Gu Weijing was stunned for a moment when he saw this certificate.
He didn't expect that
He actually joined Yangon's Painting and Calligraphy Association.
"From now on, I can be regarded as a person with an official status."
Gu Weijing was a little surprised.
This was a very novel experience for him, who had only been dragged by Mona to participate in student clubs since he was a child.
Theoretically,
From the moment he got this certificate, he was no longer a student in the eyes of the Yangon Cultural Bureau and various event organizers, but a serious artist "Teacher Gu".
He is directly on an equal footing with his grandfather.
but,
He didn't remember when he applied for membership?
"The report I filed for you was also approved by someone last week."
Old man Wu didn't even raise his head and said lightly.
"The Calligraphy and Painting Association actually doesn't have much money. It gives out some fruits and the like during holidays. It usually organizes two seminars a year, and participating members will receive an expert fee of two million kyats and a business trip allowance of one million kyats. Regular seminars The meeting locations are always resorts in Yangon or Mandalay. If the funds are sufficient, we will occasionally arrange meetings in Phuket or Pattaya, Thailand. Anyway, it will be used as a public-funded trip."
"This is a welfare benefit. If you want to participate, don't bother if you don't have time."
“In addition, with membership, you can visit all public museums and art galleries for free.”
"If members of the Painting Association have special creative needs, they can go through official channels to get special permission to copy certain precious cultural relics or rub stone tablets on site, but it is quite troublesome to submit an application report to the Cultural Affairs Bureau in advance."
"Lao Gu knows all these things. If you don't understand, ask your grandpa yourself."
Old man Wu smiled: "Actually, the three or two cats and dogs in our public art museum are not that interesting."
"The only thing I think might be useful is for your grandfather to give me an address. I'll send a letter of recognition as a high-level artist to your school's student registration office through the association in two days."
The old man rolled his eyes and asked Gu Tongxiang opposite.
"Lao Gu? I remember that your family Gu Weijing and his sister went to Dewei, right? According to the current cultural policy, with this recognition, he can go to all universities in Yangon without taking the exam. Unfortunately, ours is recognized internationally. It’s relatively small, anyway, you can figure it out yourself.”
Gu Tongxiang stopped playing chess when Old Man Wu just said a few words.
Sitting on the pony, stretching his neck and looking at the certificate in his grandson's hand, he was as happy as an old giraffe.
"If you don't play, you will lose this game." Old Man Wu knocked on the chessboard unhappily.
"If you lose, you lose."
Gu Tongxiang didn't care at all.
He simply stopped playing chess, stood up from the horse, put his hands behind his back and went to look at the certificate next to his grandson.
In the brown paper bag in Gu Weijing's hand, in addition to the membership notice, there is also the association member certification, a small brown leather book, half the size of an adult's palm.
On the inside of the leather certificate is Gu Weijing's name, gender and date of birth, and below is a red badge stamped with the steel seal of the Cultural Affairs Bureau and the seal of the Painting and Calligraphy Association.
Only the space for the headshot is temporarily vacant, so Gu Weijing needs to post his own ID photo.
This membership certificate is also what people commonly understand as an "art expert" certificate.
"If you lose the game, I'll take the cigarette."
Old Man Wu took a box of locally produced Red Bee cigarettes lying next to the chessboard and stuffed it into his pocket.
Nicotine and alcohol are not good for the health of art creators.
For Gu Tongxiang and Mr. Wu, who are half literati and half businessmen, and they are also old men who came from extremely turbulent times,
Not smoking or drinking is a complete joke.
Without these two things, you won't be able to play in various situations where you need to have fun.
Although Gu Tongxiang has very strict requirements for his grandson Gu Weijing, he is an old smoker. When he and Old Man Wu play chess, they usually bet each other on cigarettes.
It’s not expensive, it’s just a game addition.
"Smoke this, smoke this..."
Gu Tongxiang took out two thumb-thick individually wrapped cigars wrapped in cedar wood chips from the house.
First, he handed Old Man Wu a new one, and he poured out a small half of the unfinished one from the other cigar tube.
This is a small box he got a few years ago from a second-class counselor at the consulate of a Latin American country who came to Gu's Book Gallery to buy paintings.
There are only about ten branches in total.
High-end products sold at a serious Cuban state-run cigar experience center.
