I've noticed him before at this same exact spot in Grand Central Terminal. Not sure if he was just posing there as a performance artist but yesterday afternoon, I had a chance to speak with him after doing a sketch of him. I approached him and kindly asked for his name while showing him my sketch.
"Interesting", he said. Then he spelled out his full name to me. Louis Mendes.
"Do you come here all the time?", I asked.
"Yes, I come here to make some money. Do you have some money? I take photographs. Polaroid photographs. Do you want me to take a picture of you?".
I declined the offer. Instead, I decided to give him a small tip for being my subject.
Then he asked, "How old do you think you are looking through your eyes?". I wasn't prepared to answer so I threw the question back to him. "Me?, I think I'm 35. You see I'm 83".
We engaged further in a conversation that lasted about 10 minutes before we parted ways. I walked away feeling happy knowing that every sketch I make has a story behind it. Then I googled his name and a Wiki entry came up. What a very interesting person Louis is!
How great that you got to talk to him and sketch him! I rarely interact with the people I sketch. Maybe I should more often.
ReplyDeleteThanks for looking, Joan. We had such an interesting conversation that I didn't expect. I guess it's true that you won't know until you try to talk to someone.
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