April 30, 2011
8:00 pm	to	11:00 pm

New Melrose Avenue Art Venue, “Tuff Sissy & Co.”, Hosts April 30 Art Opening: “3D glasses NOT required | The art of FLiP” 

– “Freak Chic Tattoo” and “Tuff Sissy & Co.” Owner, Mat Joseph, Welcomes Guests as FLiP Takes His Work from Skin to Glass –

On Saturday, April 30, 2011, from 8-11 PM, new Melrose Avenue art venue, “Tuff Sissy & Co.” (www.tuffsissy.com), will host an opening artists’ reception for what will be a month-long exhibit of 3D art, called “3D glasses NOT required | The art of FLiP”. The exhibit, which will include about 100 pieces by Santa Barbara native and artist, FLiP, features dimensional art depicting subjects familiar to tattoo aficionados, such as Ed ‘Big Daddy’ Roth-style monster cars complete with monsters, traditional Japanese nature scenes with serenely falling cherry blossoms, and ghostly pirate ships riding rough seas in lightning-torn skies. The exhibit will be housed at Tuff Sissy & Co. through May 31, 2011.

Tuff Sissy & Co., located at 7367 Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles, was created by neighboring “Freak Chic Tattoo” (www.freakchictattoo.com) owner, Mat Joseph, and is meant to serve as a gallery and artist’s lair – a place for local tattoo artists and other artists to showcase their work, as well as mingle and share. Joseph’s motivation for the venue was to revive the Melrose art community and support both the local art movement as well as other community businesses, both old and new.

“FLiP’s an extremely talented artist. I’m proud to host his show, and with his art opening and exhibit, we get to demonstrate to the community Tuff Sissy & Co.’s ultimate reason for being,” says Mat Joseph, owner and founder of both Freak Chic Tattoo and Tuff Sissy & Co., and tattoo and piercing industry veteran.

Guests at the April 30 exhibit opening will enjoy a dirty martini bar featuring Dirty Sue Premium Olive Juice, and celebrity Chef Eric Greenspan’s award-winning grilled cheese sandwiches, courtesy of his nearby restaurant, The Foundry on Melrose. Other food and beverage options for the April 30 event guests include cupcakes courtesy of the famous Magnolia Bakery, and O.N.E. Coconut Water. Media sponsorship of the event will be provided by Inked Magazine, and a photographer will be on-hand to shoot the art on the walls, as well as the art on event guests.

Tuff Sissy & Co. and Freak Chic Tattoo are located at 7367 and 7365 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles, CA, 90046 (between Fuller and Martel Avenues). Tattoo and piercing appointments at Freak Chic can be made by calling 323.951.1501. Tuff Sissy & Co. will host regular art exhibits and art auctions/benefits, as well as figurative and open drawing nights, and other related events (more details TBA). For more information or to RSVP for the April 30 art opening, please email1316: info@stilettomarketing.com.

About the Artist, FLiP

FLiP officially entered the tattoo art world when he landed his first tattoo shop gig in 1991. He had unofficially entered that world by tattooing friends while still in high school, in his hometown of Santa Barbara. FLiP has always had an outsider’s attitude, and with his beautifully rendered, dimensional visual art aimed at the mainstream art world, he has found a new way to defy convention.

For FLiP, art has been a life-long obsession, beginning with a childhood spent replicating on paper the classic cars that populated automotive magazines. His current pieces of dimensional art are a melding of a lifetime of exposure to, and involvement in, traditional American art forms coupled with a desire to learn and synthesize various elements. FLiP’s 3D pieces are painted in vividly arresting palates which draw the eye, but it is their distinctive depth and aura of layering which holds the gaze.

When FLiP is not painting and creating, he is leaving his permanent mark on clients who visit his Santa Cruz tattoo studio, “Eights & Aces Tattoo” (www.eightsandacestattoo.com), which he opened in 2008. This is the second of FLiP’s two shops, the first being the much-lauded “True Art”, also in Santa Cruz. FLiP has tattooed up and down the California coast, and still tattoos five days a week at Eights & Aces. Not content with his impressive – and lengthy – tattooing resume, in 2007 FLiP also launched his own design company, DeadFast Design – the same year that he tied the knot with his wife, Trish.

About Inked Magazine

Inked Magazine is a men’s lifestyle magazine that is published 10 times a year by Quadra Media, LLC. Inked is an upscale lifestyle and fashion magazine with a focus on tattoo culture and rebellious luxury. For more information, please visit: www.inkedmag.com.

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