The old man kept it like a treasure, and he would definitely be reluctant to smoke it.
Only big clients who are willing to pay thousands of dollars for a painting in a gallery will always accompany him.
Accompanying one refers specifically to the kind where Mr. Gu would smoke a few puffs casually, smell the taste, then put it aside and wait for the cigar to sit and extinguish on its own, saving it for the next time he smoked it while he changed into a cigarette.
Gu Tongxiang accompanied him like this four or five times, and there was still about one-third of the cigar in his hand.
"Hey, I'm willing to give it up."
Old Man Wu took the cigar tube, smacked his lips, and joked: "I have changed my gender today. It seems that my New Year's money was not in vain."
He had been coveting the cigars in Lao Gu's hand for a long time.
Several times when playing chess, he proposed to use this thing as a bonus, but Gu Tongxiang never agreed.
"I'll give you some, I'll give you some. Lighting a cigar with a lighter will produce fumes, so that's not a good idea."
Gu Tongxiang happily lit the cedar wood chips with a lighter, used the cedar wood chips to light the other person's cigar, and then relighted the small half of the cigar in his hand.
"That's interesting, Old Wu. Thank you so much. Gu Weijing has called you Grandpa Wu since he was a child."
He looked at the artist certificate in Gu Weijing's hand with a smile on his face.
Gu Tongxiang also owns this set of things, but at this time he is looking at the things in his grandson's hands, looking at them as treasures.
"Did the calligraphy and painting association have members as young as my grandson before?" Gu Tongxiang was very proud.
Something like a calligraphy and painting association,
If it were run by a group of East Asian folk enthusiasts themselves, it would be really useless. It would basically be used to deceive laymen into selling paintings.
But if it were such a serious official organization.
Even if it's just a name and not much power, sometimes it's really hard to get in.
Many artists who are more utilitarian may not care about money, but they only want to have a reputation throughout their lives.
What kind of large-scale international biennale or international art fair?
In fact, for most painters, it is a bit too far away. The most hopeful and practical goal is to become a member of the local official calligraphy and painting association.
It can be understood that civilian scientists have transformed into organized scientific workers.
Gu Tongxiang himself was almost fifty years old when he got the title of consultant.
Becoming a member of the Yangon Painting and Calligraphy Association, even if the association's biggest role is to promote tropical fruits, it just sounds awesome.
Besides,
Every year there is an opportunity for a “publicly funded vacation” like an academic seminar.
Not only is the cost all-inclusive, but there are even additional expert fees.
Seriously,
How many painters in such a small place dare to dream of earning millions of dollars a year?
We are all adults and quite practical.
When you are a painter, you still can't see yourself clearly at the age of thirty. You dream about making a fortune all day long, and you are probably not far away from begging for food.
It would be great to have free fruit to eat and pretend to travel to various places every year.
"This lucky money is really good."
Gu Tongxiang was much happier when he saw his grandson becoming a member of the Painting Association than when he got the little brown book.
Apart from these modest benefits, the biggest benefit of becoming a member of the Painting and Calligraphy Association is actually some hidden benefits.
first,
The most obvious one is the direct improvement of social status.
Although the association will not pay you, you will have the endorsement of an authoritative organization from now on.
In the art world,
Seeking fame and seeking profit are essentially the same thing most of the time.
At least in the eyes of tourists coming and going from the shop, his grandson's identity immediately changed from a pheasant painter with an unknown origin to a serious and officially certified artist.
This is an important point.
Gu Tongxiang previously put a color sketch of a classic car model painted by Gu Weijing at a price of $500, just to encourage his grandson.
There is a high probability that there are no tourists who would pay for the signature of Gu Lingling [Gu Weijing/G·W].
But now Gu Weijing would like to display his works in the gallery.
If you are qualified, add a parentheses after your name to note: [Gu Weijing/G·W——(Member of Yangon Painting and Calligraphy Association, calligraphy and painting artist)]
If the price is listed at five hundred dollars at this time, well...actually it may not be sold.
But there have been fundamental changes from before.
At least if you really meet a tourist who is not short of money, you will feel much better when they pay for it, and they will not feel that they are a fool who bought a child's work.
In the gallery industry, the most valuable and convincing proof of resume is definitely winning awards at large-scale biennales such as Venice and having solo exhibitions in top art museums such as the Louvre and the Vatican Museum of Fine Arts.
