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Shaun Tan - "Never Be Late for a Parade" - oil on canvas
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Never Be Late for a Parade
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")
"While the younger brother works away at his ‘robot’ companion, the eldest is always far more advanced when it comes to this kind of alchemical engineering. This image is a leftover from an earlier version of ‘Summer’ which was more of a comic-book story about two kids competing to create ‘better’ friends. I wondered: if kids had the ability to construct lively beings out of junk, how quickly might it dissolve into power games, jealousy and corruption? I think this image could also be read in a number of other ways – the main element being that the older brother refuses to wait for the younger one, and, more deeply, the idea that fun and the anxiety of missing out on fun so often exist side by side."
"The nature of these creatures and their ‘parade’ is open to imagination. I based them on my study of old tin-toys; clattering, rigid and a little awkward, but full of weird character. I wanted them to look more like wind-up puppets than robots – more shell than substance. Two of the machines / animals are waving to each other, so there is a sense of kinship, maybe achieving some independent thought or feeling. Each creature is meant to look as if it has a very specific personality."
"The suburban setting is very important, though I’m not sure why – it could just be that it looks like a place from some childhood memory. A peaceful, uneventful place. I was very interested in the brightness of the lime-yellow hill upon which the younger brother is working, and the strange darkness of the sky (almost approaching night), which adds a surreal effect, an ominous discord to an otherwise whimsical afternoon." —Shaun Tan