First of all, the Columbus Hell City Fest takes up several rooms on 2 floors of the Columbus convention center, which is located downtown and is attached to both the Hyatt Regency and the Drury Inn. (We stayed at the Hyatt, which had custom key cards made with the Hell City logo on them, which was cool.)
The core of the event was on the third floor. The entrance area had several vendors and the kid’s area known as Heck City. Heck City offered face painting, temporary tattoos, a daily coloring contest and balloons. As you approached the ticket booth, you had to pass the Hell City Gear booth and pick up a souvenir t-shirt or hat to start the weekend off right! After we got our passes, we entered the main hall.
Even early on the first day, it was already filled with the sounds of chattering crowds, music and buzzing tattoo machines. The spacious room had a second floor balcony with about 10 booths and a great view of the main floor. Hanging from the rafters were dozens of authentic-looking “freak show” and “side show” banners that looked like they came directly from an early 1900s circus.
The balcony was a great place to view the main and second stages used to host live bands, tattoo competitions, entertaining sideshows and the Art Fusion Experiment. The main floor itself hosted the largest amount of booths, most of them tattoo studios. But there was also a booth with the lovely Suicide Girls, and one for Prick Magazine. The tattoo studios represented at this show were of the highest caliber. No matter who you chose to get ink from at this show, you were bound to be very happy with the results!
The second floor of the convention center had a few vendors, the Sinema, the fine art gallery and the seminar room, which hosted many seminars (some free) by the likes of Guy Aitchison, Joe Capobianco and Lyle Tuttle to mention just a few. The fine art gallery displayed numerous easels propping up brilliant pieces of art. The Sinema was showing several excellent movies and documentaries on modification and also Paul Booth’s Art Fusion Experiment. There was always something playing and it was a rotation of shows that were all shown multiple times, so even if you missed something the first time, you could come back when it showed again. While I thoroughly enjoyed the shows I saw here, I have to one small complaint (speaking as a mother) - some of the images in "Modify: The Movie" were extremely graphic and not appropriate for children, but the door was left wide open and the large screen was highly visible to anyone walking by.
Almost every artist there was busy tattooing all weekend, but several of them took the time to chat with me. These were some of the most enjoyable conversations of the weekend. Being able to get to know these brilliant artists on a more personal level was extremely enjoyable. It’s easy to forget that they have lives outside the art world, and learning about that other side as well as their work was a real treat.
Of course, a weekend event with such and old-world feel to it would not be complete without a couple of sideshow acts. This year, Hell City featured the acts of “Rubberboy” – the Guinness record holder for being the world’s most flexible man – and “The Torture King,” who amazed the crowds with his pain-defying antics. Although Hell City is a family-friendly event, these two shows (particularly the hilariously off-color humor provided by Rubberboy) may have been a little mature for the younger hellions.
The entire weekend went off without a single hitch that I know of, thanks to the tireless efforts of our hosts – Durb Morrison and Tony Terrell. These two men organize and pull off, not only an event but the event of the year. They did have a hard-working staff on hand during the weekend’s events, and I always saw them on their radios, rushing from one area to another, making sure everything ran smoothly. The artists and attendees we spoke to about the event all agreed that it is one of the most impressive convention efforts and a great time for all. If you missed this one, don’t worry – not only will they be back in “Killumbus” next year, but a second show will also take place in Phoenix. Here’s the dates for upcoming Hell City events:
- Hell City 7 – May 29-31, 2009 (Columbus, Ohio)
- Hell City 8 – September 4-6, 2009 (Phoenix, AZ)
- Hell City 9 – May 21-23, 2010 (Columbus, Ohio)
- Hell City 10 – August 27-29, 2010 (Phoenix, AZ)
PICTURES!
View the colorful people, shows and events seen all around Hell City.
From the Main Floor - Tattoo Competitions, Entertainment, Etc.
Check out these great tattoos, which is just a very small sample of the excellent inkwork we saw during the Hell City weekend event.
Tattoos at Hell City
View a time-lapse gallery of the Art Fusion Experiment and the resulting finished pieces:
Art Fusion Experiment
