For my project about my hero I met in Union Square, I met a man named Saravuth Inn who is a chess player for a living. I decided to paint a portrait because I wanted to practice my painting skills. I used gouache and acrylic paint. I wanted to represent Saravuths life and story, using a checkered background to represent his chess playing ability and life, jungle like trees to show his time in Cambodia when he was an orphan at 13 and had to sleep in the jungle at night. I also showed horns on Saravuth to represent a kouprey which is Cambodia’s national animal. I added a guitar, as he is a musician and gives his cds to people who beat him at chess. I also wanted to show his intelligent side, not only with the chess board but with his position hand on his knees in a scholarly fashion. I decided to make him barefoot to show his financial struggles and being homeless in NYC, complete with a “I heart NYC” shirt to show irony in a sense.
“Viewing Saravuth from a far, you may come about the bias that people in his circumstances have little to no education, especially higher education. Underneath his tireless working facade, there is not only a college graduate but a virtuoso.” (excerpt from my essay)
