Sneha Jaiswal (Twitter | Instagram)
Not just beauty, but even art is in the ‘eye of the beholder’, and that’s the primary theme of ‘What I See’. Honestly, this isn’t a review, but more of a short film recommendation, because what an excellent little animated film this turned out to be!
Written and directed by Sarah Lim, the film follows art student Ian Jing, whose new teacher Mrs. Hui is an ardent realist, demanding her students draw what they see, instead of coming up with modernist abstract bullshit (okay, she does not use that word). So Ian embarks on doing exactly that, but courtesy a poor eyesight, his drawing are blurry, and interpreted as surrealist, abstract work on social media, where he starts to share everything he creates.
The film is less than six minutes long, and in that short duration, Sarah Lim captures the fickle world of art, ‘critics’, social media hype, and varied public perceptions. Ian only draws what he sees, but his online followers offer hundreds of different interpretations of his work. In an ironic twist, when his vision gets ‘fixed’, people claim his new art has lost its original vision. The end message is all about creating ‘art for art’s sake’.
The animation for ‘What I See’ is simple, fluid, and just watch it if you’re looking for a quick break, okay?
‘What I See’ is on YouTube, it’s also embedded below.