Tyrus

I started to visit the beach in Santa Monica to photograph Tyrus Wong at the suggestion of Sonia Mak, a wonderful art & community-oriented curator and former Curator of the Chinese American Museum in downtown LA.

Tyrus is now 100 and going strong into his 101st year (next birthday in October!). Retired from the world of animation, illustration and design well over 30+ years ago, Tyrus first took up fishing and then, making and flying kites, the work often related to traditional Chinese kite-making process and design. The Disney animator responsible for the look of Bambi, Tyrus' influence on mid-century and possibly culture in general is significant for a Chinese immigrant of his generation - those who came into adulthood during the years of the Chinese Exclusion Act. Sonia tells me, as she prepares for ‘Round the Clock: Chinese American Artists Working in Los Angeles, a show she is curating in Los Angeles for the new Vincent Price Museum at East Los Angeles College and one in which I hope a photo or two of my work about Tyrus will be in, that Tyrus is one of the few artists who would not fluff over the fact that he was Chinese born, even though he arrived in Los Angeles as a young boy.

I have provided background on Tyrus several times on my SaraJaneboyersAloudBlog, most significantly on 1 January 2010, but since I continue to marvel at the draw at the beach every fourth Saturday, wanted to post a quick composite of his "retirement" here: the kites at the beach.

The artist is always present in Tyrus' kites and the man, now approaching his 101st year, continues to dominate. It is due to his art and his character that each time I venture out to the beach to visit, artists, photographers, writers, friends and family and other kite makers appear along with the always varying beachgoers of all ages who stop for a moment, look to the sky and dream.