Archive Note
Theo Mindell began tattooing in San Francisco before moving north to San Rafael, where he opened Spider Murphy's Tattoo at 1006 Lincoln Avenue in 1996 and has run it ever since in an uncompromising classic American traditional aesthetic, with hand-drawn flash hung wall to wall and published across the Spider Murphy's Collection volumes. The shop is one of the most internationally recognized American traditional studios in the United States and a deliberate custodian of the classic style. His own apprenticeship master is not documented in available sources. As a teacher he trained Stuart Cripwell, who served a traditional apprenticeship under him before tattooing from 2004, and Laurent Trelaun; Matt Howse and Heather Bailey are among the shop's roster artists and flash contributors.