“I was an art kid. My uncles, Rick Windt and Joe Spencer, own G.T. Homestead and seeing them create things was my inspiration growing up. They would go junk picking and find an old picket fence that someone was throwing away, clean it up, paint a Santa Claus or a snowman on it and sell it for 100 bucks. I just thought that was so cool. They'd be babysitting me and they’d want to get work done, so they would put me to work saying, ‘Hey, you can paint a snowman, too.’
Initially I wanted to be a comic book artist. A roommate told me that I should go talk to this guy named Eric Mitchell, ask him what I should do with my art and how to get into the comic book world.
So, I contacted Eric, showed him some of my drawings and he's like, ‘You should learn how to tattoo’ and he taught me. I was 19 years old and homeless at that time, living out of a backpack, being an irresponsible kid and getting fired from jobs. I washed dishes, worked construction, did landscaping. I did it all and hated all of it, so, I would screw around, they'd get sick of it, and I'd get fired or quit. I ended up homeless because of that. I couldn’t find a place to fit in.
But then I found tattooing, and 22 years later, here I am. This is where I belong. These are my people.
I want Area 13 to be a special place for everybody. I want it to be a special place for the people that work here, and for the people that come here to get work done. Open to close, every single day, I want it to be a good experience. You don't even have to come here and get a tattoo. You can just hang out and bring some good energy to the place that we love. That's why I have couches in the tattoo room, because I wanted it to be a social place. I want Area 13 to be fun, but also have the highest caliber of quality of work and tattoo experience. It's not just about the art; it's about the overall experience.
I love what tattoos do for people. I make people feel cool about themselves, or I help people find closure through memorial tattoos and things like that. Even if it's for a somber reason, like the loss of a loved one, I'm helping them close that open wound a little bit to where they are wearing their brother on them. It’s a part of them, and they can feel a little closer to them. It has those healing powers.
My art is part of people's bodies, which is the coolest thing. It's the only thing you take with you when you die, so that's huge to me. The amount of trust that people give me, it can be intoxicating and I love it. To be able to create art that flows with the human body is like having a canvas cut out in a weird shape. Then it’s like, ‘Okay, I'm going to make something really cool out of this.’ Some of my lifelong clients are covered in my work and they've been an ongoing project for 20 years now.”
– Gabe Windt, Area 13 Tattoo
