A regional gathering of tattoo artists in Rijeka.
Thirty-eight tattoo artists from eight European countries – Croatia, Serbia, Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Slovenia, Czech Republic, Denmark and Sweden – took part at the 5th Rijeka Tattoo Expo which was held for the past three days. The largest number of tattoo artists ever, great turnout by visitors and a rich accompanying program made this edition of the Rijeka tattoo convention the biggest and best so far, reports Novilist on December 14, 2015.
During the three days of events, judges selected the best tattoos in categories such as Best of Black & White, Best of Ornamental, Best of Realism, Best of Traditional, Best of Colour, Best of Small, with the Best Tattoo of the Expo being chosen at the very end.
Macedonian artist Goran Micić was very successful. On Friday, he had the best tattoo of the day, while on Saturday he won the Best of Realism category. “I have already won many awards. I have been to a lot of conventions all over Europe and I think this is one of the best conventions held recently.”
For Robert Turković, the owner of Turko Tattoo from Kočevje in Slovenia, this was his second appearance at the Rijeka event in a row. “It is great to be here. I am currently doing a dark tattoo typical for my style. This will be my eighth tattoo for this client.” One of the tattoo artists who presented their works in Rijeka was Duško Dokmanović from Zagreb, who was one of the first tattoo artists in Croatia. Dino Helvida from Zagreb is specialized for piercings and scarification. “This is my first time in Rijeka and I like it very much here. As far as scarification is concerned, I had just four clients in Rijeka. The demand is much weaker than for tattooing. Scarification is the art which the body forms on its own. We can influence how the scar will heal, but everything depends on the genetics.”
“This year, we celebrate the 5th anniversary of the event. We have surpassed all our expectations. This event was the first in the region, and now similar events are being organized in Split, Zagreb, Ljubljana, Maribor, Novi Sad… We have started planning for the next year, so we have already received some applications. It is very important to register in time. For example, this year we had to stop receiving applications as early as April”, said Josip Fućak, one of the organizers of the Rijeka Tattoo Expo.
Many fans of body art were able to enjoy a rich accompanying program, performances by jugglers, fire eaters, burlesque dancers, and live music performances… All this made the 5th Rijeka Tattoo Expo a great success.
