"what's up?"
Gu Weijing walked to Sakai Katsuko.
The strange thing is that Sakai Tsunamasa didn't follow his sister like a little tail this time.
He looked at his sister and Gu Weijing, and then at the black car next to him, with a strange look on his face.
"I heard about the mural. If you hadn't been so good at painting, Tsunasa might have caused you a lot of trouble today."
Sakai Katsuko bowed to Gu Weijing.
"Tsunasho, come here and apologize."
She waved to Sakai Tsunasa behind her. Although Sakai Tsunasa was a little reluctant, he still moved over step by step under his sister's stern eyes.
"Sorry, I didn't check the registration form carefully."
he said dejectedly.
"My father said that even Mr. Cao was full of praise for you today. It's such a pity... I can only look at the photos."
She looked Gu Weijing up and down, her tone filled with melancholy that she could not watch Gu Weijing prepare the paint to color the mural with her own eyes.
"Ahem."
Sakai Katsuko wanted to say something else, but was interrupted by a cough and whoosh.
"Shengzi, don't you introduce me to me, who is this stranger?"
A cold voice came from under the open glass of the Mercedes-Benz S65.
Gu Weijing's eyes fell on the car on the side, a young man who looked to be in his twenties. He had a mustache and a pair of large-lens sunglasses from the Ray-Ban & Ferrari series on his forehead.
The whole person of the youth is presented with a kind of hybrid temperament between the old samurai of the Edo period and the pilot in the "Top Gun" movie who flew the F-14.
Very artist style.
"I'm sorry, this is Mr. Gu Weijing. Mr. Gu, this is my senior Komatsu Taro, and the person in the co-pilot is my mother. They flew from Osaka to Yangon to visit us."
Mrs. Sakai in the passenger seat is a blonde beauty who looks very young and beautiful.
Gu Weijing remembered that when they first met, Shengzi once mentioned that her mother was Spanish.
"Hello, aunt, hello."
He nodded towards the car.
Mrs. Sakai had no intention of getting out of the car and meeting Gu Weijing. She just nodded slightly through the glass, which was considered a greeting.
"Are you Gu Weijing? I heard that Professor Lin Tao is very optimistic about you."
Komatsu Taro opened the door and got out of the driver's seat.
He is tall, slightly half a head taller than Gu Weijing, who is still underage.
Komatsu Taro stretched out his index finger, pushed his sunglasses up on his forehead, and squinted at Gu Weijing through the bottom of the frame.
He seemed to have some understanding of Gu Weijing, and was not the stranger he said he was.
"Komatsu-senpai is a well-known up-and-coming painter in RB. Moreover, his father is the famous oil painting master Kenta Komatsu, who is praised as [Klimt living in Osaka]."
"You are the son of the founder of Komatsu Gallery?"
Gu Weijing raised his eyebrows in surprise.
Kenta Komatsu is a very famous modern and contemporary Asian oil painter. His style of work is influenced by Pre-Raphaelite and Symbolism. He focuses on asymmetric composition and patterned shapes. He prefers the style of heavy colors and line drawing, and likes to use golden and magnificent materials. The tone and texture symbolize the underlying mysticism and enjoy an international reputation.
Even more socially influential than Kenta Komatsu as a painter is that he is also a very successful businessman.
He founded his own gallery brand [Komatsu Gallery].
They are both family galleries. The gap between Gu's calligraphy and painting shop and Komatsu Gallery is like the gap between the spicy snack shop at the campus gate and a Fortune 500 company like 7-11.
In the fourth quarter of last year, Komatsu Gallery’s annual sales for artists it signed as agents were close to 1 billion yen, making it the fifth largest gallery in Osaka and the largest gallery in Osaka.
When Taro Komatsu was still in school a few years ago, he followed his father, Mr. Komatsu, who was the chairman of the All-Japan Calligraphy and Painting Federation, to visit Professor Sakai on RB New Year's Day.
When he saw Sakai Katsuko for the first time, he was stunned for three seconds before he recovered.
As the young master of the Matsumoto family, it is not like a high-class young man like Taro Osomatsu has never seen a beautiful girl.
But at that time, in order to welcome RB's most important traditional festival of the year, the slim figure of Sakai Katsuko was wrapped in an old-style dress. In his eyes, she seemed to have both Eastern youthfulness and Western charm, as well as a quiet temperament.
Kosatsu Taro was immediately fascinated by the other party, and the happy passers-by in the tavern in the past suddenly became vulgar fans that he was not interested in.
She is like that kind of pure butterfly that appears and flies away in every man's youth. Kosatsu Taro dreams of catching this butterfly and making it his own private collection.
The upper class of RB still maintains relatively traditional marriage habits, and the legal age for marriage is 18 years old.
Many girls from well-known families get engaged very early. They become full-time wives as soon as they graduate from college or even earlier. They even get married first and then go to college.
