ABQ-Live caught back up with Todd Hebenstreit, ABQ-born graffiti artist, to talk about his most recent projects.
ABQ-Live: Where is the Darth Vader piece located?
Todd H: El Paso Texas…Hot and dirty!
ABQ-Live: How long did it take?
Todd H: Three hard, hot, long ass days. It was actually pretty tiring. The bigger you go the harder it is to keep everything proportional. I had to constantly lower the lift, climb off it, run into the street to view the work, then reverse the process.
ABQ-Live: Was it commissioned?
Todd H: Nope, all for the love. It was painted at the annual BY jam in El Paso. It’s a big event where several hundred graffiti writers show up from all over the country. Tons of great work gets put up every year. Most of it lettering.
ABQ-Live: You talked about your love for Star Wars in our initial interview with you, do you have plans for more pieces? If so, what?
Todd H: I did that first Star Wars production with my man Dread up in Denver a few years ago. This is the only thing I have done since concerning Star Wars on a wall. That said, I am currently working on several digital paintings relating to the Star Wars universe. I recently spent some time at the Lucasfilm campus and got real inspired. Maybe one day I’ll just work there.
ABQ-Live: What pieces have you worked on since our article on you back in issue 7 of ABQ-Live the Magazine?
Todd H: Well I have done tons of stuff. What would probably be most interesting to the ABQ readers is the portrait of my friend Lauren (AKA Elbs KD) right next to my old portrait on Central. That is currently my favorite portrait.
ABQ-Live: Your Jesse Pinkman piece has had a lot of exposure as well. What is the story behind that?
Todd H: The Jesse Pinkman I painted in Alamogordo TX. That was for another smaller graffiti jam. My crew wanted to do something to rep Burque over in that zone, so we came up with that. That got a ton of positive response. People across the world love that show. That is actually my favorite portrait as far as the “painted fast as fuck” award goes. I somehow painted that in like 7 hours.
If you missed our initial interview with Todd and article in Issue 7 of ABQ-Live the magazine, you can find it here.
Want to see more work done by Todd? Check him out on Facebook at facebook.com/todd.hebenstreit. You can also find him on Instagram by searching for @paths01.
