Overview:
Denver-based artist Thomas "Detour" Evans shares the inspiration for his public art installations throughout the metro area.
If you’ve walked around Denver in the past decade, chances are you’ve seen the work of Thomas “Detour” Evans. His bold murals stretch across city walls, schools and cultural hubs, capturing icons like Jackie Robinson, George Floyd and Charles Mingus in bursts of color and movement.
But Detour’s practice has never been confined to painting on brick—he’s just as comfortable experimenting with sculpture, digital design or immersive installation as he is with a spray can. A self-described “all-around creative,” Detour approaches art as a way of opening up possibilities for himself and others.
That spirit has taken him from RedLine residencies in Denver to mural festivals around the world and even to Beijing, where he painted a massive portrait of Martin Luther King Jr. on the side of the U.S. Embassy. Whether the canvas is a basketball court in Montbello or a terminal wall at DIA, Detour sees each project as a chance to push boundaries and invite collaboration.
His philosophy is rooted in curiosity. Growing up as a military brat, Detour moved often, absorbing different perspectives and cultures that continue to shape his work. Today, he channels that same curiosity into constant experimentation—teaching himself new tools, sharing lessons with the art community through his long-running “Art Tip Tuesdays,” and encouraging other creatives to broaden their “tool belts.”
In this week’s 5 Questions, Detour opens up about why he shifts between mediums, how he scales his vibrant style to massive public projects and the thinking behind his latest experiments. At the heart of it all is a belief that art thrives when it’s shared and that building community is just as important as building a body of work.
Your art spans murals, installations, pop art and “Between the Hues” abstractions. How do you decide which medium or format best suits a new idea or project? What drives your exploration across these different styles?
I always tell artists to learn as much as they can and explore as much as they can because that expands their tool belt. A tool belt of skills and knowledge allows artists and creatives to solve different problems in different ways. I’m not seeing everything as a nail when I only have a hammer. So I tried to make sure that I expand my skill set to challenge myself so that when there’s an idea that I have, I’m able to easily change up the medium that I’m using or the process to have a different result.
What drives me to do it? This is my desire to be as unique as possible. When you have the same skill set as everyone else, it’s hard to stand out and have different perspectives, so I try as much as I can to learn new things and to travel to new places that others haven’t been.
Your Denver Nuggets mural and airport installations are public art at scale—how do you approach translating your signature vibrant style to large architectural spaces while considering the space’s function and audience?
It’s always important to understand the environment that you’re in, as well as the audience consuming the public art. That will inform me of what is possible in that space. This is where learning how to bring others into your practice really helps out. Because I didn’t know how to do a sculptural piece like I did at the airport, I had to bring expert fabricators in to help me bring that idea to life. So it’s important to not only learn new skills, but also lean on others and build the team so that ideas can grow and scale up.
It is only then that you’re not limited to certain spaces. You can then look at any space and think of ideas of what would be best for it and then gather a team to build it.
The “What I Took With Me” shadow‑box prints combine 3D objects and narrative. Can you walk me through the creative concept and personal meaning behind that series? What inspired you to blend scanned objects with physical prints?
This idea came from my desire to have people take a piece of the sculpture that I did at the airport with them. Because it’s a large sculpture, and 3D is very difficult to have that same impact on a 2D print of the work. A regular painting is great to do a print of because it’s also 2D, but with 3D works, I wanted to capture that same feeling, like you have a piece of the original. That is why scanning some of the bags and printing them as miniatures popped into my head. It’s also because at the same time I was learning more about designing, scanning and 3D printing.
So those two parts of my practice came together to create shadowbox prints. Now the audience is able to take a piece of the original sculpture interest with them in a way that’s different than what people are used to.
How do you balance being both a creator and an educator? What motivates you to share tools and technique insights with the art community?
I always wanted to be the artist that I would want to meet. So sharing tips, tricks, advice and insight is something that I have been doing for the past 15 years. I’ve been running my Art Tuesday post for the past 10 years. On that post every Tuesday, I give an art tip. It is something that helps me gather my thoughts on my own practice but also helps the community grow.
It’s always good to foster a good community because I have to rely on the community a lot when it comes to my practice. So making sure the art community is healthy is always important to me. I just make it a part of my practice to educate as I go about my own artistic growth.
Looking ahead, are there any new projects, collaborations or geographic expansions—maybe beyond Denver—you’re planning? How do you envision your artistic footprint evolving over the next few years?
Right now, I’m getting into fashion and creating a line of coveralls for artists and creatives. This has pushed me and challenged me to understand that part of the creative world and how fashion manufacturing is done. It’s very difficult but eye-opening.
Hopefully, this is where creative growth over the next couple of years happens. I have to collaborate a lot more because doing a fashion line requires a lot more minds in the room than just my own. So it’s definitely pushing me. You’re always an artist.