In the eyes of outsiders, being a painter is an enviable profession, with a colorful life, free time, and access to all kinds of high-end places. A single painting can easily cost tens, hundreds of thousands, or even millions. Tens of millions, and the social status is also very high.
However, behind this glamor lies an unknown sadness. Except for a few famous painters, the current life of most professional painters is to wander around, living a precarious life, and sometimes even making ends meet becomes a problem. question.
Today's art market is becoming more and more market-oriented. Painters who only immerse themselves in painting have no future. If they don't know how to package and promote their works, they can only be ignored by everyone.
The vast majority of painters with dreams have to rely on others to support them. Family, financial sponsors, galleries, etc. are all their indispensable support before they become famous.
Before going to Moi Gallery, Li Jie also investigated Lu Fumeng and his current girlfriend Tang Yun.
Li Jie is not the "Yu Huanshui" who is not interested in art at all in the original work. He does not distinguish between calligraphy and painting. In his long life, although he did not invest much energy in painting, he was better than most contemporary painters.
Although he studied more Chinese painting and didn't dabble much in oil painting, he could still tell the quality of a painting from bad.
In the original work, Lu Fumeng stretched out his hand and straightened a painting casually, saying that if someone spent hundreds of thousands to buy it, they were trying to deceive "Yu Huanshui" who didn't know how to do it.
It's not that simple for a young painter to sell a painting for hundreds of thousands.
Are Tang Yun's paintings good?
From Li Jie's point of view, it's barely okay, and definitely not worth hundreds of thousands.
Of course, it is not difficult to reach the level of hundreds of thousands. It can be done through commercial hype. The general operation is to find a well-known painter and sign an agreement with the other party, requiring him to provide a number of paintings every year. The purchase price is not less than several hundred thousand. wait.
Then, these paintings will go to auction, with prices ranging from hundreds of thousands to millions. This price is obviously exaggerated, but the artist does not need to worry about no one buying it.
Because the sponsor behind it will arrange for his own people to buy it. If he comes a few times, the price will go up.
Self-directed and self-acted, left-handed and right-handed, the investor only lost the auction fee, but the price of the painting has gone up, and it will be difficult to lower it.
After that, people spend money to speculate on fame. As long as the market initially recognizes it, some people spend millions to buy paintings worth hundreds of thousands. No matter how you calculate it, the sponsor will make a profit.
Tang Yun took this route, otherwise how could Lu Fumeng, who knew nothing about the art market, catch up with her?
There is a coexistence of emotions and interests between them. Tang Yun graduated from the Central Academy of Fine Arts and is a full-time painter. Her family has a small amount of assets. There is no problem in supporting her to concentrate on her creation, but it is a bit beyond her ability to package and hype her work.
This situation began to change after Lu Fumeng met Tang Yun. Although Lu Fumeng didn't understand art, he understood operations.
When the original owners, Dazhuang and Lu Fumeng started their business, he was basically in charge of the operation.
Lu Fumeng is a marketing master who knows everything. Hype and packaging are his specialties. What he is best at is spending small money to achieve big things.
Otherwise, with his financial resources, he would not be able to participate in the art world. Even though Lu Fumeng drives a luxury car and lives in a high-end community, in fact, all of this is just superficial, and he only has tens of thousands of dollars left in his card balance.
In order to package Tang Yun in the past two years, Lu Fumeng invested almost all his savings and maxed out several credit cards. Not only that, he also borrowed a lot of foreign debt.
The reason why the other party did not repay the 130,000 yuan that he borrowed from the original owner was indeed because Lu Fumeng resented the original owner, but more importantly, it was because he had no money to pay back now.
After working hard for so long and spending so much money, this art exhibition is the moment when the fruits are harvested. Lu Fumeng is waiting for this art exhibition to recover his investment.
Therefore, the art exhibition is undoubtedly the most important thing for him in the past two years.
Li Jie also saw this opportunity and went to Lu Fumeng to ask for money. He would not be dismissed by the other party with just a few words like the original owner.
To hit a snake, you have to hit it seven inches.
The painting exhibition is full of Lu Fumeng's clients. Does he dare to make a big deal out of it?
He doesn't dare!
Lu Fumeng acted like he was not short of money in front of them.
If a customer on site knows about this, how can a person who can't even afford to pay back hundreds of thousands of dollars make others believe in your identity?
Isn't it time to beat the odds?
Not only could the customers on the scene not know, but even Tang Yun, Lu Fumeng did not dare to let her know.
Tang Yun always thought that the money belonged to Lu Fumeng, and Lu Fumeng never told her about the money he owed.
Moi Gallery is located in the most prestigious Galaxy Mall in the area. It is quite famous in the local area. Many painters' touring exhibitions are held here. Li Jie came to the mall and found the gallery without much effort following the road signs.
Since the art exhibition has not officially opened yet, the entrance to the gallery seems a little deserted, but there are display racks and posters and other promotional materials at the entrance.
'The emerging young painter——Tang Yun! '
'The first stop of the beautiful painter's tour exhibition is Hua Luo Qing Shi! '
'Recommended by oil painting master Ma Guoqiang! '
'The first female painter born in the 1980s! '
The various headlines and subtitles are dazzling, and those who don’t understand may be fooled.
'Tsk, tsk, Lu Fumeng, I have to say, he is very capable. '
After taking a casual look, Li Jie slowly walked into the gallery. The aisles were filled with various honors Tang Yun had received and printed information about some of her award-winning works.
In the gallery, Lu Fu Mengzheng and Tang Yun were holding hands and introducing something to an old man. Their faces were full of smiles and they were wearing custom-made suits. At first glance, they seemed to have the temperament of a successful person.
"Mr. Ma, look, this work is the one that was evaluated previously."
The old man smiled and nodded: "Yes, I was deeply impressed by this painting at the beginning."
Lu Fumeng was about to compliment the old man a few words, when he suddenly saw Li Jie out of the corner of his eye.
The other party came to the door without even saying hello, and at such a critical moment, Lu Fumeng suddenly felt an unpleasant emotion in his heart.
'You're not here to ask for money, are you? '
'Probably not? '
'He's not like that. '
Lu Fumeng's thoughts were racing in his mind, and various speculations came to mind for a while, but none of this was important. What was important was to send the other party away quickly.
Upon thinking of this, Lu Fumeng smiled apologetically at the old man, and then pointed at Li Jie.
"Sorry, Mr. Ma, an old classmate of mine is here. Please excuse me for a moment."
Then he told Tang Yun beside him: "Tang Yun, you chat with Mr. Ma for a while, I will come over later."
After saying hello, Lu Fumeng turned around and walked in the direction where Li Jie came from.
"What are you doing here?"
Li Jie looked at Lu Fumeng, who had a gloomy look on his face, and smiled: "It's nothing, come here to support me, and enjoy it by the way."
