I interviewed the talented artist Tristan Eaton on Friday July 16th, 2021 during the opening reception of his “ALL AT ONCE: 25 Years of Art and Design” in the Long Beach Museum of Art located on the coast of Long Beach, California. The art will be exhibited by the museum through October 3rd, 2021.
Hi Mr. Tristan Eaton. Thank you for having us at your show. Would you begin by telling us where your parents are from?
Hi. My dad was born in Detroit in 1940 and my mother was born in Marloes, Wales in 1947. They met in California when my mother was touring for The Royal Shakespeare Company as an actress. My dad saw that play, fell in love with her, and hounded her until she married him. I was born in Hollywood in 1978.
You were somewhat of a nomad growing up. Would you tell our readers a little about the places where you grew up?
I was born in Hollywood and lived here until I was about eight years old. My family then moved to England and I lived in London from the age of eight until I was sixteen. Then I moved to Detroit from sixteen to twenty. From there, I uprooted and moved on my own to New York City. I was there for fifteen years. I started my art career in Detroit and really started everything that I do now in New York.
I moved to New York from the age of twenty until I was 35. I have been back here for the last eight years in Los Angeles.
You have a mural down the street from here on Pacific and 4th in downtown Long Beach, California.
Yes, at The Varden Hotel.
How does Long Beach compare with the cities where you have lived?
I prefer doing public art in cities like Long Beach. I like cities that are not the giant metropolises. Cities like Paris, New York, London get so much art that it is like a drop in the bucket. The art does not impact the communities as much as it does in cities like Detroit or Long Beach that are more medium-sized cities. I actually prefer it. Long Beach in particular has been really good to me.
Robert Garcia the mayor is an outstanding special human being. He is one of the youngest mayors in America. He is an immigrant and he is an openly gay mayor; that is amazing! He grew up around graffiti and loves street art. So, he backs what I do and he loves it. He hired me to do a painting for the mayor’s office for God’s sake.
And is this work hanging up in Long Beach City Hall?
Yes, it is in city hall.
I have to go find it because I want to see it.
He’s amazing and this city has been very good to me.
Tristan Eaton and Jerry Vile by Carlos “The1point8” Gonzalez
(Tristan Eaton courteously and joyously stops the interview to greet Jerry Vile; an early supporter of his work. He was the creator of Orbit magazine. The magazine is referenced in Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction; he wears a t-shirt from the magazine in it. Jerry Vile and Tristan Eaton talk a few minutes.)
This guy here gave me my first art job in my whole life. Jerry Vile!
He has a good eye for talent.
I was just pestering him, that’s all!
(It was very apparent both men were happy to see each other. Tristan Eaton introduces us, we three talk for a few minutes, and we resume our interview after Jerry Vile walks away).
Are you familiar with the Long Beach Grand Prix? I ask because I know you have worked painting motorcycles in the past. Have you or would you like to do any art for the Long Beach Grand Prix?
Yes, I would love to. But it is a particular challenge to make art that looks good going one-hundred miles an hour.
That would be particularly challenging. So, what inspires you to create art? What gives you that motivation?
I have always been an artist so it has never been a problem to find the energy to make art. The inspiration for the majority of my work is people: either, human behavior or painting a figure. All my work is figurative one way or another. If my work is not me painting a figure than it is me talking about or making fun of human behavior.
Yes, you have a depth to you art that I admire. In relation to human behavior, I remember a past interview with David Lee and Marina Bourderonnet of the YouTube channel The Second Studio where you cited a study of test takers who were divided into two groups. Both groups were given the same test with the answers printed in the back. The first group took the test in a room with empty walls and the second took the test in a room with a big eye painted on the wall. The first group had more people look at the back for answers to cheat on the test than the second one. I studied anthropology so human behavior and this type of research is interesting to me.
Yes, I am aware of how much impact changing the realm of public art can have on a community.
I drove by your mural and I had to stop. I was not sure it was your work at first. A few days ago I confirmed it in preparation for this interview.
That’s cool man!
So, would you tell us about today’s show?
Yes, the Long Beach Museum of Art asked me to do an exhibition here looking back on my life and art. The exhibition was originally supposed to be last summer and only one floor. I did a hugely over-the-top elaborate proposal. They loved it but covid19 hit. They told me, ‘If you wait until next year we will give you both floors.’ I was like, ‘Well, if I wait until next year that is exactly twenty-five years since I started making a living as an artist.’
Ah, ok.
Twenty-five years ago I started working at Orbit Magazine founded by the old man who just walked by.
Ah, ok. That is who Jerry is. (Jerry Vile)
That same year I started showing at C Pop Gallery in Detroit. I started designing toys for Fisher Price and I started working at a rock poster silk-screen shop. Jon Tuck!
Tristan Eaton and Jon Tuck Carlos “The1point8” Gonzalez
(Our interview is again joyously interrupted by Tristan Eaton to greet another friend, Ultimate Fighting Championship fighter Jon Tuck as he sees him walk by. Tristan introduces us to each other, they talk a few minutes, and he follows by telling me more about his friend.)
I love this guy. He helped take me to Guam paint murals. This guy is the Rocky Balboa of Guam.
Sorry about that.
You don’t have to apologize. I am really enjoying these interruptions. These interruptions are examples of the cool people you bring out with your art. It is you bringing the community together.
Yes, it is a big part of it. What I was trying to say is that they (Long Beach Museum of Art personnel) gave me an opportunity to do a show at the exact marker of twenty-five years since I started making a living off of my art. This is a very rare chance for me to bookend everything that I’ve done since I started doing this seriously. (The Long Beach Museum of Art is two floors and both were used for Eaton’s “ALL AT ONCE.”) The way I put it is downstairs are the roots and upstairs is all the fruits. The old school stuff is down here (I interviewed him on the first floor) and upstairs is the majority of my new work.
Ok, that is a way for me to make sense of your exhibition. When I go back to review it I will think of it in the manner you explained it. Can you tell us a bit about the toy you are releasing?
I have a few sculptures that are being released but the toy is called The Devil Bunny. It was the first sketch that evolved into the infamous Dunny. The Dunny is in the MOMA’s permanent collection (Museum of Modern Art in New York, New York) and The Smithsonian’s permanent collection (Washington D.C.). I designed those toys when I was like twenty-two years old. Now they have gone on to sell millions of pieces and helped launch many other artists’ careers. It is a toy designed for collaboration. Those toys have really gone around the world. For a while we (Kidrobot) had stores in like nine different cities. It was a big phenomenon for art toys that we helped start with that toy.
Yes, I have seen it all over but only a week ago did I learn it was your creation.
What I am releasing is a toy based on the first sketch that I did in a restaurant on a placemat.
This is different from the sculpture I saw with the gun barrel and legs?
Yes, that is a sculpture called “LET’S BANG”
Resin sculpture correct?
Yes, exactly.
Thank you very much Tristan!
I am very grateful for Tristan Eaton’s time because he was a busy man that evening as he had many friends, family, supporters, and collectors to greet and celebrate with.
Shepard Fairey and Tristan Eaton by Carlos “The1point8” Gonzalez
Tristan Eaton and Dave Persue by Carlos “The1point8” Gonzalez