A selection of photos from the 2018 Bay Area Tattoo Convention, presented by TTTISM and held in San Francisco, California.

In the second and final part of our series on David Schiesser’s recent exhibition, “Spectator Mode,” we speak with the artist and tattooist about surface transformations, representation, and the limits and affordances of the line.

We interview Ed Crooks, creator of the Still Life zine series, and Peter Falkous, the series’ publisher, about the circumstances behind the medium’s creation and the place of print within contemporary tattoo culture.

We interview tattooist and proprietor Shannon Perry about her Seattle-based shop, Valentine’s Tattoo Co..

We interview Namiko (@namiko_moth22) of Hong Kong’s Alchemink. Namiko’s often monochromatic work challenges the boundaries between painting, illustration, and tattooing, blending styles and techniques to create abstract forms that are nonetheless highly structured.

We interview Ukraine-born Andrei Ylita about his stark, graphical style. While an increasing number of tattooists come to the craft from a background in graphic design, Ylita remains both a practicing tattooist and a working graphic designer–an interesting combination that informs the punctuative quality of his work.

TTTism presents a video portrait of Luca Ortis alongside an interview with the London-based tattooist. Ortis’ discussion of his origins in the industry is complemented by images of rich, large-scale Japanese traditional tattoos.

A press release for the Ladies Ladies Art Show 2018, curated by Elvia Iannaccone Gezlev and Martina Secondo Russo. This piece will be followed by an interview with Gezlev.