Resorts World Casino Tattoo Convention
The event took place over three days from March 20 to 22, and was the sixth United Ink convention. Usually held at Nassau Coliseum in Long Island, the event was moved due to remodeling and was the first time the convention has been held at Resorts World Casino. The casino will play host to the United Ink “No Limits” Tattoo Festival, an annual three-day-long gathering of some of the most celebrated tattoo artists from around the world.
Presented by United Ink Productions, The New York Tattoo Show has everything to fulfill all your tattoo needs. Our tattoo expo features live entertainment, live music, live tattooing and much more. This years tattoo show will be conveniently located at Resorts World Casino in Queens, NY. The location of this expo is perfect for a tattoo convention and easily accommodates thousands of people that will be attending.
Click here to purchase tickets
18+ years old only admitted.
- 05 - 07 April 2019. The Singapore Ink Show is the largest gathering of international and local tattoo artists in Singapore. Tattoos and Singapore might not always be synonymous but if there’s one thing we know: it’s pride. Pride in the craft of tattooing. And pride in the level of artistry that you can find here.
- Resorts World Casino New York City. 110-00 Rockaway Blvd. This website uses cookies and other tracking technologies to better personalize your browsing experience, to analyze website traffic, and to present you with targeted content from the partner venues and organizations you visit on etix.com.
Show Dates and Hours:
- Friday, April 5th: 2pm-12am
- Saturday, April 6th: 12pm-12am
- Sunday, April 7th: 12pm-8pm
Hotel Accommodations:
A block of rooms has been reserved for April 5, 2019 – April 7, 2019. The special room rate will be available until March 14th or until the group block is sold-out, whichever comes first.
Click here to book a reservation and use the code “UNIINK” by pressing the ‘More Search Options’ button. This code is only available for booking a room between the dates April 3rd – April 8th
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The convention was organized by Lou Rubino, Jr., also known as Tattoo Lou, and his wife Jackie, and brought together hundreds of tattoo artists, both local internationally known.
'These artists are not just your average everyday artists these, artists are above and beyond,' said Rubino 'We've got artist here from Russia, China, Italy, Venezuela, and they all came here for this convention.'
The event took place over three days from March 20 to 22, and was the sixth United Ink convention. Usually held at Nassau Coliseum in Long Island, the event was moved due to remodeling and was the first time the convention has been held at Resorts World Casino.
'We try to find venues that have more to offer than just a show, we try to make our shows a little themed,' said Jackie. 'Here you're in a casino, so after the show you can go down to the bar and you can party, you can gamble and New York City is just minutes away so we really try to make it a whole destination weekend.'
One thing Rubino said he loved about Resorts World was its close proximity to mass transit, providing easy access to trains and buses in Jamaica.
'The casino also offers free shuttle service all around New York City,” he added. “You can't beat that.'
The husband-and-wife team considered a casino venue for nearly a year, however many of the venues they contacted could not accommodate the things they needed for their show.
Resorts World Casino Tattoo Conventions
'Lou contacted this venue and we met with the event coordinator and it was like everything we asked they were like yes we can do that,” said Jackie. “They were so open to it and so accommodating that we knew this was going to be a perfect fit.”Angela Gozzi of Resorts World had been in contact with the Rubinos since August of 2014 discussing the event. Gozzio said she was initially apprehensive about having a tattoo convention at Resorts World.
'I didn't know what to expect,” she said. “It's just a scary feeling knowing there's going to be blood and needles and what not, but they seem to be very organized and everything is contained.'
Securing a venue is only part of the task of organizing a United Ink convention. It takes about six months to a year of planning to put together one of their shows.
'Picking the right venue is very important, getting the best artists you can get, the vendors and the entertainment and making it all fit together,” said jackie. “It's a huge undertaking, but we love it and it's something that's very special to us, so it's worth it.'
The Rubinos have various ways of choosing artists including personal invitations, as well as artists that contact them. There is an application process and the they review each one carefully to determine if the artist has what it takes to be a part of their show. 'It's important to offer people artists and work that they know they can trust,' said Jackie. 'We try to bring the best of the best to New York so the average person who may never get to meet some of these artists whose work they love or may have seen before can experience their work and hopefully get tattooed.'