Or in authoritative art magazines with a century-old history such as "Oil Painting", buyers recommend it with more than four and a half stars, which is also very impressive.
Switch to "The Legend of the Condor Heroes",
This is equivalent to a peerless master like Dong Xie Xi Du, who is full of hard skills and hard work. He is qualified to sit on the rostrum and look at others through his nostrils at any annual art conference.
There may not be a few such gods in all of Asia.
If he were Huang Yaoshi, the powerful owner of Peach Blossom Island, and a member of the Yangon Painting and Calligraphy Association, he would at best be regarded as a small character like the Four Ghosts of the Yellow River who would hit the streets after just a few pages.
Then again,
Don’t use bean bags as dry food either.
In the eyes of ordinary people, the Four Ghosts of the Yellow River are also serious masters, okay? They look like trash, just because of their opponents.
Just like Gu Tongxiang, a member of the Yangon Painting and Calligraphy Association, he is also a non-profit internationally, but he is also one of the best in Myanmar.
Especially in the Asian cultural atmosphere, this official certification is actually quite recognized.
Secondly,
Now that you have the status of an expert, it will be convenient for you to go out and hold intensive training classes or engage in art training and give lectures to people.
It may sound a bit low, but it is actually very profitable.
With the endorsement of being a member of the Painting and Calligraphy Association, I opened a private studio outside to provide extracurricular tutoring and training for art students.
As long as the teaching is good, there will be enough parents willing to pay.
The income earned in a year is at least no less than that of my own small gallery.
Similar to the Gifted & Talented advanced classes offered by Dewey in previous years, they are either led by teachers from the school like Professor Wattel, or they hire external professors from the society.
Why are students so excited this year? It's because it's impossible to hire an external professor at the level of Mrs. Sakai, so don't even think about it.
Even if they are several levels of artists, they will definitely not bother to pay attention to the invitation letter from the principal of Dulwich College. At least they will not have any interest in teaching in a remote place like Dulwich College in Yangon, Myanmar.
If hiring from outside, these private schools often select people from the list of members of the calligraphy and painting association.
Dewei follows European salary standards. Teaching a class for a month is about 6 to 7 million kyats, which is about 3,000 US dollars. A semester can easily reach tens of thousands of dollars.
In the eyes of Mrs. Sakai, this money is just a piece of paper, but in the eyes of the local painter, it is very big.
That is to say, Dewey does not have Chinese painting courses, otherwise Mr. Gu Tongxiang would have rushed over to sign up.
Finally, and probably the most useful benefit for Gu Weijing at this stage is.
Members of the Yangon Painting and Calligraphy Association are among the officially certified high-level talents.
If you are still a student,
Those who attend local universities and apply for certain European schools that recognize the effectiveness of this high-level list, or the top five Asian art schools in South Korea such as Hongik University and Ewha Women's College, are directly exempted from the exam.
As long as your language scores pass, you can go directly and get a scholarship.
Admissions officers who do not grant exemption from the examination will also look down upon you and are willing to relax the admission standards and enjoy almost the same treatment and qualifications as high-level athletes.
"You may not be the youngest. In the early 20s, there was a nephew of a warlord. He probably wanted to be arty or simply whimsical, and wanted to put his name in it. He should be about the same age as Xiao Gu. Do you think the association dares not to agree? "
Old Man Wu shrugged helplessly: "But it's just a joke to the knowledgeable people. I felt bored after playing for two days, so I quit the club."
"Gu Weijing is the youngest among those who work in Zhengjing."
"Isn't it easy to get the membership qualification?"
Gu Tongxiang was smoking a cigar happily. It seemed that he was planning to eliminate one-third of the inventory today while he was in a good mood.
"It's not bad. The permanent board of directors will be replaced in two months. You have the right to use it. It will become invalid after it expires."
Old Man Wu's tone was quite complacent: "If I don't take care of the grown-up child around me, who will I take care of? Besides, I'm not giving him a back door. I heard that Xiao Gu performed very well, and even Master Cao praised him. Plus, every member of the association counts, who has this ability?"
"Is it you, Lao Gu?"
Old man Wu pointed to the rice paper on the desk in the yard and joked: "Why, I haven't given up on imitating Lang Shining yet."
(End of chapter)
