After a deep breath, Reissa Lee walks into a restaurant and asks to speak to the manager. Not to complain, but to make a trade: her original artwork, framed and ready to hang, for a single meal.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a new pitch, and so far, she\u2019s been turned down once. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt is kind of nerve-wracking though if there\u2019s a lineup behind you and you\u2019re trying to pay with a piece of paper,\u201d Lee told CTV News.<\/p>\n
The 25-year-old artist has documented four of these attempts so far on social media, under the series title \u201ccome get rejected with me?\u201d <\/p>\n
Typically, she explains which restaurant she\u2019s outside of, describes the piece she made specifically for it, then walks in to introduce herself and make her pitch. <\/p>\n
Her latest attempt, posted Sept. 3 on Instagram, took her to Lambo\u2019s Deli near Trinity Bellwoods Park with an illustration called \u201cDeli Beli World,\u201d featuring just over half a dozen blue humanoid sandwiches. The video has amassed more than 135,000 views and over 7,000 comments.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m more like, \u2018What do I think they would like and they would appreciate?\u2019\u201d Lee said of the piece.<\/p>\n
Justin Leon, co-owner of Lambo\u2019s Deli, said the exchange was an \u201cimmediate yes.\u201d The framed illustration is now at the Bellwoods store, and Lee walked away with two Italian Trio sandwiches. <\/p>\n
\u201cAs a small business, we understand how much of ourselves goes into what we create. There\u2019s a person behind the work, and that matters,\u201d Leon said.<\/p>\n
\u201cReissa\u2019s art now has a place in our shop as a reminder of the kind of community we want to be part of: one where people support one another, celebrate each other\u2019s talents and make genuine human connections.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lee has been drawn to art since childhood, but it became a serious passion in high school when she was introduced to new mediums. The idea for the trade series grew out of a string of rejections last year when she\u2019d simply ask restaurants if she could hang her art inside, no trade attached.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always gotten a no, but I thought maybe if I traded one-to-one craftsmanship of art for food, because I feel like food is an underlooked craft, that one-to-one respect is great,\u201d Lee said.<\/p>\n
She also sees the project as a way to build confidence.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith my art beside me, it can kind of speak for me in a way. And being rejected and persevering \u2014 I feel like that\u2019s something you can only learn, it\u2019s rarely taught,\u201d Lee said. \u201cIt\u2019s very hard to handle. You get rejected, and then you mope for like a week. But you just got to get back up and keep going.\u201d<\/p>\n
So far, Lee has stuck to restaurants along Dundas Street West, a route she often cycles or walks to visit friends. But she\u2019s open to venturing out to other Toronto neighbourhoods as well. <\/p>\n
She plans to approach a new business once a week, seeking out spots that feel distinctly Toronto, which she holds \u201cvery dear\u201d to her heart as a born-and-bred Torontonian.<\/p>\n
Lee hopes the project shows off her range as an artist and lays the groundwork for future collaborations.<\/p>\n
\u201cI could do things for people on the fly and create ideas for places and surprise them,\u201d she said. \u201cAlthough they didn\u2019t ask for it, I feel like the best surprise is the one you didn\u2019t expect.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After a deep breath, Reissa Lee walks into a restaurant and asks to speak to the manager. Not…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":894210,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[712,49,48,75],"class_list":["post-894209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-apple-news","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/894209","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=894209"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/894209\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/894210"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=894209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=894209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=894209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}