The convention featured nearly 400 tattoo artists. Eduardo McKinzie, also known as Eddie Blanko of Eddie Blanko Tattoos, is an independent artist from Williamsburg who operated a tattoo booth at the convention with a group of friends and fellow artists.
'This is my seventh convention and my second with United Ink,' said McKinzie. 'I'm currently traveling around the east coast with my group of people hoping to hit all the shows.'
Pon, owner of Tattoos by Pon, a private studio in Astoria, also worked a booth at the convention with a friend and had been tattooing all weekend.
'Yesterday I did about ten tattoos and the day before that I did several,” he said. “I haven't really stopped.'
Although Pon said the space at Resorts World was a lot smaller than the Nassau Coliseum, he said it was more intimate and better for dealing with customers. Pon said he also liked it because it was close to home.
'I'm a Queens Guy, I try to represent everything Queens, so this is really cool, ' he said.
The convention also attracted local tattoo artist Michael Easton, who works at Unique Ink Tattoos, a shop in the Little Italy section of the Bronx.
'I'm here to get inspired and network with some of the other artists and show them some love and support,'said Easton.
Easton learned about the local convention while tattooing at the Westchester Tattoo Convention in October 2014, where he said the Rubinos were handing out applications.
Although he wasn't tattooing at the convention, Easton said he planned to stick around and see some of the performances. 'Why not get my money's worth, you know?' he said.
The convention attracted enthusiasts as well, some just to check out the convention and others planning on getting some fresh ink.
'I was interested in getting another tattoo to treat myself, it's been awhile since I got my first tattoo,' said Keyri Calabrese. 'I got my daughter's name in the Disney letters,' she said, showing off her wrist.
'We love getting tattoos done, so we wanted to check out the different artists and see what's going on,' said Michelle Camilleri who attended the convention on Saturday with friend Nicole Arata.
Camilleri said she had 13 tattoos while Arata had nine, her latest being a combination of the zodiac symbols Aries and Scorpio, which represented her parents.
Arata who works at Resorts World in the race track area, said the casino was a good choice for the venue because of mass transit.
'Anybody can get here from wherever they are,' she said.
In addition to tattoos, throughout the weekend there were a number of performances, including breakdancing and musical performances by the bands Juice and Schism, a Tool tribute band.
Some of the most popular performers were Mynxie Monroe's Gore Show and a sideshow performance by Dr. Claw.
Another popular performer was the Indestructible Mistress of Mayhem, Ms. Brianna Belladonna. For her performance she not only hammered a nail through the center of her skull to her brain, but also jumped bare foot into a pile of broken glass and topped it off by swallowing fist a wire hanger, which she bent in her stomach, and a 27-inch sword.
'It took me the better part of a year to learn how to swallow a sword,' said Belladonna. 'You have to learn how to suppress your gag reflex, it hurts like hell and there's a lot of crying and it's a long process, but it was just so amazing to me that I was willing to sacrifice my comfort to be able to do it.'
Resorts World Casino Tattoo Convention Center
As a tattoo artist, Belladonna learned sword swallowing while traveling with and tattooing a sideshow group.'I started hanging at their house and one thing led to another and I started performing with them,' said Belladonna 'Sword swallowing is like the Holy Grail of sideshow and it's freaking amazing.'
But the performance that drew the biggest crowd was that of Skindicate Suspensions, which Jackie described as 'Cirque du Soleil, but with meat hooks.'
The team of brave women swung through the air suspended from hooks pierced through their backs and other parts of their body.
'The whole idea is to bring human body suspension to an audience, give them something artistic and beautiful,' said Byron 'Laz' Lazerus, a performer and musician traveling with the team.
Skindicate is based in Atlanta and was founded by Kaspa Dis Grace and his girlfriend Mandolynne Hopkins. Kaspa is a member of the original DisGraceLand Hook Squad based in Brooklyn.
'A lot of people find that it's kind of like a Cirque du Soleil show, and we try to make it entertaining and not just body suspension,' said Hopkins.
There were several vendors selling t-shirts and hats, tattoo products, and custom jewelry. There was also a fully curated art gallery called the Art Hanger and Fusion Project, which featured paintings from various tattoo artists. Sales from the gallery were donated to groups researching autism.
'It's really more than just a tattoo convention, it's a whole culture,' said Jackie.