Dennis Santana couldn’t have been happier Friday as a pair of battling Japanese demons bloomed on his left shin in vivid ink.
“I love getting tattooed,” said the Orlando man, who got the new tattoo – his 21st – at the 13th Annual South Florida Tattoo Expo. “I love to show them off. I want people to know this is not just something you get in jail, that you don’t have to be a criminal to get a tattoo.”
You also don’t have to be inked to enjoy the event at the Deerfield Beach Hilton, which features body piercers, tattoo artists, unusual clothing vendors and “suspension” shows, where people allow themselves to be hung in the air on hooks that penetrate their skin.
And while this is definitely a showcase for the odd and unusual, its aim is to generate money for sick children.
Last year, the expo raised $64,000 for Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital in Hollywood, said David Amchir, a tattoo devotee who is coordinating the three-day event. Since its inception, the expo has raised $700,000 for the hospital, he said.
Expect to see everything from facial tattoos and transdermal skin implants to body-piercing devotees whose skin bristles with metallic rings.
“There’s a lot of people who do come out without tattoos that are curious. We offer them real cool temporary tattoos, and sometimes they come back the next year with real ones,” Amchir said.
“More and more people are getting tattoos,” said Danny King, owner of Oakland Park-based Cool Cat Tattoo, the event’s sponsor. “It’s [almost] harder to find someone who doesn’t have one.”
For Boca Raton resident Stephen Jakubiak, 24, tattoos were a natural progression from the pictures he used to draw on his body as a child.
“Pretty much the people I looked up to were sleeved [tattooed from shoulder to wrist],” said Jakubiak, as a tattoo artist filled in background on a pirate scene on his right arm. “It’s a way of self-expression. It’s really cool.”
For Joe Amato, the expo is a chance to show off what it means to hang from flesh hooks. He’s done it about 100 times in the past five years, and is looking forward to doing it again. Amato, who is coordinating the suspension show this weekend, is part of an exhibition group whose purpose is to show spectators what suspension is all about.
And yes, it hurts. A lot.
“Why does anyone do anything? For most of us, it’s just good fun. For some people it’s a rite of passage. For others it’s sport,” Amato said. “Of course it hurts. Every single time. You have to appreciate how hard we push to do what we do.”
According to Dr. Lawrence Katt, an emergency room physician who is stationed at the expo, it’s not quite as risky as it might sound. Still, it’s not for the faint of heart, Katt said.
“They distribute their weight equally among the hooks, and the number of hooks are determined based on the person’s body weight,” Katt said. “The hooks go through the entire layer of skin. And skin is tough.”
If flesh hooks and tattoos sound too painful, there are gentler alternatives available at the expo: Henna tattoos and flesh-colored sleeves adorned with tattoo-like designs to pull over your forearms so you can fake it.
“We pretty much do everything,” said Rudy Rudnicki, of Deana’s Skin Art Studio in Christmas.
Sallie James can be reached at sjames@sun sentinel.com or 954-572-2019
INFORMATIONAL BOX:
Info on the expo
What: 13th Annual South Florida Tattoo Expo
When: August 15-17
Where: Deerfield Beach Hilton, I-95 and Hillsboro Boulevard
Cost: $15, or $30 for 3-day pass
Restrictions: No one under age 16 admitted without an adult. No one under 18 will be tattooed or pierced without parental consent.
