Finally, a new discovery! For a while now, all the artists I've been covering have been ones I was previously familiar with; I keep a Soopar Sekrit List in my underground lair, and no, you can't see it. But this guy? No, this guy I just discovered today, using the wonderful tool that is vi.sualize.us .
It might be tempting at first blush to label Shaun Tan as a "fantasy" artist, but upon further inspection, that doesn't seem to really be accurate. His picture books focus on expressing the inner reality of people like you and I through surrealism. The world is expressed through his drawings not how it literally is, but how it feels, and is interpreted through a very substantial imagination. Take, for example, the two black & white images above, from The Arrival, a wordless picture book telling the quintessential immigrant's story. The lower image, with its ramshackle buildings and tentacles, is an image of the Old Country, while the upper image, with its freeways and splendor, is the new city. That's not literally what the Old Country (the one my family came from, or any other) looks like, or what first-world cities look like - but that's how they -feel-, certainly, to an immigrant. And isn't it captured just so vividly?
So it's not just his expansive imagination that makes Tan such a good visual storyteller. It's his strategy - using that imagination to channel the feeling of the real through images of the surreal. And it's a strategy that works well at an instinctive level, especially for children, the traditional audience of picture books (though an adult can have a plenty rich experience with his work as well). Jim Woodring's Frank universe, for example, strikes immediately as a surreal inner world, conveying all the feelings and experiences of the "real" world but in a different way.
So if you have a child, or simply a hankering for good storytelling art, pick up Shaun Tan's books. He's apparently working with Pixar on character design, so look for a bit of the Tan touch on upcoming films, as well.
As an additional note on his compatibility with his "traditional" audience, I'd encourage you, dear reader, to check out this wonderful essay of his on the assumption that picture books are or should be for children. It runs along much the same lines as the arguments for comics as a medium for highbrow and lowbrow material for all ages, not just for kids or teens. He's clearly not just imaginative, but quite smart.
Artist: Shaun Tan
Type of art: Surreal picture book illustration, surreal/experimental painting
Media: Pencil, oil, acrylic, charcoal, collage, enamel, crayon, plaster, et cetera
Time period: Contemporary
Country of origin: Australia
Motifs: surreal images that depict the feel of real life, monsters, children, juxtaposition of realistic and cartoony forms, multimedia painting, graceful and emotive curves, energetic lines
Website! Checkit ouuuut!
Also check out this essay of his about originality and creativity.
Wikitypikitypedia entry
Interview with The Comics Journal
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment