"How to say?"
"That guy painted a piece of work, which I thought was quite interesting."
Uncle Sakai became interested. His wife has always been very picky. It is not easy to get her to talk about interesting paintings.
"Look at our daughter's Instagram."
Uncle Sakai opened INS and logged into his trumpet.
The official INS and Twitter accounts of his [Sakai Kazunari Studio] are currently operated by Ota Art Gallery.
High-end artists are often two extremes.
Otherwise, there are social horror types who completely stay away from social media and leave their accounts to agents. There are even many like Wehrlein who do not use modern network equipment at all.
Otherwise, they are social experts who are extremely keen on self-media marketing and want to post more than a dozen tweets and various life photos a day.
Uncle Sakai found it troublesome, so the broker managed everything.
Datian Art Gallery has a team that specializes in Internet marketing for Uncle Sakai, responding to some fan messages and so on.
Another significant benefit of having a dedicated person responsible is that,
Artists are not like the actor who plays Captain America, who suddenly had a brain convulsion and updated his nude photos, bed photos or embarrassing private photos with a trembling hand, only to wake up and find that the whole world was talking about his big baby. .
It can also prevent fans from discovering that the artist makes random comments and likes on some sensitive topics that may involve political correctness.
These may sound inconspicuous, but they are all lessons learned from the blood of our predecessors.
"This boy."
Uncle Sakai snorted with a slightly complicated mood when he saw the text note written by his daughter Katsuko [My Lover].
He liked Gu Weijing, but he was still a little jealous of his daughter's bold show of love.
soon,
His expression became solemn.
"Today's young people are becoming more and more ambitious." Uncle Sakai licked his lips, "They are rushing to be the next Wu Guanzhong."
"Mr. Wu Guanzhong?"
When he heard this name, Hanks, who was originally a little frustrated, stretched his neck suddenly and quietly pricked up his ears like a seal taking a nap on the ice and suddenly smelling the fishy smell of salmon.
Professor Sakai and his wife mainly spoke in Japanese.
Hanks' Japanese vocabulary is limited to simple words such as ordering food in a restaurant, and he can't understand the other party's conversation.
But he still keenly captured the syllables of the name that sounded like "Wu Guanzhong".
"Professor Sakai, what are you talking about?"
Hanks blinked twice.
Not counting those antiques and famous paintings that have been exiled overseas, let’s just talk about modern Chinese paintings.
In the international art market, works by famous artists such as Zhang Daqian and Huang Binhong can also be sold at very high prices, but more of them are bought by overseas Chinese and ethnic Chinese circles.
On world influence,
Perhaps the pure traditional Chinese painting master most sought after by international friends in the art market is Qi Baishi. Mainly because Mr. Qi’s fans are very awesome.
Picasso has always loved Qi Baishi's works.
It is said that Picasso's classmate once said - "Oriental painters don't have to come to Paris to seek a teacher, just go to Qi Baishi. That is a masterpiece that I will never be able to paint."
This sentence can be called the most powerful statement of the century. From then on, almost no critics will question the level of Shiraishi.
Even if you don’t understand Chinese painting well and don’t have the cultural literacy to appreciate oriental art, collectors must believe in Picasso’s vision, so Qi Baishi’s paintings are also highly sought after.
Mr. Cao Xuan's works are the last living master of traditional Chinese painting of his generation, and the transaction prices have gradually tended to rise from behind.
In terms of transaction price, he has one foot on the threshold of the world's top painters.
The market predicts that after a hundred years, the old man's works may truly enter the super-class field.
But trends are just trends.
There is no fixed number in the art market. Only time can tell whether it will be famous for a while or for fifty years, a hundred years, or even centuries.
In terms of price,
Wu Guanzhong's paintings are half a grade lower than those of Mr. Cao, but much higher than those of Mr. Cao's second-generation disciples such as Lin Tao and Tang Ning. Several of his works have been sold for hundreds of millions of dollars in Dongxia Xiangjiang.
And what’s even more difficult is,
His painting style was first sought after in the French market, setting off a craze among collectors in this traditional heart of European art, and then he returned to Eastern Xia.
International practice, in order to give collectors an intuitive impression, foreign art critics like to give great yellow painters nicknames such as "Oriental + famous European artists" to call this painter.
For example, Uncle Sakai was once called the Ingres of the East, Taro Komatsu's father Kenta Komatsu was called the Klimt of the East, and Wu Guanzhong has always been called the Van Gogh of the East.
The style of oil painting is ethereal and the colors are magnificent.
