Tribal DDB 10 Year Anniversary Painting & Posters

This month ultra-cool advertising agency Tribal DDB asked Thunderdog to help them celebrate their 10 years in business with a series of art projects. The result was an enormous painting by Tristan Eaton, a series of laser cut, spray painted posters and a time-lapse video showing 40 hours of painting in 4 minutes! The painting is now a permanent fixture in the Tribal DDB lobby!

Tristan's concept and approach to the project:

My goal was to celebrate Tribal DDB's triumphant 10 years in business through allegory and metaphor. Paying homage to the late illustrator Frank Frazetta, I decided to anthropomorphize the accomplishments and abilities of the agency into a majestic, mythical beast ascending an ever-growing branch of time and challenge. A notch in the tree reveals 10 rings / years of growth. I chose three animals to symbolically represent the core ideals that Tribal DDB embodies and aspires to:

OCTOPUS: Creator, versatile, resourceful

HUMMING BIRD: Timeless messenger, optimistic, adaptable

GAZELLE: Free Spirit, Aware, Agile, Graceful

The painting was executed on 49 square panels of birch formed into a grid reminiscent of the Tribal DDB logo. The imagery was created using wheat pasted paper, spray paint, acrylic paint and ink. I also created a signed and numbered limited edition poster for all Tribal DDB employees. The poster serves as a crest to represent this mythical beast and its triumphant journey. The treatment of graphics are reminiscent of a timeless coat of arms used for shields in battle and for pride of legacy. The poster is spray-painted through a laser cut stencil, allowing each poster to be unique with varying fields of color. Each poster features a legend explaining what our mythical beast represents as well as a field for individual numbering and artist signature.