The Waking Artist: The Loneliness of a Modern Artist

The Waking Artist is a darkly poetic short film by Jacob Mendel.  The film is a modern adaptation of Franz Kafka’s The Hunger Artist and follows the journey of a cinematic artist who refuses to sleep.  Mendel’s short film tells a story of the isolation and alienation of the modern artist, a condition explored earlier by Kafka in his 1922 short story.  Similar to Kafka’s work, The Waking Artist shows the irony of an artist’s asceticism and dreams for transcendence through artistic excellence, coming instead to symbolize a desolate, joy-deprived man who is incapable of feeling or showing any sense of exuberance.

The Waking Artist: The Loneliness of a Modern Artist

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