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Art by Benwa

@brotherbenwa

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Adventures in art and design. DM for inquiries.
San Francisco / Provincetown.
The Provincetown Tarot @ptowntarot
The rest of my life @benwazical

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Feeling great to have my two latest pieces hanging at the supercool Punk Majesty in San Francisco. The group show “Nocturne” is up through November. taken in Punk Majesty by @brotherbenwa

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12 days ago

My San Francisco gallery debut! Excited to share these 2 new pieces at the supercool @punkmajestysf this weekend.

Come through on the Tenderloin’s First Thursdays Art Walk this Thur Oct 1, and/or stop by the opening reception this Sat Oct 3. Show is up through the fall. by @brotherbenwa

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18 days ago

Please welcome Benwa Kramer @ptowntarot + @brotherbenwa to the collection!

Bio:

My artistic career began in the theater, having earned a BFA from the University of the Arts and graduating from the Second City Conservatory ( Chicago). After years upon the stage, I pivoted to visual arts in 2017 when I moved to Provincetown, Massachusetts. There, under the artistic moniker “Brother Benwa,” I found a richly fertile and supportive community of artists, invigorating my studio practice and providing numerous opportunities for inspiration and exposure. My work has become known for its colorful, whimsical approach to various media, including acrylic collage, murals, printmaking, costume construction, and nightclub installations, My inspirations include queer culture, esoterica, and psychedelia.

During the COVID lockdown of 2020, I took up learning the tarot in earnest, which led to the conception of the Provincetown Tarot, a 78-card deck exploring the rich history and culture of Cape Cod’s historic art colony. In 2024, the Treadwell Gallery (Ptown) hosted an exhibition of full-color, hand-painted and hand-pressed white-line woodblock prints from the deck’s Major Arcana, This style, developed in Provincetown in 1914-15, is considered the first American printmaking method. After years of anticipation, the Provincetown Tarot was completed and published in 2026 to great acclaim.

Statement in pinned comment! 📌 by @brotherbenwa

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23 days ago

More new work! Experimenting with different pallets.

COOL PARTY
16x20 (18.5x22.5 framed)
Acrylic, paper, and string on canvas by @brotherbenwa

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a month ago

Excited to premiere some new work! Experimenting with different pallets.

HOT PARTY
16x20 (18.5x22.5 framed)
Acrylic, paper, and string on canvas by @brotherbenwa

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a month ago

More from my spring show

“The Underground” - SOLD
20x16
Acrylic, paper, and string on canvas by @brotherbenwa

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a month ago

More from my spring show

“Upstairs at the Great Northern” - SOLD
12x12
Acrylic, paper, and string on canvas by @brotherbenwa

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a month ago

New work in development: a peek into my process. These final pieces come together from a multi-step process, each component of which utilizes a different part of my artist brain.

Here you see the “puzzle” portion, the most tedious and yet the most rewarding part of this ritual. It is a painstaking effort to effectively fit these figures together with no preconceived plan. As with the creation of the individual characters, I allow the medium to dictate to me the form it wants to take. The result is always surprising and satisfying, building a scene of kinetic movement and subjective characterizations. I can’t wait to reveal the finished pieces soon! by @brotherbenwa

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a month ago

I’ve been back in the studio working on some exciting new pieces! Here is a piece I completed this past April.

“The Stud”
36x36
Acrylic, paper, and string on canvas by @brotherbenwa

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a month ago

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT — Benwa is the artist behind our Deep Sea Disco Carnival poster this year, and also the creator of @ptowntarot

Benwa is a multi-disciplinary artist based in Provincetown and San Francisco. He holds a BFA in Musical Theater from the University of the Arts (2006) and is a graduate of the Second City Conservatory in Chicago (2010). Upon his relocation to Provincetown and a renewed focus on visual arts, he became known for his colorful, whimsical approach to various media. His diverse body of work derives inspiration from queer culture, esoterica, identity, and storytelling.

Most recently, Benwa completed the Provincetown Tarot, a years-long endeavor to depict the history and culture of Provincetown through the archetypal lens of the tarot. In 2025 he completed “Maushop Totems,” a mural installation at Ptown’s Awol Hotel. He also designs posters for many Ptown events, including Carnival 2026.

Benwa has exhibited work at Treadwell Gallery (Ptown), E. Lesh Gallery (Ptown), The Provincetown Commons, as well as Art Gaysel in both Miami and Ptown. Additionally, he constructs elaborate costumes for Ptown’s annual Carnival Week. Benwa also designed weekly installations for the long-running Provincetown summer party FAGBASH from 2016-2018.

@brotherbenwa
@ptowntarot
@benwazical taken in Provincetown, Massachusetts by @brotherbenwa

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2 months ago

And we’re off! Provincetown Carnival 2026: Deep Sea Disco is underway. It’s been thrilling to see my art all over town, including this AWESOME step-and-repeat that @visitptown made from my Carnival poster design. I was also honored to participate in the installation of the SICKENING decorations at @gifford.house designed and created by the PROLIFIC and TALENTED @noah_a_church taken in Gifford House Inn by @brotherbenwa

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2 months ago

The Provincetown Tarot launch party at @gifford.house was a smashing success. So many people came out to get a deck (or 3, or 5!), to hear myself and @tangle_made talk tarot and the project, and to get a free reading from the fabulous @abbearonson at @cazimi_modern_tarot . We also raised $2000 for queer kids at @summerofsass ! This project has been over 5 years in the making and it feels surreal, proud, and thrilling to finally share it with the world.

I’ll be popping up around ptown throughout this week to sell, and you can purchase decks through www.ptowntarot.com.

@ptowntarot by @brotherbenwa

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2 months ago