Archive Note
Born in Saginaw, Michigan in 1976, Koeplinger was first pulled toward tattooing by skateboard and punk culture and by an older neighborhood figure who owned a tattoo kit. He began tattooing in 1997 and spent his early career moving between out-of-state shops, including stints in Ohio and Alabama, before building the travel-based working life he is known for, a long run of guest spots and shop stays across the United States and internationally that became central to his place in the contemporary American traditional revival; in 2016 he completed a fifty-state tour, tattooing across all fifty states in about ninety-seven days. He works bold-line American traditional with strong Japanese influence and heavy color, and he owns Adventure Tattoo in Nashville, Tennessee, a shop centered on traditional American and Japanese work.
Lineage
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