The thin line between creative space and hoarding
“The room.” That’s what Sherwin Tjia, 36, calls his loft on St. Laurent Blvd. But until recently there was very little room in it – because it’s packed with, well, stuff. “It grew organically out of my life,” says Tjia, who – as a painter, illustrator, organizer of weird events like the Strip Spelling Bee, and writer (he’s published six books) – tends to keep himself busy with activities other than cleaning. “But, like barnacles grown on the bottom of the boat, at some point you’ve got to scrape them all off.” How different does your “room” look now, compared to a couple of months ago?
I had a lot more books and they were piled out onto the floor so that I had to walk around them, or over them, and they created a little path. Half this floor space was unusable, and that table was unusable, it was piled with stuff. Beside my bed, there were piled-up books all the way down along the slats, I mean it was ridiculous. How did you feel living in that space? Did it drive you crazy?
I justified it. I’m a busy man, right? I get a lot done. I organize events and write books and hold down a job at Mcgill, and so it seemed like it was justified, like I’m a busy man so my place can be busy. But it’s hard to get work done when your place is a mess. And so like, that drawing table had all these things on it that had nothing to do with drawing, it was just a storage space. Now that the table is clear again I feel like I can start working on it. Like cleaning your head. What prompted you to clean up?
It was starting to become a problem (laughs). I’d get up out of bed and knock stuff over unintentionally. We (Tjia’s union) were on strike, so consequently I had more time on my hands. So I started every day just doing a tiny bit, because it was overwhelming. How much time did you physically devote to the task?
Probably three hours every day. It was pretty serious. Would you say you’re a hoarder?
When you’re a creative person, hoarding is quite useful because you have everything you need right there. So I feel like I’m on the razor’s edge. What kind of things do you work on, here?
I make a lot of things. I sit at my computer and I write, a lot. And I prepare for events. Like, I organize an event that is a slow dance night, and one of the features is that we have dance cards and they have all the songs laid out for the evening so that you can book a certain dance, with the special song for that special someone, if you want. And so the dance
cards get made at that table, or on the floor. And I read a lot. And I have a lot of books. Why have you stayed here for 10 years?
The rent was unreasonably low. Also I think St. Laurent has a good energy. Also this building is full of nice people. This building in the ’80s was like a bohemian squat, and all the artists here were young and idealistic and couldn’t afford much, and so they all bought this building. They figured out, let’s create a co-op, and we all live here and make our art here, and they’ve just kind of grown up and renovated. Like I met this guy who is a photographer and in the ’80s he used to just take like street photos of his friends, now he takes shots of buildings that look really sexy and his portfolio is full of dudes in suits. Now that your place is tidy, how do you feel when you walk in the door?
Oh, it’s quite lovely (laughs). Like there’s this cat I know, in the summertime it gets so hot it needs a hair cut, so I feel like it’s like a cat who just got a hair cut. A summer hair cut, so that it’s trim and svelte, that’s how the room feels.