Jason Polan, NYC Illustrator Who Sought To Draw Every New Yorker, Has Died At 37

Jason Polan, a prolific illustrator and unique sketch artist who sought to draw every person in NYC, died on Monday in New York. He was 37.

According to a family friend, he had been diagnosed with colon cancer last summer.

Jen Bekman, a close friend who runs the Jen Bekman Gallery and collaborated with him on projects and showings, told Gothamist he had a huge impact on everyone he met: "He was the most big-hearted and kind person. Just so sincere, and not at all corny," she said. "So many people had stories about how deeply affected they were by interactions with him. I feel like I look at the world differently because of him."

Over a decade ago, Polan started his ambitious signature project Every Person In New York—he sought to draw everyone in NYC, "in subway stations and museums and restaurants and on street corners." He noted in his announcement of the project, "I will be drawing people everyday and posting as frequently as I can. It is possible that I will draw you without you knowing it."

These drawings came mostly in the form of quick on-the-go sketches which Polan would then upload to his website or on Instagram (he also had people sit for him in short spans as well). In 2015, he published a collection of thousands of these drawings in Every Person in New York, Volume 1. In the intro of that book, he wrote about the magic of trying to capture a city in perpetual motion: “If they move or get up from a pose, I cannot cheat at all by filling in a leg that had been folded or an arm pointing. This is why some of the people in the drawings might have an extra arm or leg — it had moved while I was drawing them. I think, hope, this makes the drawings better.”

"I think he made a lot of people look more closely at their surroundings, at the city, at art. He had such a keen eye," Bekman said. She added that he was someone "everyone felt like they knew" because he was out and about in the city all the time, but he was also private and humble. "I really do think a lot of people could talk about knowing the city through him."

In addition to the Every Person In New York project, Polan also created the Taco Bell Drawing Club, a group of artists who would meet at a Taco Bell location near Union Square and draw something. The New Yorker wrote about it last year.

"I draw people every day, and usually no one will notice me," he told WNYC in 2010. "I don't think there's a day I don't draw something. I could get hit by a bus tomorrow, and the project will be not very complete, but as long as I'm living and I can draw, I'll be thinking about this project." The Times noted that he had drawn more than 30,000 people.

You can see more tributes from friends, collaborators and admirers, including the Safdie Brothers, below.