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Written by editor
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Sunday, June 28 2009, 10:36 PM |
Pamela Roth
LETHBRIDGE HERALD
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Gage Adams didn’t even flinch as he was getting the final touches put upon his latest tattoo. The artwork marked the eighth tattoo for the 21-year-old, who was getting it as a dedication to his father, who died just before he was born.
The Lethbridge resident got his first tattoo when he was 13 years old and got the name of his band permanently etched on his back. For Adams, the tattoo symbolized a combination of rebellion, freedom of speech and art, which is evident among the other tattoos on his body that pay tribute to his dog, son and patriotism.
“I put a lot of thought behind the tattoos. It’s addicting; I just love it,” said Adams while he was getting a tattoo at the third annual Lethbridge Windy City Tattoo weekend on Sunday. “I gauged by the time I am 40 I wouldn’t have any bare skin left, but at the rate I am going it will probably be when I’m 25.”
Adams was among hundreds of people who passed through the doors at Exhibition Park this weekend to take a stroll among the booths where more than 120 tattoo artists were on display, along with body piercing.
Always a crowd favourite was Lizardman, who came back to Lethbridge from his home in Texas for a second year with his reptilian look and sideshow performance that includes sword-swallowing and fire-eating.
Lizardman, who wouldn’t give his real name, came up with the idea in his late teens to completely transform his body to look like a lizard. He began to toy further with the idea of surgery and tattooing his body when he became an artist making costumes. The idea remained in his head for a few years, and by the time he reached his senior year in college, he began to get tattoos that replicate scales and transform his body.
After 700-plus hours of tattooing, Lizardman is coloured from head to toe, has teflon implants in his eyebrows and his teeth are filed down to sharp points to look like fangs. To top it all off, his tongue is now is forked, capping the look of a human lizard.
Needless to say, his transformation hasn’t gone unnoticed, sparking appearances on TVâshows such as “National Geographic,” “Ripley’s Believe It or Not,” and talk shows with Riki Lake and Tyra Banks. The reaction he gets from curious onlookers varies from stares to comments, and he wouldn't have it any other way.
“It really brings together a lot of different ideas that I was fooling around with at the time,” said Lizardman, who travels all over the world performing stand-up comedy acts. “I’ve always been drawn to body-based art, body-based performance artists and conceptual artists. I like the fact when you do something with your body it creates a much greater impact and visual representation. That same drawing permanently etched onto someone’s flesh, you pay a lot more attention to it and it strikes you in a much deeper level.”
The Windy City Tattoo show has grown in popularity every year, despite the blizzards that have occurred in the past when the show was held in the spring. The show has come to be known as one of the best tattoo conventions to attend in Canada, with representatives from “Savage Magazine” on hand this year taking photos for an upcoming issue.
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