MURAL: 'THE TEA PARTY', SHAUN TAN

From the artist:

My largest painted project is a mural produced for the children’s section of a library in the Perth innercity suburb of Subiaco.

The building had undergone some renovations, and as part of this I was invited to paint one of the bare walls with an appealing design - no small feat given that the area was some 24 square metres, all of it above bookshelves. The solution was to paint eight

separate canvases that could be locked together as a single composition. My concept was that long T-shaped area would depict a flowing landscape with whimsical creatures strolling, swimming, flying and rowing through it, some having conversations

and reading

books,

others

breathing

fire

and

stormy

oceans,

with

many

drinking

cups

of

tea

made

by

towering

teapots.

Hence

the

title

‘The

Tea

Party’

which

nods

towards

Lewis

Carroll,

as

well

as

being

an

alternative

or

‘extended’

version

of

the

strange

world

that

is

briefly

glimpsed

in

my

picture

book

The

Lost

Thing..

The

entire

project

ended

up

taking

about

three

months,

painted

using

acrylic

and

oils

with

some

collage

of

printed

materials,

fabric,

coloured

paper

and

gold

leaf.

My

biggest

problem

was

trying

to

paint

something

so

big

in

parts

that

could

only

be

placed

together,

two

at

a

time,

in

my

backyard.

I

relied

heavily

on

detailed

colour

sketches

to

ensure

continuity,

and

also

spent

a

week

or

so

working

on

a

large

ladder

once

the

work

was

installed

in

the

library,

joining

everything

up

as

a

fluid

composition.Many

of

the

details

in

the

final

work

were

not

visible

from

ground

level,

and

for

a

while

a

pair

of

binoculars

where

installed

in

the

library

for

anyone

who

wanted

to

see

everything!

(Until

they

got

broken

by

overzealous

children!)

The

City’s

art

collection

also

holds

preparatory

pencil

and

pastel

drawings

relating

to

the

above.