♥ The Moved & The Shook ♥
100 drawings by Sherwin Sullivan Tjia hand-picked from ten years of sketchbooks
Wednesday October 2, 2013 - Sunday, October 27, 2013
Vernissage:
Wednesday, October 2, 2013
6 - 9 PM
♥ ARTIST STATEMENT:
For ten years I carried a sketchbook around in my pocket. It was always
the same kind of sketchbook. It was about an inch thick and had the
rough dimensions of a postcard. "Opens flat!" the cover sticker boasted.
And over ten years I filled thirty of them.
Mostly I filled
them with drawings of folks on the bus. I took a bus everyday to my job
up the hill and instead of reading or smartphoning I drew my daily
companions on that ride.
You really get to know someone when
you draw them. You get to like them, even if they look like a mean sort
of person. A funny thing that happens when you run your pen along their
faces like you're a blind person trying to get a picture of them in your
mind. You grow fond of the particularities of a person's features.
One time I was on the street and I see this guy walking by me and I
recognize him but don't know how I know him and then I remember I drew
him on the bus a couple days ago. For a moment I consider stopping him
and showing him the drawing I have of him in my book but then I
thankfully come to my senses and don't say anything.
I get
really self-conscious when the person beside me starts showing an
inordinate interest in my drawing. They often look at my drawing and
then look at the person and then back again, to make comparisons between
my drawing and real life.
The rise of the smartphone was a
great thing for me. It's easier to draw someone if they're sitting
still, and their razor-sharp focus on the game they're playing or the
facebook they're updating or the text that they're typing helps me out a
lot.
One of the things I had to get used to was the movement
of the bus. It's like being on a rocking boat. You learn when it's a
good time to make a line, and when you have to refrain. Only a few times
did the bus suddenly jerk or brake and make me wreck a really good
drawing.
I don't want folks to know I'm drawing them. Sometimes
they notice and then they get all self-conscious and then I stop
drawing at once because who needs that kind of scrutiny? Even though
they are in a public space, they have a private look on their faces.
This series of drawings are what I consider the best and loveliest from my ten year's harvest.
♥ ARTIST BIO:
Sherwin Sullivan Tjia is a Montreal-based writer & illustrator who has written 8 books.
The World is a Heartbreaker, a collection of 1600 pseudohaikus, was a
finalist for the Quebec Writer’s Federation’s A.M. Klein Poetry Award.
The Hipless Boy, a collection of short, interconnected stories told in
graphic novel form, was a finalist for the Doug Wright Award in the Best
Emerging Talent category, & also nominated for 4 Ignatz Awards.
His invention, The E-Z-Purr: The Virtual Cat! (an album with over an
hour of cats purring) is available on the iTunes music store.
In his spare time, he organizes Slowdance Nights, Love Letter Reading
Open Mics, Crowd Karaoke singalongs, & Strip Spelling Bees in and
around Montreal & Toronto as Chat Perdu Productions.
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♥ COMMUNIQUÉ DE L’ARTISTE
Pendant plus de dix ans, j’ai rempli trente cahiers de dessins de citadins dans l’autobus.
On apprend vraiment à faire connaissance avec quelqu'un quand on le ou
la dessine. Une drôle de chose se produit lorsqu’on trace les contours
d’un visage au crayon tel un malvoyant qui tente de se faire une idée du
visage de quelqu'un dans son esprit: on se prend à aimer la
particularité des traits de ce visage.
La popularité
des Smartphones a été une bonne chose pour moi. Il est plus facile de
dessiner quelqu’un s’il reste immobile et que son attention est
concentrée sur le jeu vidéo qui l’occupe, la mise à jour de facebook ou
le texto qu’il tape. Tout cela m’aide beaucoup.
Je
ne veux pas que les gens sachent que je suis en train de les dessiner.
Parfois, ils s’aperçoivent que je les dessine et deviennent très
conscients d’eux-mêmes, et j’arrête tout de bon de dessiner du coup, car
qui a besoin de ce genre d’examen? Malgré le fait qu’ils soient dans un
espace public, ils ont tous un air privé sur leurs visages.
Cette série de dessins est ce que je considère le meilleur et le plus charmant de la récolte de ces 10 années.
♥ BIO DE l’ARTISTE
Sherwin Sullivan Tjia est un écrivain & illustrateur basé à Montréal qui a écrit 8 livres.
Son invention, The E-Z Purr: The Virtual Cat! (un album avec plus d’une
heure de chats qui ronronnent) est disponible sur la boutique musique
de I-Tunes.
Dans ses temps libres, il organise des
Nuits de Slows, des Lectures de Lettres d’Amour dans des soirées à
scènes ouvertes ,des karaoké où la foule chante et participe et des
StripSpelling Bees, à Montréal &Toronto et leurs environs, en tant
que Production Chat Perdu.
