What if you pour your heart and soul into something, and no one cares?

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This guy was blasting industrial electronica out of an 80s style boom-box and dancing "the robot" in a performance that was equal parts mime and performance art.

The "Duck Tour" floating bus went buy without comment, and even the girl selling Italian Ice at the Slush King seemed more aggravated than entertained.

I felt for the guy.

I really did. It had to feel a bit like constructing an elaborate post on Steemit, something you just know is going to garner the votes and admiration of countless readers, and then discovering that the audience just isn't all that into you, after all.

It was probably worse for him. I can write my posts in the anonymity of my comfortable office. He's the one out there sweating in 90 degree heat, all too aware that the sidewalk around him suddenly has the lowest population density of any place in the city.

At least if someone laughed in his face, it would have been feedback.

That's why I don't just feel for him. I respect him. Why not? It takes courage to get out there and do something like this. It takes even more courage to keep on doing it, when nobody else thinks it's worth doing.

Let's check out that first picture again:

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What's that? On the left? A tourist with a cell phone camera? A camera that's pointed at him?

An audience of one.

Sometimes that's all it takes. It's another sentiment I'm familiar with. One thoughtful comment, one tiny vote - though in truth the comment always means a lot more than the vote. A sign that this one crazy thing might be worth doing a bit longer. That it made someone think, and react.

So let's keep trying and see what comes of it. Let's explore.

I've always felt that the best art was outsider art, stuff made by impassioned weirdos who created solely for the mad pleasures of their own vision, who made things or did things because they couldn't not make or do them. The true outsider artist will write or dance or paint even if no one reads or watches or looks at his work.

But an audience is nice too. And sometimes one other person is the best audience of all.

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