If it weren't for the fact that the road to fusion painting styles was so bumpy and difficult, there were too few successors, and there were no successors of sufficient weight and a unified artistic school, it would almost be possible to establish a sect.
To establish a sect...the highest pursuit and dream of many artists and galleries.
As long as the painting industry exists, your name will be immortal.
If Hanks was just flattering in front of Uncle Sakai, then any hunter agent would have no choice but to pounce in front of a master who is expected to establish a sect.
Even though the master has passed away for more than ten years.
When Hanks spoke, he still respectfully added the honorific title MASTER before the surname of this great artist who had received the highest honor in the art world awarded by the French government, the French Order of the Legion of Arts and Letters.
This is used to praise the other person's works, which are like a mysterious alchemy master's ability to blend the yin and yang of Eastern and Western art styles.
Uncle Sakai glanced at Hanks but said nothing.
That's all he said.
The photo posted by Shengzi is just a base map. This painting can only be said to be designed in a painting style similar to Wu Guanzhong's works.
In terms of final effect, it is far from worthy of being compared with that kind of top artist.
It's like the gap between a junior karting champion and an F1 world champion.
The issue is,
This rate of progress is terrifying.
Every time Kazunari Sakai felt that he had taken a high look at this kid, but next time Gu Weijing would give him an unexpected surprise.
A master starts from humble beginnings, and Schumacher also came from a karting champion.
My wife is absolutely right. At Gu Weijing's age, his ability to control the style of writing is really surprising.
"Today's young people are so awesome that they are annoying!"
How old is the other party?
It is still just the prototype of the path to master.
What about five years from now, ten years from now?
From the perspective of artists competing with each other, Uncle Sakai even feels a sense of crisis when a new generation replaces the old.
There are only so many cakes that can be distributed in total, if your works are not meaningful enough.
The emergence of a new generation of supernovas means a reshuffle of the art market. There will always be old artists who become outdated and abandoned by collectors.
At his current age, Uncle Sakai can still be considered a Mesozoic artist.
He felt that he could still swim in the ocean of this market for more than ten or twenty years, and he didn't want to be slapped to death on the beach by a young man so soon.
He then thought about the two most talented young people he had ever seen, one was his daughter, and the other was his daughter's sweetheart.
Rounding it all off, the kids’ awesomeness is equal to their own awesomeness.
Uncle Sakai became happy again.
"This painting already has an obvious personal style. It's quite good and the future is formidable." Uncle Sakai put the receiver of the phone to his ear again and continued to flatter his wife: "Our daughter's taste is indeed good, Katsuko. She has 70% of her mother’s skill back then.”
"Humph, shameless. You didn't have such achievements when you were a student." Mrs. Sakai joked, but she was still in a happy mood.
"I think our Shengzi really likes him. In this case, this kid is lucky. I think so, we need noble people on the road of art. If you have time, give Gu Weijing some advice and help him. , just help him." Mrs. Sakai ordered.
"What kind of ecstasy did that kid give you to make you willing to help him like this?"
Uncle Sakai was a little surprised by his wife's change in attitude.
"The little bastard deserves it too?"
Mrs. Sakai "cut" it lightly, and said helplessly: "It's not for our girl."
"The more you help him, the more he will coax and pamper our daughter. The more important Shengzi's position will be in Gu Weijing's heart."
That's how feelings are.
The more the family gives and gives after the death of both parties, the more rights and confidence they will have to do whatever they want. Those who live on soft rice have no capital to betray.
On the contrary, seeing her daughter and each other falling in love with each other, the mother-in-law was still unhappy with her son-in-law, and made all kinds of mistakes to make her look angry. In the end, it was her daughter who was hurt.
Mrs. Sakai never treated the students in school with disdain because their social status did not even interest her in perfunctory matters.
When it comes to art, the gap between our social status may be greater than that between humans and dogs.
But she realized that her daughter might have fallen in love with Gu Weijing.
Even if Mrs. Sakai felt that the other party was displeasing to her, she never really said anything bad to him. Instead, she held her scalp, patiently, and made a serious agreement with the other party.
"Our daughter is too soft-tempered. That little bastard must know that Shengzi's love is a blessing he has cultivated over several lifetimes. As long as he can make Shengzi happy, I am willing to give him a ladder to success."
Shengzi is not a naughty daughter who likes to show off.
But Mrs. Sakai didn’t mind showing the little Yangon native how precious it was to have a lover like Katsuko.
"What do you think?"
"I have no problem here. It's just... I have Lin Tao as my teacher, and the ladder to success is already halfway up. There's no need for me to interfere."
Uncle Sakai smiled.
