Book Review: Creature by Shaun Tan

Creature: Paintings, Drawings and Reflections
by Shaun Tan (YA 741.64 Tan)

I have been a fan of the artistic work of Shaun Tan since stumbling across his phenomenal wordless graphic novel The Arrival many years ago, and always enjoy seeing a new book from this Australian artist.

 

Creature is not a typical book — it is more of an artistic retrospective of his career from the mid-1990s through 2020, viewed through the lens of some over-arching themes in his work. Tan offers up some explanatory essays on the themes “Lost Things”, “Companions”, “Myth & Metaphor” and “Birds”, followed by dozens of examples of his own work that embody those themes. His fantastical fantasy illustrations embody both whimsy and alien-ness. His drawings and paintings are as likely to included a misfit robot, made of household objects merged with otherworldliness, as they are a jovial yet monstrous alien critter the size of a house. And next to these will be tiny birds, playing with tentacled and feathered pocket-sized figments of the imagination.

 

Tan explains his passion for shining the light on “lost” objects, and on normalizing the abnormal — the beautiful illustration on the book’s cover is a perfect amalgamation of Tan’s career — showing the ease with with a giant, one-eyed, feathered “creature” can befriend a young girl, who things nothing of the oddity of their friendship but simply revels in it.

 

The last fifth of the book is an appendix in which Tan offers background information on most of the pieces of artwork found in the book, explaining what inspired each piece or what his intentions were in creating them.

 

Tan is a true contemporary genius in the field of fantasy art. Creature would be a great introduction to his work for anyone who hasn’t seen it before. However, I would even more highly recommend his books that actually tell a story within a narrative structure, such as The Lost Thing, The Arrival, Cicada or Tales From the Inner City.

[NOTE: Although this has been cataloged as a Young Adult item, it didn’t feel like it — I’m reviewing it here as a recommend for adult readers.]

 

( official Creature page on the official Shaun Tan web site )

 

See Scott C.’s review of Shaun Tan’s graphic novel Cicada, in the June 2019 Staff Recommendations here on BookGuide!

 

Recommended by Scott C.
Bennett Martin Public Library — Public Service

 

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