Tomorrow’s Vig is a unique exhibition of short stories by Martin Eaton paired with illustrations created in collaboration with various artists from around the world. Eaton has been s presenting these stories to his 30,000 readers from his coffee table book in production. The short story medium is a difficult skill to master: you have to concisely deliver a full story in very few words. Eaton describes being inspired by an interview with sci-fi legend, Margaret Atwood.He explains, “She recommended writing short stories as you’re developing as a writer so you learn to complete a story. I also did it because it taught me to cut out the fat and be more ruthless in my editing.” His writing, in particular, keeps the reader on their toes, often not revealing their true themes until the end. It can be difficult to build suspense in short form writing, but Eaton does this adeptly.
Martin Eaton is a writer of multiple mediums. In addition to his short fiction, he also wrote, produced, and directed a TV pilot, Mott and Spy as well as two graphic novels, LV426 and Yellow #5, (both awaiting inking). Eaton laughingly admits he’s still raising, “…the $50,000 necessary to put together the five person team required to bring them to market properly.” His writing reflects a life of triumph and tribulation, growing up black and LGBT in white dominated Minnesota and the questions and isolations that created while simultaneously being inspired and supported enough to create his own design agency there at 21 years of age. His company struggled during the recession, so hoping for a new beginning, he moved to New York City. That posed its own challenges, and Eaton struggled with alcohol and drug use until finding sobriety in 2017 after a life-inspiring, first-time attendance at New York Comic Con. Tomorrow’s Vig notices so many moments from this transformation, gripping the reader with their believability that come from Eaton’s life experience.
One story that recognizes these small moments is SURRENDER. The story is a natural and nuanced queer narrative that focuses on a young boy playing with Star Wars toys. The boy tells a gay romance story between his two action figures, but without any of the societal shame that adults might have. The beauty of this story is that love is seen through a child’s non judgemental eyes. The title, SURRENDER, has a double meaning: not only the surrender during the fight between the characters, but also giving oneself over to love.
On the other hand, Martin Eaton does not shy away from violence, as evidenced by BEG and 2 GRAVES. Both stories use brutality to their advantage to make the reader empathize with the characters. BEG is a story of desperation, while 2 GRAVES focuses on revenge. Eaton admits, “2 GRAVES was an exercise in writing action better and it’s really helped in my long form.” Eaton excels at using escalating violence to build narrative suspense. The reader begins to realize that these stories will likely not end well for their characters. It is fitting, as ‘Vig’—a term for the exorbitant fee paid to an urban loan shark—becomes both a moniker and an analogy for the often unavoidable price one pays for happiness.
Ryan Van Dongen’s final illustrations for 2 GRAVES excellently capture the dark atmosphere of the story.Developed in collaboration with Martin Eaton and based on Eaton’s sketches, storyboards and compositional direction, Dongen’s first piece is a black and white illustration of tire tracks that morph into thorny branches, foreshadowing the tragedy that is to come in the story. The second illustration is a bony hand emerging from the darkness. It evokes the renaissance era because of its use of both chiaroscuro and foreshortening. Both drawings are particularly interesting because they blend expressionist line work with realism.
Another violent story that is not in the exhibition, but Eaton was kind enough to bring my attention to from his forthcoming book is ANOTHER REST STOP. Eaton explains, “It was inspired by Steven King’s short story, Rest Stop, which made me want to be a writer. ANOTHER REST STOP plays with the concept of misogyny. I found it utterly horrific in how amazingly visceral and violent it palpably made me feel. King’s Rest Stop is about a woman who goes into a rest stop and is murdered. In my discussions with my mentor, British author Lindsey Kelk, we discussed how this might be modernised so it isn’t just violence porn against women and my first draft made her yawn at that predictable setup.” After a series of conversations with Kelk about how to modernize his writing approach, Eaton decided to take gender out of the equation, and let the reader infer the gender of the victim in the story. This challenging of tropes and norms is something Eaton says continues now in all his writing.
Eaton also plays with gender in IT, which will be on display in both of his upcoming exhibitions. He places himself in other people’s shoes literally in this instance as this story was inspired by Eaton’s conversation with a female friend while examining a wall of avant-garde shoes at a fashion exhibit. The two discussed misogyny in fashion and whether power can be transferred from the desirer to the desired through it. IT is the story of the creation of a being and its own understanding of itself. The story’s strength is in the internal monologue of the character, giving insight into how It feels about Its own making. Damien Goerke’s art perfectly illustrates the piecing together described in the story. The composition and original storyboards provided by Eaton used the Alexander McQueen “Savage Beauty” exhibition at The Met and humorous as it may seem, “The Mummy” as inspiration.
Eaton chooses not to write from his own personal life experience because, he states, “I find it dull and unimaginative But everything is written from personal experience in some manner. I’ll take my feelings of jealousy or anger or betrayal from my life but give it to a character in their own situation I’ve created. It’s far more interesting to me.” BLOCKED is the most emotionally vulnerable piece of the exhibition. Eaton explains, “The story in the exhibit that’s most personal to me is Blocked. It was inspired by a horrible breakup where I was dumped by a guy I was in love with.” BLOCKED is focused on a character attempting to let go of the past while simultaneously wondering how his former partner views their relationship. Eaton makes memory a physical place that the character can walk through and explore. He presents memories as fragile pieces of paper that are fleeting, which creates a visceral impact for the reader: making them yearn to hold on to them and reminding them of their own forgotten memories and a desire to go to an imagined perfect home. Thomas Moore’s finished artwork for BLOCKED is a pointillism illustration of a safe, but with glass walls, teasing the viewer with their desires which are on display, but often unavailable to them. Contrastingly, the glass safe can also represent locking away what’s most precious to covet rather than to appreciate or share.
While Eaton may not often write from his life experiences, his stories reflect real life. RUSH HOUR is the strongest story of the exhibition because of its unfortunate truth. It tells the story of a woman who is groped on the NYC Subway by a serial assaulter. Violence in the MTA subway system is getting more attention than ever, from a spree of stabbings on the 5 train to Debrina Kawam being set on fire on the F train. Additionally, there have recently been several cases of people committing multiple violent crimes before being apprehended by the police. Eaton’s work accurately captures this modern day horror and compellingly pulls the reader into the perspective of the victim. The ugliness of the situation and the perpetrator in the story is beautifully presented in the painting of the grotesque figure realized by Nick van der Aa. From violence and ugliness – beauty.
Martin Eaton’s fiction is unique and hopes to tell real-world stories. He uses his own emotional contexts to tell stories that are different from his own. The exhibition is special, not only because of Eaton’s writing, but also because of the art that brings his work to life. Eaton’s work will be exhibited on February 10th at The Brooklyn Art Cave and February 12th at AM:PM Gallery (in his home area of Williamsburg, Brooklyn).
With Tomorrow’s Vig marking the first phase of a larger artistic journey—including future exhibitions and a major book release—Eaton is establishing himself as a trailblazer in hybrid literary-visual storytelling. His work has already garnered critical attention beyond the exhibition space, with features in WhiteHot Magazine and Elephant Magazine. Those interested in following his developing projects and engaging with his growing reader community can visit tomorrowsvig.com.