He thought that oil painting was better than Lin Tao's, but Professor Lin Tao was already very good at teaching children at Gu Weijing's level, and there would be no qualitative difference if he taught him.
"For an artist as big as you, you can always do something. How about I contact him for scholarships from several international art foundations?" Mrs. Sakai suggested.
"Sponsoring scholarships, well, it's only seven or eight thousand US dollars a year at most, plus reimbursement of air tickets and so on. It doesn't mean much... And many scholarships from this kind of foundation have additional requirements, and there are many tricks. They say it's a scholarship. Do it. If it’s not good, we still have to take a commission from the money he makes from selling the paintings in the future, which is unnecessary.”
Uncle Sakai shook his head: "Since we want to provide help in times of need, we should give a big one."
"Well, speaking of that. I have an idea, and someone happened to come up with me recently..."
He suddenly turned his head and looked at Hanks to the side, squinting his eyes as if a shark had seen a stupid seal poking its head around the ice looking for food.
Hanks, who was trying hard to eavesdrop on Uncle Sakai's conversation, felt the hair on his neck became inexplicably tight.
He turned his head and saw Professor Sakai, who had put down the phone, smiling at him.
Hanks was panicked by the laughter and quickly smiled back.
"Professor, think about it. For US$50 million, it would be difficult to find a more sincere offer than ours." Hanks thought that Uncle Sakai was a little moved.
"No, no, no."
Sakai Kazunari shook his fat fingers like carrot sticks and said softly: "With all due respect, if it was Gagosian or Leeson who gave me this contract, it would be called sincerity. But the attractiveness of Ma Shi Gallery is much smaller. .”
"In fact, I don't mind telling you that Gagosian is also talking to me. They are willing to cooperate with me on a consignment model, and the sales will be split 50-50 with me. OFA's renewal offer for me is also four years, almost 48 million US dollars, if the difference is only two million US dollars, why don’t I continue to cooperate with my old club?”
The smile on Hanks' face was a little forced.
He knew Professor Sakai was telling the truth.
OFA is no worse than M&A, and Gagosian is the industry leader.
50-50 split, with Gagosian's channels, the total amount of Uncle Sakai's works may not exceed US$100 million in the next few years, or even more, but the return on consignment will be slower.
“I believe it’s not just about money that makes you want to change galleries.”
Hanks hesitated for a moment before saying: "At Ota Art Gallery, as long as Yayoi Kusama is still alive, you will never be the featured artist, and Larry Gagosian may not be willing to make you the next Damien Herr." ster, but with us at Mas Gallery, everything is possible.”
It is impossible for Ota Art Gallery to give up its efforts to promote Yayoi Kusama, who is still creating art, for the sake of Professor Sakai.
Gagosian is even more famous. There are at least five or six painters who are on the same level as Sakai Kazunari. Uncle Sakai is just an ordinary one among them.
"I admit that I had such concerns about changing galleries. No offense, but does Mashi Gallery have the confidence to market me as the next Kusama-senpai?"
Uncle Sakai asked back: "It's useless to talk verbally. How many artists do you have, more than 190, how many of them are successful?"
This sentence touched a sore point for Hanks.
Mashi Gallery currently has a total of 193 represented artists around the world, the oldest is 81 years old, and the youngest is 23 years old. This number is already a lot in the gallery business, and it ranks first among first-tier galleries.
This is actually not a glorious ranking.
The art industry is one of the industries with the most serious Matthew effect. A high-level artist is better than a basket full of rotten fish and shrimps.
Tigers walk alone, cattle and sheep flock together.
Rich people are not stupid. Oil tycoons and Arab princes can spend hundreds of millions of pounds to pay for works signed with Hirst's name without frowning. For unknown little painters, they are not willing to pay a hundred dollars.
Really awesome boutique galleries can easily sell hundreds of millions of dollars of paintings a year, but they only have a few painters.
The kings of the gallery world, including super galleries such as Gagosian, Hauser & Wirth, and PACE, each have only a few dozen contracted artists on average.
Gagosian is the largest and has the most employees. It has represented a total of 122 painters in history, but it only promoted about a dozen painters during the same period.
If you pick two of these dozen painters at random and add up their net worth, you can kill all the more than 100 painters in Ma Shi Gallery in an instant.
The total sales of Ma Shi Gallery last year were only about 40 million US dollars.
"Instead of wanting to sign me, I recommend you to change your goal. Turning an unknown person into a master is more proof of M&A's ability than raising a master's worth by one or two million dollars, isn't it? "
When Uncle Sakai saw that Hanks was silent, he smiled slightly and pushed the screen in his hand.
(End of chapter)
