A longtime Greenpoint tattoo parlor will offer a “flash tattoo” day on Thursday, April 11, to commemorate Flaco, the escaped Eurasian eagle owl who died in February after colliding with a building on the Upper West Side.
A flash tattoo day is when a shop devotes a day to offering tattoos of pre-drawn designs, usually for a reduced price.
Artist Duke Riley, who owns East River Tattoo, created the initial design, and said a couple of the other artists at the shop may be offering their own takes. All Flaco tattoos will cost $150. Tattoos at the store typically cost several hundred dollars based on the size and complexity of the piece, Riley said.
“Like a lot of New Yorkers, I was caught up in Flaco’s story, and when he passed I felt the need to do something to help, and keep his memory alive,” Riley said.
All tips during Thursday’s flash tattoo day will be donated to the Wild Bird Fund, an Upper West Side bird rehabilitation nonprofit near the building where Flaco was found.
The shop will post a sign-up sheet for customers outside the tattoo parlor at 11 a.m., one hour before it opens.
The tattoo parlor will have two artists working on Flaco tattoos exclusively, with other artists joining in as their schedules allow. It expects to get through roughly 16 to 20 Flaco tattoos by the time it closes at 8 p.m.
“We had a huge response to the post that we were doing it, and a lot of requests,” Riley said, referring to the shop’s Instagram announcement. “I don’t think we’ll probably be able to do everybody that wants one.”
Riley, who founded East River Tattoo in 2000, is a multidisciplinary artist who has shown work at galleries across the city and had a solo exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum. He’s also engaged in elaborate art pranks over the years, such as launching a homemade submarine into the East River.
Since Flaco’s death, New Yorkers have expressed their appreciation for him and his unlikely tale of freedom after a decade of captivity in a variety of ways.
A vigil was held in Central Park days after his death. Some people have also started a petition to have a Flaco statue erected in Central Park, which is home to the zoo where he lived from 2010 until his escape in February 2023. It has garnered nearly 5,000 digital signatures so far.
The artist David Lei, whose popular Flaco photographs captivated many New Yorkers, created iron-on embroidered patches bearing Flaco’s image.
Sellers on Amazon and Etsy have also created decorative Flaco ceramic plates, T-shirts, mugs and more.
