Burning Bridges And Breaking Hearts
Art Show at All Or Nothing Tattoo
From the March 2005 issue of Prick Magazine by Clint Liquor

Brandon Bond and Albie Rock

After weeks of emails and phone calls, the artwork started to arrive. Boxes of paintings from all over the world including Hawaii, Australia, Europe, and all over America overflowed the All or Nothing gallery. The show entitled "Burning Bridges and Breaking Hearts," a Valentine's eve celebration, was the fourth art installment at the All or Nothing gallery and the largest to date.

Just days before the shows opening, the All or Nothing crew were busy making trips to the airport picking up artists and clients who had flown from as far west as California to as far north as New Hampshire and everywhere in between. Throughout the week, guests were getting heavily tattooed before the event.

Albie Rock flew in and immediately began work on collaborations with Brandon Bond which had been booked months prior. The duo tattooed 14 hours a day for five days straight, sometimes on the same person and other times tattooing separate clients and switching booths using each other's tattoo machines. One of the collaboration clients was Scott McCool from the Art Intensity Network who got the entire outside of his leg, from knee to foot, tattooed in only 7 hours by the dynamic duo.

By 5 p.m. on Sunday, the event was already standing room only as patrons gathered outside the studio and lined the entire front of South Cobb Drive. Shuttles brought people from the airport throughout the afternoon. The Smyrna Police Department was in attendance at the request of the studio, as the entire swat team are clients of Brandon Bond's, so safety and crowd control was effortless. As the oceans of hungry art enthusiasts began to arrive, so did the food. Amazing Italian food from Bella's Italian Restaurant lined the banquet tables for the completely catered event.

Collaboration tattoos by Brandon Bond and Albie Rock.

The evening climaxed with a huge raffle in which gallery attendees lined up to buy $5, $10 and $20 raffle tickets. Different raffles were held for each level and the staff made sure that everyone who bought tickets won something. Droves of Valentine's gifts, hundreds of sex toys, free body piercings, adult novelties, body jewelry, candy, art prints and original framed paintings were given to the chanting crowd. Albie Rock instructed everyone to scream "WU-TANG" upon having their number called in memory of ODB (ole dirty bastard) and the crowd began screaming and chanting "poon tang, "wu-tang, and "odb rip. The staff called out numbers as fast as they could and the crowd began to win piles of awesome gifts. The more sought after prizes included tattoo time with any of the staff. Brandon Bond, Dave Tedder, and Albie Rock all tattoo with completely different and distinctive styles, so each winning patron was allowed to select the artist he/she preferred and set up future appointments. The absolute grand prize of the gala were two collaborative tattoos valued at thousands of dollars each one from Dave Tedder and Albie Rock and another from Brandon Bond. The entire swarm of people remained completely silent while the last two numbers were called and the two winners came screaming and clawing their way to the front with their magic tickets. The music came back up and everyone got busy to some "Ole Dirty Bastard."

The evening was a resounding success. Over 500 people were in attendance throughout the evening. The food was amazing, the prizes were out of control, the guests were overflowing and the artwork was spectacular.

If you missed out on this event, there will be a new collection of art and another art show mid April. Check out Allornothingtattoo.com and join the mailing list to receive your personal invitation to the next blowout.