A day in the life of a modern day Renaissance man
It’s the 46th annual Richmond Hill Winter Carnival and the scenery is a perfect picture of what Canada’s all about. The ground is covered in a fresh blanket of snow. Children with red noses hold their hands out to metal drums crackling with the warmth of a fire. Skates hang over people’s shoulders as they wade through the white fluff to get to the frozen pond.
To the right of the pond a peculiar character catches everyone’s eye. He’s a walking optical illusion. He wears a coat with a pattern of black and white squares that could make you cross-eyed if you looked at it long enough and holds a black and white striped umbrella to match. But what’s more puzzling are the three boot prints he leaves in the snow.
The Three Legged Man is just one of Peter Jarvis’s many whimsical and eye-catching personas. The 55-year-old performance artist has been a regular street performer in downtown Toronto, most notably for his portrayal of a robotic, bedazzled, Silver Elvis.
Despite the cold and less desirable conditions, this is not just a job for Jarvis—it’s a performance.
“If I can get an audience to a moment of stillness for 30 seconds, that’s a big amount of time for people to focus in this chaotic society,” he says.
His day starts at 6 a.m. to prep his costumes and any makeup he needs for the event. For the winter carnival he brings his Three Legged Man costume and his infamous sequinned Silver Elvis suit.
Jarvis arrives to the event in his regular attire of black jeans and a T-shirt. You wouldn’t know he has three legs, or was once Charlie Chaplin, nonetheless the metallic reincarnation of Elvis. But this seemingly ordinary person is nothing short of a modern day Renaissance man.
He credits his artistry to being the baby in a family of eight.
“When I was five my brothers and sisters would just say, ‘Ignore him and he won’t bother you’ and that just egged me on to find other ways to get their attention,” he says with a laugh.
His desire to be noticed brought on his love for impersonations of characters from his childhood. His favourite people to imitate were Fred Astaire, the American Broadway dancer, and Charlie Chaplin, the English silent actor who he says is his greatest inspiration.
“I based my whole career on [Charlie Chaplin’s] influence,” he says. “He ran his own studio, marketed himself, directed, wrote his own music and performed. I do all of those things to survive as an artist.”
Jarvis also taught himself how to dance at a young age by watching Soul Train, a dance show from the ‘70s, which influenced his mechanical movements for Silver Elvis.
“I figured I’d learn how to do the robot by mimicking the dancers on that TV show,” he says.
Chaplin’s effect on Jarvis’s career is seen through his performance of the Three Legged Man at the carnival. He is silent most of the time, doing grand, swinging gestures with all three of his legs as people of all ages stop and gaze with curiosity.
A little boy violently flailing a balloon sword slows down, captivated by Jarvis’s movements and, of course, his third leg. Even the boy’s mother is in awe, her jaw agape.
Jarvis says illusions are his inspiration for creating a character.
“That’s my hook,” he says. “If I can create a sense of illusion, then that sets the curiosity and wonder of my audience immediately.”
Orly Dinar, 48, a friend and fan of Jarvis’s work, says his performances always draw a crowd. “I think it’s because he’s different and because of how he moves and really portrays his characters,” she says.
Being a street performer is just one chapter in Jarvis’s story. He also teaches as a guest artist at elementary and secondary schools and helps other artists jump-start their creative endeavours.
Jarvis met designer Phil Sarazen 20 years ago and helped him find a market for his unique bicycle sculptures.
One of them stands magnificently on the ice in the middle of the pond like something out of a Dr. Seuss book—a giant bicycle with drums hanging off of its rainbow-coloured, metal limbs.
Children bang on the contraption’s hanging drums as Sarazen, 65, invites a parent to give the bike a ride.
Sarazen says his relationship with Jarvis is collaborative and that he’s learned a lot from his fellow artist.
“I’ve been really interested with the whole body, movement and dance in the last couple of years and Peter was the one who got me caught up in that,” he says.
Jarvis’s day winds down with heavy lifting as Sarazen helps him move the giant bicycle contraption on to a trailer. Walking on three legs all day has Jarvis worn out, but seeing joy in people’s faces makes it worth it.
“I perform because it does change people even if it’s just for one moment,” he says. “I’m just trying to bring people back to their sense of play and their imagination, which makes them feel young again.”
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