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Shaun Tan - "Always Bring Boltcutters" - oil on canvas
Always Bring Boltcutters
Oil on canvas by Shaun Tan (2012).
Artwork size: 86 x 76 cm (33.9" x 29.9)
Frame size: 88.5 x 78.5 x 4.7 cm (34.8" x 30.9" x 1.9")
"The final rescue is implied more than illustrated, but you can imagine quite a dramatic manoeuvre, breaking the padlock and transferring the prisoner from a blindly rushing train that’s unlikely to stop. The beauty of illustration lies in not showing these things, nor their specific emotional attachments. The crows scatter voluntarily – they don’t fight – perhaps this event is also inevitable to them, as it may be for the boys. We might wonder if the older boy has been trailing the train on his bike all along. I like to think so. The image of a completely dark world illuminated only by small headlights or torches has always been particularly appealing to me, and one I return to often in my sketches and stories; also fun (if sometimes difficult) to paint."—Shaun Tan