Cartoonist Sonny Liew, 43, came to Singapore from Seremban, Malaysia, when he was five and became a Singaporean about five years ago, when he was working on his acclaimed graphic novel, The Art of Charlie Chan Hock Chye. He studied philosophy at Cambridge, and later received formal art training at the Rhode Island School of Design.
The defining moment was Singapore’s 2011 General Election. “It was the first election I really felt engaged in, partly because social media played a bigger role in that election,” said Liew.
The first Singaporean to win an Eisner award, he scooped up three for The Art Of Charlie Chan Hock Chye at the coveted Will Eisner Comic Industry Awards in July. The annual awards, named after pioneering artist and writer Will Eisner, are considered the Oscars of the comic world and are voted on by professionals in the comic book industry.
Liew’s graphic novel looks at Singapore’s political history through the eyes of fictional artist Charlie Chan, focusing on the 1950s and 1960s when the People’s Action Party rose to power. Now, he is working on a new graphic novel about capitalism, which he said might be set in Hong Kong in the 1980s. He is also doing the art for Eternity Girl, under DC’s Young Animal imprint, as well as Boom! Studios’ Adventure Time comic books.
The artist, whose relationship with the National Arts Council (NAC) has been strained, said more dialogue between the NAC and art practitioners “can only be a good thing“. But he feels dialogue is also “often elusive” on the part of the NAC. “Instead of having to justify what they do in open debate, they can rely on bureaucratic systems to deliver the results they want.”
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Source: The Straits Times, 6 November 2017