1xRun: Tell us a little bit about this piece…
Tristan Eaton: It’s about the blurry line between good guys and bad guys. It’s never as black and white as we think – especially in real life. This piece features a number of recognizable characters, there are 16 in total: Captain America, The Torch, Wolverine, Venom, Spider-Man, Dr Doom, Green Goblin, Hulk, Iron Man, Red Skull, Galactus, Colossus, Magneto, Thanos, Daredevil and The Thing!
1xRun: Was this piece part of a recent theme, series or show that you had?
Tristan Eaton: It’s part of a new direction in my work. For a long time I’ve compartmentalized styles I enjoy doing into separate projects, but I’ve recently started mashing everything together. I really enjoy it.
1xRun: When was this piece created and with what materials?
Tristan Eaton: This piece was created at the end of January in a series of evenings between midnight and 6am. It’s partly digital with some pencil rendering and pen & ink work mixed in.
1xRun: Tell us how the idea and execution came about?
Tristan Eaton: My love of Marvel comics!!! I grew up on Silver Surfer and X-Men and loved the variety of styles in comics from Jack Kirby to Jim Lee, Alex Ross to Kent Williams – this piece kind of pays homage to a lot of those styles.
1xRun: How long did the piece take?
Tristan Eaton: It took about 3 days total.
1xRun: What is unique about this piece?
Tristan Eaton: It’s the first silk-screen I’ve done in this new body of work I’m creating. At 12 colors it might be the most elaborate print I’ve ever done!
1xRun: Why should people buy this print?
Tristan Eaton: I don’t know man! Maybe they love comics the way I do, maybe people have been following the progression of my work? This is a piece I’m very proud of and I don’t do very many prints…and I’ll start killing kittens if they don’t buy it.
1xRun: Describe this piece in one gut reaction word.
Tristan Eaton: Carnage.
1xRun: This will be your first year joining the Pow Wow Hawaii family, who are some of the artists you’re really excited to see painting out there?
Tristan Eaton: So many amazing artists!!! Really excited to see James Jean and Glenn Barr paint walls. Really fun hanging out with legends like Kofie, Roids and some old pals like 123 Klan!
1xRun: Anybody you’d personally like to collaborate with if the opportunity presented itself?
Tristan Eaton: Of course! We’ll have to wait and see what happens though. I’ve been planning to paint with CYRCLE for a while. Maybe that’ll happen.
1xRun: Have you been to Hawaii before or will this be your first time out there? What are you looking forward to?
Tristan Eaton: Yeah I’ve been to Maui before. Really beautiful. But I’m just looking forward to painting man!!!
1xRun: Do you have any plans for your wall out there or are you just going to improvise it when you get there?
Tristan Eaton: I plan to bite off more than I can chew, work really long hours and barely get it done in time!
1xRun: You’ve been staying crazy busy per usual, bring us up to speed on some of the walls you’ve been doing lately?
Tristan Eaton: New York last year was really special for me. Painting in Little Italy changed the course of my work. On top of that I did walls in Cleveland (above), Brooklyn (below) Los Angeles (below) & Detroit (last).
1xRun: How did 2013 wrap up for you?
Tristan Eaton: Nice and easy! Made a new website, moved into a new house in LA, lots of new stuff happening!
1xRun: Aside from Pow Wow 2014, what are your plans for the new year?
Tristan Eaton: Just working on my paintings and murals. I’ve slowed down a lot of my design work and simplified my life a lot since I moved to LA. But the murals I have planned are getting bigger and more complex, so I’m super excited.
1xRun: Anything you’d like to add that we didn’t touch on?
Tristan Eaton: Yeah – I’m planning to come back to Detroit this summer for some big mural shit so I’ll see you guys out there! First round is on me!
1xRun: Where else can people find you?
Tristan Eaton: Website – Facebook + Twitter + Instagram @tristaneaton
-1xRUN