Just posted photos on Flickr of the Flesh to Canvas opening Saturday at the Last Rites Gallery.

As usual, it was a packed show with the usual mix of goth chicks, artists with foreign accents who "only paint nude women" (ahem), tattooists and collectors. Paul Booth held court while his minions dutifully hung on his few words; many filled the seats of his theater adjacent to the gallery to watch his documentaries; the Art Fusion experiment, pictured above, also drew onlookers as artists engaged in live collaborative drawing.

Also in attendance, cheesecake tattoo king, Joe Capobianco -- who is consistently the nicest guy in the room everywhere he goes -- and had a piece in the group exhibit. We also bumped into Gene Coffey of Tattoo Culture in Williamsburg, Brooklyn -- who is consistently the weirdest guy in the room -- and he told us of the paintings he's been working on for a future show at TC. [Gene and I were brainstorming ideas for a tattoo he'll do on me when I get back from vacation. I'll keep ya posted on that.]

The highlight of the opening, as always: Paul's lovely mother, who has such a saintly glow about her, it's hard to believe she birthed the Dark Prince of Tattoo.

See more photos of the show here.