Tristan Eaton Honors Daenerys Targaryen for HBO's "Art the Throne" Experience
The muralist speaks out on his art for ‘Game of Thrones’ season six and why he’s rooting for the dragon mother.
HBO’s stellar series Game of Thrones is gearing up for its sixth season later in April and to commemorate the return of everyone’s favorite fantasy action-drama, the channel initiated “Art the Throne.” The immersive art experience, meant to condense a diverse sampling of artistic mediums, invited five artists to come together and recreate iconic scenes and characters from the hit television program. Of the contributors were art collective CYRCLE, illustrator Marcos Chin, infographic expert Pop Chart Lab (who were fortunate enough to recreate the epic “Red Wedding” scene from Season 3) and sculptor Jeff Nishinaka.
The fifth artist was none other than Brooklyn muralist Tristan Eaton. His large scale artwork, both vibrant and stunning, was the perfect accompaniment for his assignment to recreate Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke) in all of her dragon-mother, warrior woman glory.
Along with his production diary above, we found time to speak with Tristan privately about his work for the “Art the Throne” experience, his outlook of art both on walls and through cinema, and his thoughts of season six. Visit the rest of the artists’ diaries for the experience that’s being privately held on April 20, and don’t forget to catch the season premiere of Game of Thrones on April 24 at 9pm EST.
What “iconic moment” in Game of Thrones did you decide to reinterpret with your piece, and why?
I’m interpreting the story of Daenerys Targaryen throughout season 4. She goes through some major challenges that change her forever.
How did you approach this project? Since it concerns a different form of creative work (cinematography and visual arts), did it challenge you to attack it from a fresh perspective?
I think it’s refreshing to see something so familiar in an unfamiliar medium. Painting the character allows you to interpret them in non literal, symbolic and idealistic ways. You can bring a lot of emotion and undertones to a portrait that aren’t translated on screen.
Do you feel there are commonalities between filmmaking and art production?
To me, both can be about story telling. That’s a common bond almost all art forms can share and have shared throughout time.
Are you an avid fan of Game of Thrones?
How do I put this…FUCK YES. It’s HBO so swearing is okay right?
Why do you feel so connected to Daenerys Targaryen?
I’m rooting for her. She seems like she has the goods to win the iron throne. But knowing Game of Thrones, she’ll probably die RIGHT before victory. But hopefully we can see some dragons fight white walkers first!
What are you looking forward to discovering this season?
Dragons fighting white walkers!!! Ha! Also the zombie mountain (holy shit), the religious militants getting what they deserve (please!), Ramsey getting what he deserves (hate him so much) and Theon Greyjoy hopefully growing a pair (literally!).
