Tokyo, Malaysia
Artist
Keith Miller
(Canadian, b. 1949)
Date1988-1989
MediumMixed media: collage, colored pencil, oil pastel, charcoal, graphite, chalk pastel, grease pencil, pen and ink
DimensionsSheet Dimension (page height x width): 6 1/4 × 9 in. (15.9 × 22.9 cm)
ClassificationsMixed Media
Credit LineGift of the artist
Terms
Object number2015.25.32
DescriptionContains 48 drawings. Straddling two distinct cultures, this book, (July 1988 - April 1989), begins with domestic scenes of Miller's residence and neighborhood in Tokyo. These include sketches of ceramics and Japanese beverage cans and bottles. Many small pen and ink drawings of Berlitz School students, (where he worked), as well as studies of Tokyo architecture were done on separate pieces of paper and glued into this sketchbook. The later sheets in this book trace an overland trip from Bangkok south to Terengganu, Malaysia where, for the second time he stayed on the island of Pulau Duyong. The drawings done there date from the same stay as the watercolors from 2015.25.46. Several of the drawings experiment with the challenges of night scenes. Nocturnes like "Terengganu River", "Mosque at Night" or "Guitarist, Yellow House", deal with the problems of depicting an environment with limited available light.
The sketchbook ends with several pencil drawings of the wooden Malay architecture of the island as well as a collage composed of seashell and pieces of Malaysian traditional batik cloth. The condensed milk label was collected from the copious amounts of litter strewn around the Island village.
On View
Not on view
