| Migrate 11 | |
August 29, 2016
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| He was a painter. He painted people's portraits. He got customers from various countries. He connected with his customers using a Skype-type function. The picture of the video was precise and he could paint their portraits as if he was in the same room with them. He liked talking to his models while drawing. They ranged from young to old, men and women, their races and backgrounds were varied. It took about two hours or so to draw, so he would engage in a light conversation in order to make the model relaxed. As time went by, they became talkative and talked about his/her country as well as his/her self. He was not a famous painter. He studied hard in art college and practiced hard, but his paintings didn't attract art dealers, so his life was difficult until one day. One day he came up with the idea to gather customers from other cities. Before he had gone to the downtown areas and asked pedestrians if they wanted their portraits drawn, but most declined because they
When he drew, he chose the expression that he thought was the most beautiful for the model. For him, 'beautiful' didn't mean 'pretty' or 'handsome', it meant that the person was most natural or in their most ideal expression. While the model was talking, they would change their expression according to the contents of their conversation, and he would carefully look at them. Their stories varied. They would think that he was just a stranger and wouldn't meet ever again so many of them would talk about their personal issues or problems. Listening to their stories, he was amazed to understand how similar people are. Although their lifestyle and their religion would vary, but when they talked about their family, friends, neighbors, and/or society, they were somehow very similar. They loved people, they wanted to love people. On this day, he was painting an old woman. She lived in another hemisphere. She talked how her place was pretty. She showed a picture around her house. It was in the countryside and was very beautiful. She said that she liked the county life and gardening. She liked to bake cookies and liked to visit her friends with cookies. She talked about her son and daughter and their children. She said her husband passed away a couple of months ago. It was so sudden and after that she felt depressed. Recently she thought she should become more active. She asked, "By the way, if I asked you to draw me younger, would you accept?" The painter laughed, "I usually draw elderly people a little bit younger than their appearance because I see their young inner mind. Although natural is best, I think." "You are a kind man." She smiled. He finished and showed it to her, saying that if she didn't like it he would change as she would like it. When she looked at it, her face brightened. "I like this! I like this very much. As you said, this me is somehow natural." "But …" she said, "It's strange. I had many pictures of my own, but this is different." The painter said, "You had various expressions. I chose the one I thought was the most yourself. As I was talking with you while painting, I tried to reflect your mind in the painting." He remembered that one time he drew a young man who said he was a killer. He said that he was escaping from the police, and that he didn't need a real painting but rather only a picture of the painting, and to please send the digital file of the painting. While he was painting, the man said various things: about his childhood, about the reason he entered the crime world, and why he killed a person. He looked nervous and tired, his face was gloomy. When the painter finished and showed the picture to the young man. He looked shocked and said nothing for a while. Then, his face brightened. He shouted, "Is this me? Is this me?!" He was looking at it for a long time nodding. The painter didn't miss the kid's emotions when the young man gave an innocent and gentle expression when he talked about his childhood's enjoyable experiences. The painter knew that recently some software drew paintings and it had a good reputation. He wondered if computers could find people's inner voices and reflect it in the paintings. (END) |
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*engage in :参加する、加わる
*in order to :〜するために
*attract :引き付ける
*according to :〜によって
*vary :様々
*of one's own :自身の
*hemisphere :半球
*reputation :評判