You Look Bored

Why would you paint something that is boring? Why wouldn’t you? After all, boredom is a part of all of our lives. The product of predictable yet unavoidable circumstances, it’s an emotion that most of us encounter every day, often more than once. Like any emotion, boredom has its own language. Depictions of boredom often feature clocks, drooping bodies, solitude, yawning, and distant stares. Despite their subject, the best of these paintings somehow manage to be vitally arresting. Let’s see how.