I'm Mina, after three and a half years working at Daredevil and FunCity i'm the apprentice! its only been a few months of apprenticing but its been awesome. i'm ridiculously lucky and happy to be here with all these amazing artists. there are so many different styles and types of tattooers at daredevill and fun city i'm trying to take it all in. one of the best things i've learned so far is to keep my mouth shut and my eyes open because theres so much to take from everybody; i've become a human sponge.

i will be getting my tattoo license in the mail in about 4 weeks! i'm looking for anyone who is willing to get free apprentice tattoos from me. it will be somewhat like the friday the 13th tattoos in that you will be able to choose from a sheet of flash that i will paint. if you're interested please email me This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it  

if it makes you feel better, one of our very own tattooers, Brad Stevens has claimed the first tattoo. he wants me to do a self portrait but i've refused. theres a few others signed up but i'm sure its just to make fun of me later. 

These are some of my paintings 

Thanks to all those already signed up!

Here's how you can help to make Friday the 13th go smoothly for your favorite Daredevil tattoo artist.

We start around 12 noon. Sometimes we're a little late getting the door open because we're still finishing the sheet. That's one reason why you can't come by beforehand to see the sheet. The other reason is that we're working and don't want to deal with people coming by to see the sheet.

Your choices are limited to what is on the sheet that day. That means no art directing, changes etc what you see is what you get to choose from. If during the course of the day we decide we hate a particular design because we're sick of it we might discontinue or "sell out" of that design. Tough.

Bring your cell phone so we can call you when it's your turn to get tattooed. We can't have a million people standing outside all day so you might have to go for a walk and be back when we call you. We don't want to inconvenience our neighbors in any way. That means DON'T BLOCK ANY ENTRANCES to any buildings, apartments or businesses. Bring a couple bucks to get a snack or do some shopping so the other businesses enjoy the crowds of people we bring down to the neighborhood.

BRING YOUR ID!!!!! No ID, no tattoo. You must be at least 18 years old with valid state ID (passport, drivers license) to get tattooed. One per person.

Bring cash. Dress appropriately so you're not freezing your but off while you wait. Don't come if you have the pig flu.

We won't tattoo any necks, hands, feet, lower backs, bellies, faces, chests on this day. The reason is that those areas take longer to tattoo or can be problematic to heal and we don't want to be touching up $20 tattoos. We also want to tattoo as many people as possible so we try to keep it simple for ourselves tp keep the line moving. 

This is a very long gruelling day for us, when we say we're done, we're done. Try to behave and be as polite and gracious as possible. It's a lot of work, we do it for the fun. If it's not fun we won't do it. So don't bring your entitlement issues. This is the worst possible day to come in to the shop to get tattooed especially if you don't like crowds, don't like chaos and are picky.  It's a crazy day, enter and get tattooed at your own risk. 

I was out shopping for some jeans this evening and ended up finding some quality artwork for sale on the way home. Red Truck Gallery , a moving artist collective  has set up shop on the corner of Broome and Mott this month. Tonight was their opening party featuring lowbrow, folk, and outsider artwork from Chris Roberts-Antieau, Ross Bonafanto , Matthew Cox, Brian Cunningham , Jason Houchen, Dean Lucker, Frank Relle, and john Wipple. Organizer Noah Antieau has assembled his group of artist from the people he is closest to including his own mother who all happen to be talented artist.

Many of the pieces left me wishing I had thought of their cool techniques myself. Like the cement stuffed animals by Ross Bonfanti.  The tin pull tabs used to fasten the canvas to the frames of Brian Cunningham's paintings are genius. Chris Roberts-Antieau has done a quiltwork George Washington that hangs in the White House. A truly talented and inventive stable of artist

Tonight was the first time I walked into a gallery of strangers and walked out feeling like I had been hanging out with my friends. It was nice to  witness such a personal and intimate approach to showing artwork and I hope these guys's time in New York is well spent so we can look forward to seeing more work come our way. What I'm really looking forward to is bringing home my new painting.

The show runs until November 30th.