Archive Note
Buchanan did his first tattoo in 1979 with equipment loaned by the San Diego tattooist Mike Luckett, and tattooed full-time from the fall of 1984 at J.C. Fly's Tattoo in Medford, Long Island, alongside Patty Kelley, whom he met at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh in 1983 and helped learn the trade. On July 5, 1989 the two opened Avalon Tattoo at 1035 Garnet Avenue in Pacific Beach, San Diego, credited within the local trade as the first city shop built around custom, consultation-driven design rather than walk-in flash. In August 1997 he opened Avalon Tattoo 2 at 3039 Adams Avenue, where he remains the principal artist and owner. He works mainly in a Japanese-influenced custom register with a parallel love of American traditional imagery, is recognized for his tiger compositions, and wrote Drawing and Designing Tattoo Art (Impact Books, 2014).