Art Salon Chinatown is pleased to host author Julie Leung and illustrator Chris Sasaki for a signing of their brand new children’s book, PAPER SON, The Inspiring Story of Tyrus Wong, Immigrant and Artist. The event will be held on Sunday October 27, 2019 at 5:00 pm. Admission is FREE.
Limited copies of the book will be available to purchase at Art Salon Chinatown, located at 425 Gin Ling Way, Los Angeles, 90012 in Chinatown Central Plaza.
“Illustrator Chris Sasaki and writer Julie Leung brilliantly capture, in evocative pictures and words, the creative life of the great Chinese American artist, Tyrus Wong. A recognition of a singular influential artist, this elegant book is also a timely and gentle reminder of the importance of immigrants in American culture.”
— John Canemaker, filmmaker, author, animation historian
JULIE LEUNG was raised in the sleepy suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia, though it may be more accurate to say she grew up in Oz and came of age in Middle-earth. She has also authored Who Did It First? 50 Scientists, Artists, and Mathematicians Who Revolutionized the World and the Mice of the Round Table series.
CHRIS SASAKI is an animation art director and illustrator living in Oakland, California. Currently, Chris is art directing and developing an original project at Tonko House. He’s worked at Pixar Animation Studios and has designed characters for Monsters University (2013) Inside Out (2015), and production designed Sanjay’s Super Team (2015). Some of his other past clients include LAIKA Entertainment, Blue Sky Studios, Disney Television Animation, DreamWorks, Red Cap Greeting Cards, and Jim Henson Studios. His work has been featured at Gallery Nucleus, on Cartoon Brew, New York Times, and in the Society of Illustrators yearly annual. In 2016, Chris made his first venture into illustrated books with a short story collection for young adults entitled GHOST.
TYRUS WONG was born in 1910 in Guangdong, China, and immigrated to the U.S. at the age of nine with his father. Wong attended Otis Art Institute on scholarship after completing middle school. As a concept artist at Walt Disney Studios from 1938 to 1941, Wong created inspirational sketches for the film, Bambi. He became a storyboard and set illustrator at Warner Brothers Studios from 1942-1968, where he worked on films such as Rebel without A Cause, April in Paris, The Wild Bunch, and Green Berets. Wong painted murals, created watercolors and lithographs for the Works Project Administration, and had a twenty-year career as a Christmas card designer. Wong actively exhibited his fine art throughout his career at local and national art institutions. Otis College of Art and Design, the Annie Awards, Walt Disney Studios, and the National Watercolor Society have each bestowed Wong with recent honors for his lifetime of achievement. Since the late 1970s, Wong started building and flying handmade, hand-painted kites inspired by traditional Chinese kite construction.
Tyrus flew his colorful kites at Santa Monica beach, until his passing at the age of 106 in December of 2016.