About this user
Rev. Chad A. Wells attributes his beginnings in the Tattoo world to the "glorious results of a misspent youth", taking up the needle at age 15 to tattoo his "punk rock, hoodlum friends". Now, a heavily published, multi-award winning artist and writer, Wells began his foray into the world of professional body art in 1992, at the age of 19, after dropping out of the School of Advertising Art in Kettering, Ohio. Wells served an apprenticeship with local tattooist, Glenn Scott, learning the tricks of the trade in Dayton, Ohio's longest running shop and, at the time, most well known shop. Chad worked at the shop for a short time after serving his apprenticeship and then left Scott to pursue his own path.
Wells travelled extensively, tattooing "on the road" before opening his first shop, a 3500 square foot retail space dubbed "Vision Quest Tattoos and Gallery of the Absurd" that, in addition to tattoos and piercing, was an art gallery, sold used records and CD's, books and magazines, poster and incense and featured an arcade full of video games, pin ball machines and a pool table. Feeling overwhelmed with the scale of the shop and the overhead it took to run such a huge space, Wells closed the doors and decided to go back to being an employee instead of an employer. During this time, Wells worked for a small Dayton studio called F.A.T. Tattoos before landing a spot at the more respected New Breed. Shortly after 9/11 Chad felt an urge to refocus his path and return to his roots so he went back to work as part of Glenn Scott's Tattoo Team. Wells was a member of the Tattoo Team for almost 7 years before deciding to fly solo again, this time with a different approach. Rev. Chad Wells - Custom Tattooing in Vandalia, Ohio is a scaled back, cozy and creative atmosphere where the client and artist can relax and focus on the work at hand, which is creating absolutely the best tattoo possible.
Rev. Wells is an accomplished artist outside of the Tattoo world as well. He has created posters, album covers and assorted ephemera for hundreds of bands like Electric Frankenstein, Turbonegro, LA Guns, Faster Pussycat, The Murder Junkies and MANY more. Wells is also the founder and creative force behind the AartKult Clothing and Publishing company and is an accomplished painter, photographer, videographer and musician. Musically, Wells is most well known as the leader of the widely respected horror punk band, The Jackalopes and is currently involved in a wide variety of projects including Hazard County Heathens, Wulfkult, Glasyalabolas, Gorfukt, New Way Vendetta, Sunmelter and more. As a writer, Chad's work has appeared in many books, magazines and newspapers and is currently a regular contributor to industry heavyweight, International Tattoo Art Magazine and also writes a weekly blog at www.internationaltattooart.com.
Wells is a legally ordained Minister and holds the honorary degree of Dr. of Metaphysics from the ULC.
Interests
Tattoos, Tattooing, Art, Music, Design, Film, Video, Psychedlics, Visionary Art, POA