FeedMeCoolShit.com » Howie Tsui

Howie Tsui

Last week we caught up with the brilliant Howie Tsui to chew the fat over Nazcar, truck driving and if he could moonwalk or not! Also we slipped some questions in about his art! So with out further delay we present to you the lovable Mr Howie Tsui.

FMCS: Hi Howie how’s things?

Howie: Things are pretty good. It’s Friday which means liver and lung abuse awaits, but there’s also some sort of ice blizzard outside which might alter tonight’s festivities from drool dancing at a rock show to some more low-key Mah Jong action.

FMCS: How is your hair today is it performing well?

Howie: There’s a bedhead flap on one side that I can’t keep down. Now everyone is gonna stair at my brains.

FMCS: Please tell us a little bit about how you were put together, if there are any parts missing, your past lives and how you came to be where you currently are today!

Howie: I am the progeny of a 70’s era playboy accountant turned factory worker and a workaholic restaurateur turned suburban socialite. I was born in Hong Kong and as a neonatal slug, I watched ladies shower. Between the ages of 1 – 6 I lived in Lagos, Nigeria, where I threw crystal goblets at my sister and tried to mack on this young pasty British lass.

At 7, my family moved to a blue-collar town in Northern Ontario called Thunder Bay. There I learned how to be Canadian: street hockey, heavy metal, throwing icicles at busses from church roofs, and throwing crab apples at the reverend (accident). I went to art school in Waterloo where we’d host wild house parties and I’d end up pouring sesame oil and garlic powder onto topless people from atop the stove. After school, I followed my lady friend to Ottawa because she was offered a job.

I still live in Ottawa now, working part-time at an art gallery, painting and illustrating from home and playing in a band called the Acorn (www.myspace.com/theacorn).

FMCS: The Nascar 2006 is due to start soon!? And power and speed are of up most importance in winning races! But you find that your very economical Smart car, although cute to look at isn’t up to par to win the race. How would you best improve performance? Answer A, B or C to one of the following…

A: DVD screens in the headrests, playboy models in the back seat. Lowered suspension UV lights underneath?
B: Make use of a huge catapult to give you a speedy start?
C: Stick big bananas in the other driver’s exhausts?

Howie: C like Axl Foley.

FMCS: Where are you currently living? And do you work out of the same location?

Howie: I live in a building above a Middle Eastern bakery and a sushi roll distributor here in Ottawa - the sleepy capital of Canada. For a city, there are some convenient outdoor amenities close by like lakes to swim in and canals to skate on, but it’s also a government type town so it’s a wee short on charisma, excitement and places/people to have fun.

My studio is in my apartment, so some days, I wear my pyjamas until dinner when I have to change clothes due to wok splatters.

FMCS: What/ who / thing kicked off your interest in art?

Howie: I think I was into art ever since I was in me pappy’s balls. As a kid, I drew all the time as a way to lose myself in a fantastical world that I could control. It was also a way for me to create physical representations of what I was imagining.

FMCS: Are you exhibiting at the moment? Where can we see you? Also do you plan to exhibit more internationally?

Howie: I did a piece for the Beautiful/Decay’s current “I see beauty…” issue. Also, exhibiting in a couple group shows at Gallery 1988 in LA. One of which is a video game-based exhibit entitled I Am 8-Bit, and the other is a drawing show called Paper Pushers.

Aside from that, I’m having my first solo show at Gallery101 here in Ottawa in the fall, which marks my first big solo show in a public art institution.

I’d love to exhibit more frequently to international audiences, but I’m sort of lazy with sending out submission packages to folks and bugging fancy people in general.

FMCS: Howie tell us what pushes your buttons?

Howie: Food and ass.

FMCS: How do you find people respond to your work? What’s been the strangest, funniest criticism you have received?

Howie: It seems like my work is well received. I’ve heard pleasant comments like, “I can spot your work from anywhere” and Canada’s arts funding bodies have been really supportive. Unfortunately, I’ve been kinda working in an insular bubble, which really makes me miss my art school friends.

I really could use a crit squad. All I’ve got now is a faceless “e-hater” called lolalola that calls me a biter of styles.

FMCS: Big bottoms! Medium sized bottoms! Or small and petite! On a goat which do you prefer?

Howie: I’m just a little guy but I’m rocking the big bottoms. My teen years spent playing point guard has paid off big time. I’m dribbling with 2 balls, cupping and cradling that shit and dropping the Killer Crossover and the Pill.