Troy Timpel still remembers when he got his first tattoo. With a can of Miller High Life in one hand, his greying beard in the other, he went on to explain what happened on that fateful day back when he was a skateboarding punk rock kid.

“I drove my friend to get a tattoo but ended up getting a skull and crossbones with a dagger on my forearm,” Timpel said. “Man, for that first month I must have just stared at that thing constantly, just amazed that it’s there forever.”

From that day forward, Troy Timpel fell slave to needle gun and ink.

“It left such an impression on me that when I got into tattooing I realized that it is the highest form of art—it is something that can never be taken from you and the permanency and lasting effects of it are beautiful.”

That first job is now covered up with fresher ink, lost in the vast canvas that has become the artist’s exposed epidermis. At 41-years young, Timpel has been giving and getting tattoos for twenty years—his body is both a personal history and an art collection in itself. He first arrived in Philadelphia at the age of 21 where he began working under tattoo icon, Philadelphia Eddie. Eddie is a world-renowned artist and tattoo innovator who was instrumental in what tattooing equipment has become today.

“[Eddie] started National Tattoo Supply, a tattoo supply company,” Timpel said. “It became a really influential supply company and broke out a lot of what could be done with tattoos through creation of new colors and fine tuning the equipment that was out there in the late 60s and early 70s.”

After Philadelphia Eddie retired ten years ago, Timpel and Joe Shipley (also known as Furry Couch of Hot Rod Hoedown fame) bought one of Eddie’s shops, Philadelphia Eddie’s 621 Tattoo on South Street. Around that same time, Eddie, who had founded the Philadelphia Tattoo Arts Convention, also decided that he no longer wanted to run that show anymore. So Troy stepped in and took that project over as well.

“At the time when I took the convention over, it was a 70-booth show down by the airport in a sleazy hotel that has since been demolished,” Timpel said. “I moved it to Center City and built it up.”

Much like a full-sleeve tattoo, it took lots of work to get the convention to where it is today. Now, the Philadelphia Tattoo Arts Convention features 800 artists from 12 different countries, making it one of the largest shows of its kind in the United States. Housed in the Pennsylvania Convention Center, this year’s show is running from January 31 through February 2.

Timpel, whose work ethic is personified by the tattoo on his neck of a candle burning from both ends, has made enormous strides in bringing the best in the business to Philly—fine artists who can make photorealistic portraits, famous inkers from your favorite television programs (i.e.; Ink Masters, LA Ink and Best Ink), and international tattoo sensations from Spain, Germany, Australia, Japan, Italy, Canada, Portugal, Venezuela, and the Caribbean… not to mention some of the best homegrown Philadelphia talent from shops like Eddie’s on South Street, or Black Vulture Gallery, Art Machine and Bonnie and Clyde’s from right here in Fishtown.

“When you come to the Philadelphia Tattoo Arts Convention, you’ll be able to meet and greet the artists that are on TV now and see the rest of the artists that have been pushing the envelope,” Timpel said. “You’ll also be able to meet the old timers— Philadelphia Eddie will be there, Stanley Moskowitz will be there. Between Philadelphia Eddie and Stanley Moskowitz, I think they have 1000 years of tattooing experience between them, give or take a year.”

And this isn’t your average art show where it’s “look but don’t touch.” At the Philadelphia Tattoo Arts Convention, people do get inked up on the spot.

“You can come down and get traditional Japanese hand-tapped Tebori tattoos by artists from Japan, you can get world-class portraits in black and grey… there’s so many really talented artists out there now, it’s absolutely amazing where tattooing has gone into its own fine art realm,” Timpel said.

Since taking the show under his wing, Timpel has also made huge strides in making the convention an entertainment experience that can be enjoyed by those who aren’t tattooed, bringing in world-renowned sideshows, fine art painters, clothing and book vendors, suspension performers who have been on tour with [popular rock band] Jane’s Addiction, and more.

“It’s an eyeful to see,” Timpel said. “If you’ve never been to the Philadelphia Tattoo Arts Convention, you’ll leave amazed for the next week. You’ll be telling people about the girl you saw hanging from her knees upside down on one hook, or about the enigma of someone cutting up an apple in his mouth with a live chainsaw blindfolded. The suspension shows are amazing and really crazy.”

With that said, the show is called the Philadelphia “Tattoo Arts” Convention, so the celebration of body art remains the main attraction. With over 40 tattoo contests happening over the course of the weekend, people are excited to see and then become living, breathing art galleries. This intrigue and infatuation excites Timpel but it also surprises him to see just how celebrated and accepted tattooing has become in recent years.

“Now that the public sees these [TV] shows and what a good tattoo should look like, they’re willing to get large-scale projects with the understanding that they are multi-sitting tattoos,” Timpel said. “Back in the 90s, all we did were little tattoos under the sides of your fists over and over. We didn’t draw as much, but now I don’t think I’ve tattooed something that I haven’t drawn in months.”

That back and forth process and the idea that tattoos are an art that allows the expression of both the tattoo artists and the person going under the needle says a lot about where tattoos have come from and where they are now. Timpel describes countless clients who come into his shop wanting custom work. Tattooing and the imagery of the art has been broadened thanks the escalation of the techniques, industry, communication, training and talent of the artists. All of this has allowed tattooing to flourish in a way that Timpel never saw possible.

“It takes two to tango— it takes a customer who’s willing to have an idea and then allow the artist some freedom to create a good design and solid tattoo. The best thing is when you hit a good idea with a customer and you’re able to put out a nice, solid tattoo that both of you are happy with and proud to wear.”

While he is (pleasantly) surprised at the fact that the stigma of tattoos has been broken by and large, it’s not shocking to Timpel that the Philadelphia show has become one of the largest in the country. After all, Philly has always been a very tattooed city.

“You go to South Street, Olde City, Fishtown— you order a drink at the bar and I’ll bet you a beer that the person serving you has a visible tattoo,” Timpel said. “Philadelphia has always had very heavily tattooed people and its population has always been more accepting of tattooing. I don’t know why… maybe because of the naval influence in the 50s, or maybe because of Philadelphia Eddie and the other good artists that have been here since the 50s and 60s… tattooing has a long history here, especially as a blue collar working town and as a tough town—Philly’s still living that life.”

And the people of The City of Brotherly love to represent their hometown on their skin. As Timpel explained, he’s done more Phillies tattoos than games they’ve won over the years.

What the Philadelphia Tattoo Arts Convention does is make getting amazing pieces of art on your body readily accessibly and fun. While it may be cheaper to get some work done by a friend or at an apartment tattoo party, the chance to get permanent work done by topnotch artists is an amazing opportunity to anyone who wants to get their first tattoo or their fortieth.

“Nobody wants to sit in at someone’s house and get a trashy tattoo that shows to people that they are a low class individual,” Timpel said. “Choose your ink wisely: it may cost you a little more to get a professional tattoo, but the quality will outweigh the difference between spending the rest of your life looking ghetto and having nice, clean, professionally done tattoos. It’s not your tie-dye shirt from the 70s, your flight pants in the 80s, or that Nero jacket from the 90s that can go in a closet. Tattooing is on you forever.”

You can find out more about the Philadelphia Tattoo Arts Convention and Troy Timpel at VillainArts.com. Admission to the convention is $22 for one day or $45 for the entire weekend.