{"id":522035,"date":"2026-03-08T07:08:26","date_gmt":"2026-03-08T07:08:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/522035\/"},"modified":"2026-03-08T07:08:26","modified_gmt":"2026-03-08T07:08:26","slug":"these-drawings-of-modern-life-are-striking-but-whats-wrong-with-all-the-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/522035\/","title":{"rendered":"These drawings of modern life are striking. But what\u2019s wrong with all the people?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n

The first artwork you\u2019ll see is the very picture of youthful abandon. It\u2019s the kind of fun that hurts.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Hanging on the wall at Toronto\u2019s YYZ Artists\u2019 Outlet, the drawing shows a double-rider, thrown from his bicycle handlebars, crashing into the gravel road. Another depicts a lifeless body held Christ-like by a friend while somebody pours wine down his throat. Nearby, a tower of figures climb over one another like crabs in a bucket (its title informs us: they\u2019re trying to be struck by lightning).<\/p>\n

In the exhibition Cowboy Poet<\/a>, Simon Fuh<\/a> presents this curious suite of illustrations drawn from memory and fantasy. He thinks of the scenes as \u201csocial tableaux.\u201d But in each depiction of adventure and misadventure the artist has painstakingly rendered in fine black ink, something is off.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

What\u2019s up with all the faces?<\/p>\n

Through agony, ecstasy and absurdity, the figures wear the same blank look \u2014 like a crash test dummy or the neutral face emoji. If The Scream by Edvard Munch<\/a> conveys existential terror, Fuh\u2019s characters issue a deep, profound and spiritual \u201cmeh.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think there’s something very 21st-century and post-internet about the completely blank face,\u201d the artist says. \u201cThere’s an apathy to them. They\u2019re like, \u2018Just let the world happen to me; I don’t give a f–k.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"InSimon Fuh, Chance Dignity Guilt Wisdom Hate Humility, 2025. (Simon Fuh)<\/p>\n

Fuh began the series last spring, after moving from Toronto back home to Regina. The artist \u2014 whose practice often explores youth culture, memory and how identity is formed \u2014 found himself in a creative rut, so he began reflecting, through drawing, on his own coming-of-age mythology indebted to the mid-sized Prairie capital.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

For Fuh, \u201cwho you are as a person is an amalgamation of the stories you’ve lived\u201d as well as the stories others tell about you. In Cowboy Poet, the artist shares some of his own dear tales from the dusty trail \u2014 including booze-ups, band practices and the time he got \u201cbottled,\u201d becoming a high school celebrity overnight.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"TheSimon Fuh, Pop pop’s grandkid hit a deer, 2025. (Simon Fuh)<\/p>\n

The illustrations are rich with narrative detail, says YYZ Artists\u2019 Outlet director Ana Barajas. \u201cThe drawing Pop pop’s grandkid hit a deer could be its own short story or film, so much happens at once: a bar scene, a Rona parking lot, someone is under a truck, a deer has ended up on a windshield, a seagull circles a girl eating fries, a bottle is being thrown behind a dumpster. A day in the life in Regina.\u201d<\/p>\n

The blank face evolved as a way to represent the figures who populate memory. Rather than individuals, Fuh explains, the generic expression made his characters \u201cambiguous\u201d and \u201canonymous.\u201d \u201cI wanted to draw the people you see on the subway or the people you see driving by. You don’t remember them specifically; you just remember the dumb thing they’re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheSimon Fuh, Today I let go of anything that betrays my love of life, 2025. (Simon Fuh)<\/p>\n

When he began using the device, it made the drawings look \u201cstupid\u201d and \u201cfunny,\u201d he says. But he continued because \u201csomething stuck.\u201d He calls the characters \u201cdummies\u201d \u2014 though he doesn\u2019t use the term pejoratively. In fact, their automatic, uninhibited behaviours exhibit a kind of wisdom, at times. Fuh points out the image of a group joyriding down a country road for its beauty and simplicity. Their truck flies a flag that says, \u201cToday I let go of anything that betrays my love of life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Elsewhere, the dummies seek pleasure and mischief. In many scenes, they evoke loneliness, ennui and boredom \u2014 even when they\u2019re together. Often, they stare gap-jawed into their devices, despite a chaotic world around them. Their chronicles seem to represent a kind of horseshoe, Fuh says, where enlightenment and emptiness sit side-by-side.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"TheSimon Fuh, All of us trying to get struck by lightning (after Nic Wilson), 2025. (Simon Fuh)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe two dots with a line emoji: it becomes an impossible text to read,\u201d the artist says. \u201cYou can never know what they’re thinking or feeling, which is the experience of living with other people in the world.\u201d <\/p>\n

Perhaps the dummies aren\u2019t vacant, but detached, he suggests. Their minds are elsewhere. They are the kind of people so completely plugged in and profoundly checked out at the same time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI don’t want to put too much of a moralistic lens on it,\u201d Fuh says. \u201cIt just feels like the texture of life right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Simon Fuh: Cowboy Poet<\/a> is on view through April 18 at YYZ Artists\u2019 Outlet in Toronto.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 4 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":522036,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[76,354,355,49,48,356,75],"class_list":["post-522035","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-design","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522035","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=522035"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/522035\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/522036"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=522035"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=522035"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=522035"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}