Benja Burlingame started his career as a professional body artist in 1995 after attending San Francisco State University. He soon went on to attend the Academy of Art College in San Francisco where he majored in classical illustration while continuing to tattoo in the East Bay. Over the past 8 years, his tattooing skills have grown by leaps and bounds, and he has earned a reputation for clean, solid work with an original style of his own. His award winning work has been published in internationally distributed magazines such as "Tattoo Magazine" and "Tattoos for Men". He has also earned a reputation for his unique, personal philosophy and practice of a more spiritual, personalized tattooing experience.

Experiencing diverse cultures, understanding people's motivation for tattoos and looking for hints of the grand design has lead Benja far away from his roots. In 1999, he traveled the United States, east to west, north to south. He worked several conventions and was a guest artist at several shops. Upon his return to the San Francisco bay area, he worked in the City and then Santa Cruz, all the while looking for his next path. He recently went to New Zealand for a six month stay to explore the origins of tribal tattoos. He now works out of a studio in his house which is located amoung the redwood trees outside of Santa Curz. It is the perfect location for his specialty of spritual, custom tattooing.

He has attended and worked at numerous tattoo conventions across the United States, and given lectures at colleges and to the public on body art and its spiritual roots. He also continues to work in a variety of other mediums including oils, acrylics, coloured pencils, and "anything he can get his hands on".

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