Pigment Insertion

Last Modified | April 19, 2011

Tattoo Bio

a short history of my tattoo career:

feb 91 - oct 91: miller cotton's tattoos - monterey & berkeley, ca.
this is the shop where i got a big break and my start in tattooing. after being kicked out of several other shops, including lyle tuttle's, for being a naive kid thinking he could get an apprenticeship just like that, i was lucky enough to get a chance here. i got to work with eric hogan and scott silvia who both helped me out quite a bit. then, in october of 1991, miller packed it up and moved back east.

feb 92 - sept 92: east bay tattoo - hayward, ca.
in february of 1992 i got a chance to work for the legendary phil sims in his east bay shop. phil, unknowing to me at the time, taught me so very much about tattooing that i didn't pick up on until later in my career.

sept 92 - sept 94: everlasting tattoo - san francisco, ca.
in september of 1992, i got another lucky break, and was hired by my friend aaron cain at everlasting. here i was able to work and play with some amazing people, including aaron, mike davis and troy denning. we had alot of fun and i learned much from this experience.

jan 95 - may 96: gold coast tattoo - marina, ca.
after a road trip to the east coast, working in boston with fat ram, providence and nyc, i moved back to the monterey area to work with steve hendricks and my friends bill henderson and adam 'spud' roach.

june 96 - june 98: body graphics - reno, nv.
in june of 1996 i moved to reno to work for guy martynuik, the son of pat martynuik, the original 'picture machine'. guy told me so many stories of the past, it was unbelievable and a great time.

oct 98 - dec 00: new you tattoo - oakland, ca
at the end of 1998 i opened my own shop in my hometown of oakland, ca. here i got to work with my friends karl fisher and stash for a couple of years before i decided i wanted to be elsewhere.

jan 01 - sept 01: during this period of time i did a lot of traveling and doing guest spots at various tattoo parlours including sacred art tattoo in chico before i moved there and lost art tattoo in salt lake city where i am currently tattooing

sept 01 - march 05: sacred art tattoo - chico, ca.
at the end of 2001 i moved to chico, ca to work with david singletary, timpac cyrus and shelby cobra

april 05 - may 08: newskool tattoo/death before dishonor - san jose, ca.
in 2005 i moved to san jose california and was lucky enough to get a job with some old friends at newskool tattoo. here, i got to work with paco excel, adrian lee, ron earhart, nate banuelos and matt shamah. in 2007 the shop split into death before dishonor and analog tattoo. i stayed with paco excel at death before dishonor until i moved to salt lake city.

june 08 - current: lost art tattoo - salt lake city, ut.
in mid 2008 my family moved to salt lake city so i could work with some old friends at lost art. i get to work with some really good people here and enjoy it very much. please feel free to visit the lost art website for more info about the shop and my schedule.