72 Yo Artist Sketches Strangers on MRT For Free As Aid To Help Him On Problems
If you happen to notice an uncle who will take out a sketchpad, pencil and eraser while taking a ride in the MRT time, perhaps you might bump into this 72 years old uncle, Mr Peter Kiew whom he will offer the artwork of his sketching on random commuter and give them for free.
This unsual hobby for him has become a strong point for him to start sketching back and even helped him through his family problems and health issue too. As Mr Kiew were studying till Primary 6, then entered the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts at 13 then completed his 3-year diploma there.
Where he will be drawing on his daily life during his journey of MRT ride from Ang Mo Kio to Jurong East in the morning then from Jurong East to Changi Airport and then head back to Ang Mo Kio. As he will sometimes bump into some people who will encourage him and even offer to pay him money for the artwork. While some will tell him not to invade their privacy and might go as far as threaten to call the police. As if those negative feedback appear, Mr Kiew will tell them that if they really dislike the drawing, he will just tear it off.
But what kept’s him going so far is this smile and happiness he manages to deliver to those people he draws. As he even mentioned that he has sketched a 3-year-old girl once and as she found out that Mr Kiew was sketching her, she shows a true happiness which just make Mr. Kiew very happy. But in the past, he has gone through a lot as he joined the advertising industry at first but struggled because he was not fluent in English, and for more than 20 years he has try his best to juggle his day job in advertising and weekend as an art teacher at a community center.
Later he left advertising and stopped teaching as he couldn’t understand those English languages, where he began an odd job as plate collector at hotel, hawker centers. But he manages to meet his daily need with the pay from his part-time job and his Central Provident Funds payouts and allowances from his 3 children, 2 sons and a daughter. In 2016, he has depression due to family problems which he seeks for medical help and to help him ease off the depression, he continued to sketch on the trains, while in 2018, he has heart problems and instead of resting he stays up to sketch the medical staff who tendered him.
As today, Mr Kiew he is not limiting himself to sketch on trains but also patrons, store owner in coffee shops and most importantly he does this from a distance so he didn’t disturb them. And Mr Kiew mentioned that Being healthy is the most important, there is no use for money.