Porcelain with odes to tattoo design may seem, on the surface, a bit strange. However, at the hands of Sunset Tattoo’s Paul Timman, traditional Japanese and Tribal themes find home on plates, saucers, and mugs.

Ink Dish specializes in cutting edge plate graphic and operates with the motto “You are what you eat off of.” The tag line fits. And, the product manages to incorporate “cool” without coming off all wrong.

Timman trained in ceramics and glass while in art school. As such, his work with Ink Dish neatly combines a few passions in a tight knit group of products.

A few more pieces from Timman’s collection for Ink Dish after the jump.

All new work is set to feature in Scott Cambell’s debut New York showing, opening tomorrow at O.H.W.O.W. (109 Crosby Street, New York, NY). This is much more a reminder than an introduction, as Mr. Cambell has featured on these pages before. If You Don’t Belong, Don’t Be Long follows the artists first solo showing, which occurred in April of 2009 at O.H.W.O.W. Miami.

If You Don’t Belong, Don’t Be Long will run through May 30, 2010.

Shawn Barber’s show at Joshua Liner Gallery is fast approaching. In step, Arrested Motion chatted with the artist. It is a very informative and well paced interview. Highly recommended reading.

Above is a shot from Barber’s studio.

Neil Bedford, photographer and Bedford City Football Club supporter, has produced a fascinating series of fan portraits. Love for the club is a shared passion among all the sitters, who also all wear some version of a club tattoo. Many have “the City Gent,” a character developed in 1966 when several clubs looked to emulate the success of World Cup Willie, the mascot of that years World Cup. “The City Gent” became a popular tattoo among fans on the terraces in the 1970s. The color portraits complement a series of black and white terraces images that Bedford has also produced.

Learn more about Bedford at Fourteenfiftynine.com. (via Sang Bleu).

More examples follow.

On October 2, 2009, Paris’ 12 Mail Gallery will open a new exhibition curated by French tattoo magazine Sang Bleu. In just 5 issues the magazine has established itself as a venue for cutting edge, glamor based coverage of tattooing. Contributors to this point include Kris Von Assche and Ellen Von Unwerth. The exhibition will present a series of posters indicative of the Sang Bleu look and feel.

The editors are also responsible for selecting music on an exclusive CD that comes with the limited 200 invitations designed by Laurent Fetis.

Many more images follow.

In advance of the August 15, 2009, opening of Tattooed Portraits – Snap Shots, The Shooting Gallery has posted an interview with artist Shawn Barber. The exhibition will present Barber’s newest paintings, which follow his travels over the last four years. During this period he’s painted intimate portraits of tattooists, tattoo history and tattoos on the body. His style captures the subject with loose strokes and meticulous detail, a balance that is neatly struck. (via Arrested Motion).

The Shooting Gallery is located at 839 Larkin Street, San Francisco, CA.

A few representative portraits by Barber after the jump.

Open now at Museum of Antropology at the University of British Columbia is Tatau: Samoan Tattooing and Global Culture. The exhibition is curated by art historian Peter Brunt and includes 40 photographs from Mark Adams. Tatau runs until September 30, 2009.

Above is a longer video than normally placed on the site. The clip features Dr. Albert Wendt speaking on the tradition of Samoan tattoo. It provides both context for the exhibition and a good deal of information for those of us unable to travel to British Columbia.

In what will be his first major solo presentation of his works, Campbell will showcase his unique aesthetic via sculptures, paintings, drawings and photography.

Scott Campbell was born and raised in a fishing camp, perched alongside a muddy bayou in rural Louisiana. With a clever knack for drawing and a fondness of stories, he began his career by doing illustration and assistant editing. Curiosity soon led him to experimenting with tattooing and his immediate mastery of the art was undeniable. After a subsequent 18 month stint in Spain honing his craft, he packed up his skills and his tattoo machines and traveled for the next 5 years taking inspiration from the art and folklore of tattoo cultures all over the world.

In 2004, he opened Saved Tattoo in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.  Since then, it has grown to be the East Coats’s premiere tattoo shop with a devout following of celebrity clientele.  Campbell has taken the blue collar grit and lore of tattoo culture and extracted a visual language and wit that are supremely refined and deliberate. He has an uncanny ability to tell a story with any medium, flesh or otherwise.

Recently, Campbell has been featured in group exhibitions at the IIleana Tounta Contemporary Art Centre in Greece, the Massimo Carasi gallery in Milan, Italy, Colette in France, Moeller Snow Gallery in New York, and O.H.W.O.W. in Miami during Art Basel Miami Beach.

Make It Rain opens April 11, 2009, at O.H.W.O.W. 31oo N. 7, Miami, Florida.

Further preview after the jump.

A beautiful set of Bert Grimm tattoo flash has been made available by Prime Cuts Press and Lucky’s Tattoo Museum. Grimm is one of the legends of mid-century American tattooing. He worked the Pike in Long Beach, CA, opporating the longest continually running shop in the nation. (via Needled).

Vintage Tattoos offers profiles of key design motifs and influential tattooists. Among those discussed are Sailor Jerry, Bert Grimm and Don Ed Hardy. The author, Carol Clark, is best known as a music writer. Out on February 17 from Universal and ready now for pre-order from Amazon.