we have 9 full timers and a few outside sales reps.

Sullen Clothing Stone Virgin

TS: The Sullen family is an array of artists, musicians, and extreme sport athletes. Is the family a representation of what are interested and involved in?

Jim: We sponsor professional athletes like TJ Ellis who is a Freestyle BMX rider, who finished 3rd overall at the Dew Tour. Destin Cantrell is our FMX rider, who was nominated for best new rider at the Transworld Motocross awards show. Chad Knight skates for us, and we have a hand full of fighters who call Sullen home.

Sullen Clothing Live Life (Shawn Barber)

Sullen is a family for sure we work with tattooers such as Jeff Gogue, Nikko Hurtado, Carlos Torres, Big Gus, Bob Tyrrell, Jack Rudy, Corey Miller, Tom Berg, Jack Mosher, Hunter Spanks, Jason Butcher, Carlos Rojas, Norm, Jay Langer, Preston Chambers, Steve Soto, Christian Nguyen, and Shawn Barber to name a few. Most of these guys paint and draw with us, but we have a personal realtionship with all of them. Being a small company without big money, we focus our efforts on building friendships and hope to grow them lifelong.

TS: That’s an impressive list. I know several of them have their work featured on various products, who’s in the Fall ’09 line?

Jim: For Fall 09 we have Corey Miller, Preston Chambers, Shawn Barber, Big Gus, Carlos Rojas, Carlos Torres, Jack Mosher, Hunter Spanks and Jeff Gogue.

TS: Can you tell us if any of them are going to be in the next line of clothing?

Jim: Our next offering will be Holiday where we are dropping a Collaboration T with Carey Hart’s Hart & Huntington Brand. We started a design and emailed it to there creative team and went back and forth till the piece was finished.

Spring’s our next big season with Franco Vescovi from OC Inkhouse coming on board, also Paolo Acuna, Flaks, an amazing apprentice from Europe named Vicky Morgan adding to the line. Kim Saigh also has a piece in our womens line.

Hart & Hunnington and Sullen Collab

TS: Have any of these artists tattooed any employees or other family members of Sullen?

Jim: A bunch of the guys here have been tattooed by the artist we work with including the owner, Ryan Smith, who still tattoo’s people on a regular basis.

TS: Where can people find Sullen clothing at?

Jim: Sullen can be bought online or you can check the store locator to find a location close to you!

TS: Any chance we could get a discount code for Tattoo Snob readers?

Jim: We will make a code called “Snob” for your readers 15%

TS: Any last minute plugs?

Jim: We would like to say thanks to all the artists that we’ve worked with – without them, we wouldn’t be where we are today.

Check out Sullen Clothing for additional information.

Sullen Clothing Dead Mary (Hunter Spanks)Sullen Clothing Simon