Sir Shadow’s Spell
In the days that I’ve spent hanging around the White House Hotel, talking to the residents, one name invariably surfaced in every conversation. Sir Shadow. People spoke of his unbelievable skill as an artist, his ability to sit down, move his pen almost unconsciously across the page and create images of people that capture the raw emotion of the human spirit. Intrigued, I had always looked forward to meeting Shadow.
Friday night, December 10th, I met him for the first time.
About 6′ 4″ and well dressed, Sir Shadow carries himself with a large degree of confidence. He commands attention. He sat in the lobby of the White House, in the northeast corner by the radiator and ate his dinner, steaming Chinese food in a styrofoam container. After a short time, Shadow was approached by a Japanese tourist who he had previously befriended. ( I get the feel Shadow is bit of a Ladies Man). I sat about 15 ft away, watching, not wanting to intrude on Shadow. After a time, he pulled out pen and paper from a black leather portfolio. He looked at me and said, “I am about to start, you can get this if you want.” Camera ready, I darted over and hit record. For the next twenty minutes he drew, without stopping. Shadow’s art is called “one line art” because the drawing consists of one stroke of the pen. The pen goes to the paper and when it is removed the drawing is finished. Shadow spoke to himself as he drew, entering a peaceful world. He drew people dancing, jazz musicians playing music, lovers embracing, all the while saying to himself “dum dee dumm ahhh dumm dee deee dum” and rocking back and forth. After a while, he stopped drawing and I asked him a question: “What is your philosophy on life?” He paused. What he said was unlike anything I have seen.
For the next twenty five minutes Shadow shared his philosophy in a stream of consciousness, never stopping. At times, what he said made little sense and then he would enter a phase in which he said the most profound truths and then enter into a story about being in the womb and then enter back into nonsense, never stopping. I kept the camera close, I was shooting with a shotgun and prayed the audio would turn out in the noisy lobby of the White House. It did. I have never met someone who seemed so removed from reality and yet who so wholly understood it. He spoke with wisdom on many things, and like Mike, talked of the importance of enjoying one’s solitude. The first person you need to know is your self. He talked of being in the womb, of being sperm racing toward the egg, of building one’s boat and sending it to sea. Prayers are answered through action he said.
After finishing his thoughts, Shadow drew a one line painting for me, signed it and went back to his discussion with the japanese tourist.