Jason Keefer spent a lot of time meditating while Ben Miller stood over him, guiding the apparatus that punched hundreds of tiny holes in his neck—almost two hours, in fact. By the time Miller was finished, Keefer was the most recognizable wedding photographer in Charlottesville, with the word "Strength" emblazoned across his throat and "Respect" mirrored on the nape of his neck, as if the needles had entered the front of the man’s throat thinking one word and left through the back with the other in mind. What’s more, Keefer left Ben Around Tattoos and Offbeat Gallery, the shop on W. Main Street that Miller purchased in October 2006, with plans for his first exhibit, and the first within Miller’s gallery since June 2007.
 Charlottesville Ink: After receiving a tattoo across his throat from artist and studio owner Ben Miller, wedding photographer Jason Keefer (pictured) organized an art show for Miller’s space, Ben Around Tattoos and Offbeat Gallery. See, folks? You give a little, you get a little. |
Most photographers that Curtain Calls knows consider wedding photography a way to make bank so that they can set aside time to shoot their preferred subjects (what Curt thinks of as the "Three C’s"—concerts, celebrities and their cats). For Keefer, the profession and passion are paired: Wedged into nooks and crannies unimaginable to most wedding guests, Keefer finds geometric compositions that most documentary photographers never manage to snap, and spends even more time preparing his photos for his clients—up to 100 hours per customized album of shots.
"I approach things in a documentary fashion," Keefer says to Curt. "But, [for] the final product, I try to spin a fine art look. Lots of post-production work. The down season is my design season."
Miller has also doubled his workload in recent months, which explains Ben Around’s dearth in art shows. Two weeks ago, Miller opened the doors of a second Ben Around tattoo studio in Waynesboro, where a colleague has been scheduling ink appointments for Miller. "So, after eight or nine hours in Charlottesville, I shoot out to Waynesboro to do another four to five hours of work," Miller says.
In addition to seeking out gallery artists, Miller is working with tattoo artists from around the country to coordinate what he calls "guest spots," inking auditions for his new gallery. "Tattooing is still my mainstay and my background," says Miller, then asks Curt to hang on for a second, as he has another phone call regarding an appointment. Keefer had mentioned something about a few guests as well, and so Curt leaves off with Miller to seek out the guest spots for Keefer’s art show.
The wrestler
This is how Steve Musulin might describe himself: A "mover of men," an outside linebacker for Guilford College‘s football team. A former professional wrestler in the World Wrestling Federation (WWF) from 1976 to 1984 who maintains that, for every tooth he’s missing, "the ratio was three to one." A committed employee of the local ACAC gymnasiums, where he has worked for 24 years and where Curt sits with him now, in the booth in front of the Downtown ACAC on Second Street SE, taking parking tickets from patrons. A poker player that learned Texas Hold ‘Em through Keefer after the photographer invited him to a weekly game and then invited him to share the gallery space during his art show.
And, after the January 12 exhibit at Ben Around, Musulin may consider himself an artist. Musulin taught himself to weld over three years ago with $100 in used tools and a book from Lowe’s, and now crafts outlandish and symmetrical metal creatures and critters from tools and scraps he finds in dumps. As he puts it to CC in the ticket booth, "I want to evolve to the point where other artists see art in my work."
Curt thinks that Musulin might be slighting his own skill: During the hour that CC sits with Musulin in the ticket booth (atop a walker that Musulin has used since the car accident that broke his back in 1984), the welder mentions that he sold $700 in sculptures (including a few of his popular "shovel birds") during a recent Saturday at the City’s Holiday Market and travelled to Richmond for the 32nd annual Bizarre Bazaar. "I did alright. Made a couple grand," says Musulin, reaching out the window of the booth to take another ticket from a driver.
As he leaves, Curt notices a few of Musulin’s wiry warrior figures standing a tireless watch near the great fighter himself, roughly 3′ tall, clutching bows and arrows, primitive weapons.
The jazz cat
Local singer Jenn Rhubright, who fronted the now defunct band Clare Quilty and currently covers vocals for The Dirty Dishes as well as her new jazz standards act, Jive Katze, will also try her hand at the latest Ben Around exhibit, something the gregarious singer suggests is a big step for her. "I’m used to putting photos on Flickr (a photo sharing website) and not watching while people look at my art," Rhubright says to CC.
Between music gigs and a photography show at Starr Hill Music Hall (in which Rhubright’s portrait shots of hot rods caught a lot of eyes with a chrome-fendered, cherry red dominance of the lens), Rhubright spent a good amount of time around the now empty music venue, which is how she first noticed Ben Around. "It wasn’t your quintessential, ‘dented plastic chairs sitting out in the lobby’ tattoo shop," says Rhubright. Conversations with Miller led to talk of her photography, and Miller recommended she team up with Keefer.
All this friendly collaboration for a show strikes Curt as a great way for Ben Around to re-enter the local art scene after a few breathtaking shows in 2007—a subtle resurfacing of a familiar space and new ideas, like ink blots joining hands beneath the skin of the city and slowly pushing towards the surface. Be sure to check it out.
Keefer, Musulin, Rhubright and painter Tanya Claire will unveil their latest works at Ben Around Tattoos and Offbeat Gallery on Saturday, January 12, with a 6pm reception and music by DJ Duck Tape.
SWAG Bag
Answer: The winningest geek in the history of "Jeopardy!" Question: Who is Ken Jennings?
Curt recently received a copy of Ken Jennings’ Trivia Almanac: 8,888 Questions in 365 Days and decided to flex the frontal lobes of the C-VILLE staff for a few moments following their holidays. Fortunately, the questions for December 26 centered around coffee, something these journalists ingest as steadily as headlines.
Question 1: "What Italian drink is made by dropping a dollop of foamed milk atop an espresso?"
Answer: "Cappuccino."
Correct answer: "Macchiato."
(No shame here, however, because Curt misspelled "cappuccino" on his first attempt.)
Question 2: "Starbucks Coffee was named for the first mate in what novel?"
Answer: "Moby Dick". A confident answer.
Correct answer: We nailed it!
And now, if you’ll excuse him, Curt is craving a cup.
