Fame (5)
Wearing a work uniform and surrounded by art supplies, I looked around in astonishment.
The store, with its windows completely covered by stickers, is isolated from the outside view. The electrical work is done, so the inside is bright, but it feels a bit suffocating.
The ventilation is well-arranged, so even without opening doors or windows, there's no risk of suffocation from the paint fumes, making the working environment not too bad.
The problem is the dozens of cameras filming me.
Unmanned cameras with "RAI Channel 5" stickers are recording.
"What kind of broadcast is this, who watches this?"
Monica had proposed a live broadcast to me.
I was embarrassed, but I agreed readily since they said the staff wouldn't enter during the shoot because of the installed cameras.
But I thought it was like an internet broadcast, not knowing it would be broadcast nationwide in Italy.
Who would watch this? It's not a broadcast that ends in an hour or two.
It's a project that requires at least a fortnight, and is it really possible that people would sit in front of the TV for more than ten hours a day, watching the tedious process of painting?
Monica, who came up with this idea, and the broadcasting officials who approved it, clearly aren't in their right minds.
"Ha ha…"
Sitting in the middle of the store, I looked at the notebook with measurements I had taken earlier.
"Is this scene being broadcast right now?"
Before entering, the producer had told me not to worry about the cameras and just do whatever I wanted, with just one request - not to swear.
But honestly, I'm working alone; I wouldn't swear if there's no one to talk to or listen.
Monica requested differentiation for this store.
She left the details to me, just asking for a different feel from the main branch.
I rested my chin on my hand, looking at the measurements.
The store is rectangular.
When you enter through the door from the outside, the wall in front is long, and the walls on the sides are short.
The store is about 40 meters wide and 10 meters deep.
One wall is entirely glass, so I have to fill three walls. Oh, including the ceiling, that makes four paintings.
"What should I draw?"
I haven't decided yet.
What should I draw?
As I sat on the floor, pondering, a thought suddenly struck me.
"I'm doing this broadcast for a 0.8% share, is it really okay to just show me pondering without saying anything? Who would watch this, really?"
Is this how I feel because it's before I start painting?
No, even after I start, if it's the latter part of the work maybe, but in the beginning, who would understand what I'm doing? I wouldn't watch such a broadcast myself.
"Should I say something, like talking to myself?"
Suddenly, I remember a broadcast I used to watch since I was young on EBS.
An American painter, Robert Norman Ross, known as Bob Ross in Korea, and his show "The Joy of Painting."
I chuckled, recalling the image of the uncle and his famous line that crossed my mind.
"That easy."
As I lay on my bed, throwing pillows and screaming at the TV, watching the painting being completed without a sketch, and hearing him say that.
"Is it really easy? Are you kidding me!"
But that is indeed a happy memory of my childhood.
And he was a good painter who gave me such memories.
He passed away at the young age of 52. People around him, worried about business problems, hid his death, so this famous painter's funeral was attended by only about 30 people.
In the US, there are still children who don't know about his death and send letters of well-being, which is truly regrettable.
I quietly recalled the broadcast I watched as a child and glanced at the nearest camera. The camera, angled 45 degrees upwards from the bottom of the wall where I would paint my first picture.
I moved to the wall, sat down, and found an angle where the camera could capture my face well. Fortunately, the LCD screen was facing me, serving as a monitor.
With a playful look in my eyes, I held the brush and said to the camera.
"Hi, I'm Van, and for the next 2 weeks, I'll be your host, as we experience The Joy of Painting."
I couldn't help but giggle internally.
This was because I had just replicated the lines from the first episode of the show by Mr. Bob Ross when he first started broadcasting.
I was speaking English on an Italian live broadcast, but how to handle that was up to the broadcasting company. My job was to make the most interesting broadcast I could from this little room.
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