My girlfriend and I are from Edmonton, AB Canada, and recently took a road trip down to Seattle, Portland, and then back home. We knew that we'd be looking to add new tattoos in Portland, and hoped to find a cool shop that'd take us as walk-in customers. We used Yelp to check up on reputable artists and shops in the city when we got there, and were totally stoked on a couple different options. We figured we'd just check the shops out in person when we were in the specific areas and check out individual artist schedules.
While exploring along 23rd Ave, we stumbled across an interestingly-named shop called Art Work Rebels, which didn't show up on Yelp at all. Intrigued, we raced up the stairs to their upper suite, and started parsing thru the books of Jason, Jeff, and Joe, while chatting with their shop manager and apprentice, Joel. Yeah, a lot of J's!! Joel mentioned that the shop has only been around since Nov 2009, and that their clientele is growing steadily.
The shop is not your typical clinical shop, but it was super clean - no issues there at all. It has a ton of stuffed dead animals, a few live snakes, a few dead snakes, but it all added to the unique atmosphere. All of the artists tattoo in the same common area, and draw/trace in a separate, more private area. The place is nicely air conditioned, plus fresh air and plenty of sunlight coming in from the big windows looking over 23rd. If anything, the only complaint is that the waiting area is really small. The guys don't seem to mind if you roam around the shop a little, though.
Jason is the big deal in this shop for sure, with huge (and hugely intricate!) stencils hanging off the wall waiting to be placed on some lucky bastard's full body. Clearly appointments-only for that guy! Jeff is pretty sick on the American traditional front, which was perfect for what I was looking for, and Joe could be described as their go-to guy for realistic stuff, which was exactly what my girlfriend was needing, too.
Talking to Joel was pretty cool. He knows the industry, and he knows his artist's capabilities. He was able to carve out a couple hours for the both of us on the following day at around 5pm, followed-up with a phone call the day of, and was completely professional both pre-tattoo and with post-tattoo packaging and care info.
The artwork by Jeff and Joe for my girlfriend and I was top notch. Great lines, no screw-ups, efficient, bright colours, awesome shading, etc. Zero complaints on the quality of work. Both of them were super fun to chat and kill a few hours with.
Anyways, I'm blabbing here. I basically just wanted to write something about AWR to get them on Yelp, as I think they are being overlooked by the Yelp community at the moment. This certainly isn't my first tattoo, so I can happily give them 5 stars based on the experience that the two of us had. The price was fair, the service was great, and the tattoos turned out fantastic. Definitely check them out if you are in the area. read more