The human canvas

Tattoo parlors hold a sort of dark allure -- tempting, inviting and otherworldly. Apocalypse Tattoo, on East Olive Way, is a shop where a person's skin may be transformed into myriad colors in an infinite number of designs. Walking tapestries emerge onto the streets wearing a new and different shade of human.

Inside the shop, a gentleman with an Afro firmly in place plays pinball with rowdy finesse. Damon Conklin, tattoo artist for Apocalypse Tattoo and organizer of the upcoming Evolution Tattoo Convention, is relieving some pent-up energy.

"Pinball is very important around here," pronounces Conklin as he lands a new high score for himself. "This is my big stress-relief."

But when he's not playing pinball, his job involves making Seattle a more colorful city, one client at a time. Coloring inside the lines has literally become his life's work.

"There's not an art form on earth where people appreciate more what you do for them," says Conklin. "They wear [tattoos] for life."

Conklin's customers consider pigmentation of the skin an art form of the highest degree.

"I've had people cry in joy after I give them a tattoo," he said.

Hailing from the Seattle Art Institute, with a background in three-dimensional design, Conklin said that after he received his first tattoo at age 26, he fell instantly in love with the art.

Unlike the blank, flattened painter's canvas; the hard, immobile sculptor's stone; or the cold interface and slick glass of the computer screen, the medium of the tattoo is intimate, warm, engulfing, and most importantly, alive.

"It's an irregular surface. It's an unreliable canvas," says Conklin.

For a tattoo artist, the irregularity of the medium creates new challenges and opportunities.

Now that he has broken into the world of professional tattooing, he can provide a range of tattoo designs. His artistry often appeals to the young, "hip, urban crowd" that frequents the shop looking for tattoos of cartoon-esque, buxom women with luscious lips and beguiling mischief in their eyes.

"People come to me a lot for pin-ups," Conklin says. "I do really colorful work. I want people to choose my work because it's good and my style suits them."

But where would any true tattoo artist be without a bit of the stuff on himself to show off the wares? Like many other tattoo artists, Conklin is covered in layers upon layers of multi-colored designs. With over 120 hours' worth of tattooing on his own body, Conklin picked out his favorite in an instant.

"My cheeseburger, definitely," he said. "Because I love cheeseburgers."

Through the mechanical chimes of the pinball machine and the rumble of human traffic filtering in through the propped-open door, he explained the concept for the Evolution Tattoo Convention, scheduled to take place from Aug. 16 to 18.

The idea for this convention, according to Conklin, "comes strictly from working at a lot of tattoo conventions" and wanting to further the "progress within the art form" by increasing the number of people who feel comfortable with tattoos.

Conklin, in an attempt to reach a "younger, more urban crowd," enlisted deejays specializing in hip-hop and drum & bass, graffiti artists, break-dancers and fire spinners for the convention. These artisans and entertainers are meant to provide an amusing sideshow for the true center-ring entertainment: tattooing by custom artists from around the country and the world.

"It would be a good event for anyone that likes urban entertainment."

The Evolution Tattoo Convention will be held at Consolidated Works on 500 Boren Ave. N. Doors Aug. 16 to 18. Tickets range from $15 to $35 and can be bought through Ticketmaster or Apocalypse Tattoo.