His father Kenta Komatsu is also very supportive of his son's decision.
The marriage of a great artist like Kazunari Sakai is also very beneficial to the interests of the Komatsu family gallery, but it is much more respectable than hooking up with an actress from some TV station.
The only thing that made Komatsu Taro a little discouraged was.
After getting in touch, he discovered that Sakai Katsuko was actually a very cold person. When faced with his straightforward pursuit, her behavior was neither distant nor warm.
It seemed that Katsuko was completely immersed in her own painting world and didn't care about anything else.
Only when you talk about painting to the other person will you show interest.
This time he flew to Yangon with his "mother-in-law" Mrs. Sakai. During the few days of chatting, he was keenly aware that Shengzi frequently mentioned a local painter named Gu Weijing.
And every time she mentioned this name, her tone was full of interest, which made Komatsu Taro, who already regarded Sakai Katsuko as his personal property, a little annoyed.
"You look a bit too young. I heard that Master Lin Tao likes you very much and wants to accept you as his apprentice. Did you say when you will become a disciple?"
Xiaosong looked at Gu Weijing.
Gu Weijing felt uncomfortable being looked at by the other party, but out of politeness, he still answered.
"Professor Lin Tao just said that when I apply for college, I can consider going to Central America."
"I'm just a student."
Xiao Song shook his head disdainfully.
Students and apprentices are two different things. The former is just teaching, while the latter is the successor of the mantle. Especially in Asia, disciples have a very close relationship, like father and son in the art path. The apprentice inherits the mantle, and the master tries his best to pave the way for you.
Even for ordinary painters who have become famous, it will be very beneficial to their development if they can catch up with Professor Lin Tao.
This is why Professor Lin Tao was so shocked when he learned that Mr. Cao wanted to take Gu Weijing as his disciple.
If you are just a student,
Cao Xuan is now invited to be the dean and lifelong professor of the Department of Oriental Art at Hamburg University of the Arts. In theory, every student who applies for the Department of Oriental Art can say that he is a student of Mr. Cao.
But Mr. Cao currently has less than five true apprentices, and any one of them is a well-known artist.
"What did I think it was..."
Since the apprenticeship ceremony will not be held for the time being, Xiaosong thinks that Professor Lin Tao just casually asked Gu Weijing to take the Central American School exam.
"I don't know whether Professor Lin Tao wants to encourage young people, or because his main career is more inclined to Chinese painting, and his requirements for sketching are relatively low. Is this your pen drawing?"
He took one of the four pen drawings from the car's glove box.
After Gu Weijing and the others finished the competition, several pen drawings were taken away by the staff. I don’t know how Komatsu Taro got these works.
"Perhaps the only thing worthy of praise is the skill of using the brush, but it is only qualified. The craftsmanship is too strong and has no soul at all. It is just a little better than the unimpressive Tanaka, but far worse than Miss Sakai. I want to see Come on, being a soulless photocopier is much worse than not being able to draw well."
In front of Gu Weijing, Komatsu Taro crumpled the painting into a ball bit by bit, then tore it into pieces and threw them away.
"That is to say, Professor Lin's requirements are lenient. If it were in our home gallery, such pen and ink paintings would have no choice but to be thrown into the trash can."
He said condescendingly.
Xiaosong is not afraid of offending Professor Lin Tao. In terms of artistic status, his father and Professor Lin Tao are almost evenly matched.
But he didn't want to offend Mr. Cao's second disciple.
Their gallery is said to be No. 1 in Osaka and No. 5 in RB.
But the sales for the whole year are only one or two fine paintings by Mr. Cao, not to mention that the gallery's profit is an order of magnitude less than the sales.
Even Cao Lao's second generation descendants are almost all artists at the same level as their father.
After learning during the conversation that Lin Tao probably had no plans to accept Gu Weijing as his apprentice in a short time, Kosatsu Taro became bold and naked in his attacks on Gu Weijing.
At this time, inside the Mercedes-Benz.
"Komatsu-kun is a little rude."
Professor Kazunari Sakai, who had already gotten on the bus, happened to see the scene of tearing up the painting. He shook his head in displeasure and wanted to open the door and get out of the car.
"Once it's 10%, let the children solve their own affairs. Komatsu Taro has a sense of propriety."
Mrs. Sakai shook her head.
She looked at her husband.
"One is the son of the chairman of the All-Japan Calligraphy and Painting Federation and the heir to Komatsu Gallery. The other is a young local painter in Yangon. What do you think?"
Her tone was meaningful.
"Isn't it too early? Katsuko is only seventeen years old."
Kazunari Sakai was confused for a moment, and soon understood what his wife meant.
"It's getting late, don't tell me you can't tell what that kid Xiaosong is thinking. And at seventeen or eighteen, you should be at an age where you should understand what a good match is. Maybe that Gu Weijing does have some talent. But we all study art. Everyone should know how difficult it is to turn talent into wealth."
