Luke Wessman
Tattoo Artist
Wessman was born on a communal farm in Tennessee where his parents had been living and working as part of a hippie community. Shortly
after he was born, his family hitchhiked across America and settled in Oceanside, California, where Luke grew up.
Wessman received his first tattoo when he was sixteen‐years‐old from a family friend tattooing out of his house. He continued
to acquire tattoos and eventually befriended a group of tattooers who had opened a shop named About Face. It was the only shop in town
because tattooing had been outlawed in the area for decades prior. Wessman began to learn a variety of styles at the shop, where the
clientele included sailors, pimps, and prostitutes. One of the About Face artists, Milford Barnes, moved to Lucky's, a
well‐known shop in San Diego, and Wessman followed him there to begin an unofficial apprenticeship. At the time Wessman was working
as an electrician. He would work as an electrician in the morning and spend his evenings apprenticing at the tattoo shop. Eventually a
spot opened up and he began tattooing full-time. At age 21, Wessman bought Lucky's, which he owned and operated for ten years with
Shane Modica.
From 2005 to 2010 Wessman worked at
Luke Wessman
Tattoo Artist
Love Hate Tattoo and was featured on the TLC reality TV show Miami Ink. After the show ended Wessman
spent some time traveling and working in Scotland, Ireland, Italy, The Netherlands and Germany. In 2010 Wessman moved to New York City to
help Ami James open the Wooster Street Social Club. The shop and its crew, including Wessman, were the focus of the TLC reality TV show
NY Ink. Wessman did the first tattoo at the shop and remains on the roster today.
In 2014 He was a guest judge on Spike TV's
Ink Master. He has written for Inked, was on the cover of Freshly Inked, and has been profiled in several style magazines and websites,
including GQ, The Coveteur, Bound by Ink, and Style.com, among others. In 2014 Wessman designed a limited‐edition postcard featuring
the phrase #govote for HeadCount, a nonpartisan organization that promotes participation in democracy. The postcards were distributed at
music concerts, including Jay Z and Beyonce&apos's "On the Run" tour.
In 2015 Wessman opened the Summertown Inn, a tattoo studio in an undisclosed location in Orange County. It's named after the town
in Tennessee where he was born and is fashioned after a speakeasy. There's no sign out front and clients come on a referral basis.
Wessman's style has been described as "Gangster Traditional," which is the merging of two distinct styles. The
"gangster" style was influenced by the tattoos character‐ istic of the street culture he grew up around in Oceanside ‐ Old
English and block letters, Catholic imagery, black and gray coloring, etc. The "traditional" style stems from his apprenticeship
at Lucky's where tattoos favored bold outlines, deep black shading, and images often associated with sailors, bikers and outlaw culture.
Wessman avoids doing tattoos that are photo realistic or tribal. He prefers "tattoos that look like tattoos ‐ not
paintings or other styles and mediums of art." He also uses discretionwhen tattooing faces, hands or necks, and will only do so
if the customer is a highly covered tattoo collector. He has tattooed dozens of celebrities, including Dave Navarro, CM Punk, Matt
Holliday, and Silkk Tha Shocker, among others. Wessman himself has over 50 tattoos done by over 30 different artists.
Wessman is also a Master Mason and has been active in his lodge, Vista Masonic Lodge No. 687, for over 5 years.
"For me, it's really nice when you bump into a brother Mason anywhere around the world, and you're immediately welcomed
like a close friend," he says while working in his secret OC studio, the Summertown Inn. "But I also enjoy the fellowship with
my elders. After the meetings, we have meals, and I love being able to sit down and just kind of chop it up with them and get some of
that old knowledge, whether it be worldly or just common knowledge."
Unlike many of the new‐wave Masons who are introduced by relatives, San Diego tattooer Dave Gibson was responsible for bringing
Wessman into the fold. Wessman initially pursued it because of how much it meant to his mentor, but its emphasis on introspection gave
him a much‐needed compass for life. "It's not as much as you may think about getting into a crew or a group and learning
the secrets of the world," Wessman says. "It's about learning how to unlock the secrets within yourself."
Wessmann is featured in an OC Weekly - Freemasons Are Staging A Comeback Thanks To Millennials
