As a child I rarely stopped to think about the reasons for drawing so many weird creatures, and even now I don’t contemplate it much at the easel or sketchbook. I just trust in some deeper attraction that is not especially studied, just the simple allure of drawing a creature to which I always return, as if sitting right beside my three-year-old self. It’s an attraction as old as a prehistoric carving (from which I often draw inspiration), and as new as a robot cobbled together from roadside junk. The idea of a novel and nameless living being – as all animals, including ourselves, inherently are – never fails to fascinate, and each begs to tell its own secret story.
CREATURE runs from March 28 to April 18, 2021 at Beinart Gallery in Brunswick, Melbourne. A full online catalogue of works is accessible here: https://beinart.org/collections/shaun-tan-creature
The March, pastel on paper, 70 x 50cm, 2021