Mrs. Sakai may not really have to choose Komatsu as her son-in-law.
But at least, in her opinion, Kosatsu Taro is much better than Gu Weijing as Shengzi's friend.
Not to mention how much marriage with Mr. Kenta Komatsu can help my daughter improve her artistic career.
Let’s just talk about the two young people themselves.
Komatsu Taro is now a professional painter.
In his senior year of college, he successfully qualified for the Yokohama Art Triennale and won the second prize in the amateur student group. He was one of the youngest award-winners in the past ten years.
Maybe it’s because of his father’s connections, but no matter what, an oil painting by Komatsu Taro can now be sold for twenty to thirty thousand dollars.
What about Gu Weijing?
Can he sell a painting for a hundred dollars?
The gap between the two is like a seed that is still in the wilderness and a sapling that has grown.
Mrs. Sakai, like Kazunari Sakai, studied art, and she was fully aware of how low the success rate in this industry was.
Perhaps if you plant a thousand seeds, one will grow into a big tree.
Regardless of country or culture, when a woman becomes a mother, those careless thoughts in her mind will dissolve like marshmallows dropped into water.
When I was a girl, I might have been moved to tears by the fairy tale of a princess who fell in love with a poor boy.
But when it comes to her daughter, Mrs. Sakai only has Prince A, Prince B, and Prince C to consider...
This is both philistine and life.
Sakai Katsuko has also reached the age where she should understand what a good match is.
If you choose someone who is not worthy of you, especially in a social environment like RB where husband power is paramount. In the future, her husband will be unknown and achieve nothing, and Mrs. Sakai feels that her daughter will not be happy either.
Gu Weijing was very angry when he saw his painting being torn into pieces.
Maybe Taro Komatsu is right, Mr. Cao also pointed out that what he is currently doing is just copying, lacking knowledge and emotion, that is, he is too craftsmanship.
But under normal circumstances, to insult the other party by demanding the level of a professional painter... He is not a fool, and naturally he can hear the rudeness and arrogance in Xiaosong's tone.
"I don't like your tone. But I understand your lack of tutoring, so it doesn't matter and I forgive you."
Gu Weijing ignored the Sakai siblings and turned around to walk to his car.
"you--"
Kosatsu Taro was angry. In the RB painting world, even if they didn't give him face, they would give face to his father. No one dared to say that.
"You can't say anything wrong. Who is this, Katsuko." He turned around and tried to hold Sakai Katsuko's hand, but was thrown away.
"I'm speaking for you, Katsuko, don't be angry." Komatsu Taro smiled.
Sakai Katsuko didn't smile.
She said in a cold tone: "I don't need you to speak for me like this, Senior Xiaosong. You are embarrassing me by doing this. There is no doubt that Mr. Gu was much more educated than you just now."
After saying that, she ignored Kosatsu Taro and her parents calling her name and chased after Gu Weijing.
"Gu Weijing, Gu Weijing, please wait a moment."
"Ms. Sakai, do you have anything else to do?" Gu Weijing said with a cold face.
He was called over by Katsuko Sakai, and then received a bunch of insults for no reason, which made his impression of the Sakai siblings much worse.
"Xiaosong... forget it, let's not talk about this. I don't know what's wrong with him. There's no point in apologizing all the time."
Sakai Katsuko handed over the 8-karat paper in her hand.
"I'll give you a painting as compensation."
"This is?" Gu Weijing discovered that it was the pen drawing of the Shwedagon Pagoda that the other party drew the day before yesterday.
There are the signatures just left on it and the words "gift to friend Gu Weijing", as if they were written in a hurry with a pen.
"You are the first time I have met a peer who can make me feel like my opponent. Keep it as a souvenir and try to see if you can beat me. Although to be honest... I think it will be difficult."
Sakai Katsuko's tone was sincere: "At least you are still a little inferior now. Your writing power has not yet revealed your own way."
"road?"
Gu Weijing knew that this was not a common practice in RB culture.
It’s not just Mr. Cao who mentioned skills, knowledge, and emotions. His grandfather also told him a similar theory, but every time it was vague and unclear.
If you want to express something other than pure technique in painting, this should already be the domain of professional painters.
"That is the soul of painting and the foundation for establishing a sect. People like you and me will eventually have to go our own way. Gu Weijing, I hope you won't be left too far behind by me."
Sakai Shengzi blinked, turned around, waved to Gu Weijing, and walked in the direction of Mercedes-Benz.
A new panel appeared in front of Gu Weijing.
[Serial Mission: A First Look-Professional Way (1/3)]
[Current mission content: Upgrade any skill to lv.4 (professional painter)]
[Current mission reward: "Anatomy of the Human Body" by George Berryman]
[You have obtained a chain of tasks. After completing each part of the chain of tasks, you will receive corresponding rewards! 】
