An artist's deep longing for admiration
A scene from the US comedy TV show - The office
A young Pam Beesly is struck in a dead-end receptionist job and lives a lonely, lacklustre life.
But deep down she loves painting. She paints simple day to day objects using watercolors.
She has finally got a chance to display a handful of her paintings in a local art exhibition in the small town she lives in.
But no visitors come to her display. They enjoy the other more flashy, prominent artworks on display compared to her simple paintings of mundane things.
At work, she has an amateur, attention-seeking boss called Michael. She can barely tolerate him on most days.
Now suddenly, she sees Michael in the exhibition, walking towards her enthusiastically:
As you watch this unexpectedly thought provoking 2-min video, just follow Pam’s eyes.
What her eyes reveal after what listening to Michael is a feeling which every artist knows so deeply well.
This is a very powerful scene. In just two minutes it tells you two truths about art:
Every person who loves doing art, including the most amateur ones, deep down is hungry for praise for his artworks. When the praise is genuine it feels just great. You feel warm and loved, even if the praise may be coming from a person you don’t like
The reasons as to why someone likes a work of art hugely vary. A person can absolutely love a piece of art, irrespective of its quality and finesse, if that work depicts something close to him (like the car in Michael’s case)
Thank you!