During the holidays, Sakai Katsuko told Gu Weijing that the studio needed to be renovated.
He asked Uncle Alai to help him call a moving company's van and took all the more important works home.
The "Good Luck Orphanage on a Thunderstorm" that Hanks opened in front of him at this time was Gu Weijing's first copy and a second-level original work by the master. The similarity was more than half of the high imitation.
Creating a painting and copying a painting are two completely different things.
When painting imitations, you don't need to use your brain. You can completely follow the original artist's brushwork and composition to restore the feeling of light, the changes in warm and cold tones, and the artistic conception of the picture.
Easier to understand.
The process by which painters create a work of art from scratch is how Tchaikovsky typically composes a piano sonata from beginning to end.
And copying some paintings without complicated techniques, just compare the five-line music score and play the arranged music score on the keys.
The difference is huge.
All art exhibitions, whether large or small, and even some ordinary art competitions for middle school students, will strictly prohibit copying.
Immediate disqualification upon discovery.
The reason is that copies of master works have inherent advantages in terms of expressiveness.
Painting imitation is cheating;
It is very unfair to other contestants with original works.
Among art students who study art, many of them painted the first work in their lives that satisfied or surprised them, which they copied.
It's not that their paintings are good, but that the master's original paintings are too outstanding.
They only imitated one or two superficial things, but with the help of the master's guidance, they painted a level that exceeded the limit of what their original skills could achieve.
This painting in front of me,
Gu Weijing copied the painting "Old Church" with the help of the thunderstorm weather, the location of the old church, and the people and people who systematically added points.
Based on the picky evaluation criteria of the system panel, the look and feel of his painting is 59.6% similar to that of Senior Carroll's original work.
This number has attributes that are difficult to replicate in a short period of time.
Gu Weijing tried to copy it again during the Farmers' Day holiday.
Without the assistance of the specific scene of the storm, it would be good if Gu Weijing's normal oil painting techniques could reach 50% stably.
The six-point resemblance of Ms. Carroll's brushstrokes cannot be compared to the look and feel of ordinary painters' works.
There is also the processing of the painting itself with rich and clear dark tones. The little candlelight and its reflection on the window form a beautiful dance of lines.
They are also very surprising painting methods.
Hanks opened his mouth slightly.
"This painting is worth at least nine thousand or even ten thousand dollars."
Compared with "Orphanage in the Sun", he directly paid double the price for the "Old Church" copied by Gu Weijing.
"What a treasure."
When the idea of signing this young painter came to my mind. As a senior agent, Hanks had a balance in his mind.
At one end of the scale stood child Gu Weijing.
On the other end is the bargaining chip that Ma Shi Gallery is willing to pay.
The number of chips will increase and decrease accordingly based on various information obtained by Hanks.
A combination of Europe and Asia, a painting method suitable for both East and West, please add!
The painting method is too similar to Castiglione, which slightly detracts from it.
He's only seventeen years old, so raise the stakes hard!
For Professor Sakai’s sake, keep raising the stakes!
In the eyes of Westerners, painters who come from small places and art deserts lose points.
…
The quotation he just gave to Gu Tongxiang was after he finally weighed various conditions and thought it was enough to sign the conditions given by Gu Weijing.
Paris, South France, Venice, London... Hanks has met hundreds of high-end practitioners such as artists, professional curators, and museum directors over the years.
The number of famous paintings he has seen with his own eyes is even more difficult to count, and there are very few things that can shock Hanks.
Gu Weijing's current level of fusion painting may be considered half. This kid's age is one, and the dark-toned Impressionist work in front of him is another.
Ding, ding, ding——
If there really is a physical scale placed in front of him in the real world, the chips all over the sky at this moment are like big beads falling on a jade plate, falling into Hanks' heart.
"This is an imitation of an oil painting that Gu Weijing made."
Gu Tongxiang was a kind man. He hesitated for a moment and then reminded him.
"Imitation...oh, imitation."
Hanks blinked.
"Does the art museum here in Yangon still have such excellent works? It's so rare." He wondered.
"It's not from the museum's collection. It was collected by my grandson outside."
Mr. Gu Tongxiang did not hide in front of the agent of Ma Shi Gallery.
He went to the outer room and took out Carroll's original work from the safe.
Wealth is not revealed in vain,
Since this painting must be quite valuable, it may be very valuable.
Mr. Gu Tongxiang didn't plan to hang it in his gallery store, so he asked Gu Weijing to put it away secretly when he didn't need to copy.
The target customers of small shops like theirs cannot afford such high-priced works of art, so don't get robbed again just to show off.
"This is with a pen."
"This line."
“The colors are amazing too.”
When Hanks saw Carroll's original painting, he kept tutting and making noises.
"If it's a forgery, it won't be included in the exhibition. Mashi Gallery won't sell it either." Hanks wrinkled his nose.
If I were in this situation - I would hold the original painting in my hand, pretend that it was my own creation, and take it out to an exhibition, and no one would know about it.
Hanks thought secretly.
"Collected it? How much did it cost?" He was curious.
"Around 2,000 dollars."
"Good luck boy." Hanks licked his lips, "You can't sell this painting in your store, so I'll take it. Forty thousand dollars, how about it?"
"Professor Sakai Kazunari paid 60,000 yuan." Gu Tongxiang said softly.
"Sixty thousand dollars, haha, Professor Sakai really loves painting." Hanks hesitated for a moment and didn't mention buying paintings again.
The number of modern works by unknown painters of unknown origin is close to the ceiling.
Unless a collector spends such a large amount of money to buy a painting, unless he is really not short of money, more collectors still need to consider investment to increase the value, rather than pure appreciation.
Sixty thousand dollars can buy a set of Henri Matisse's essay sketch books, Picasso's collages, or bits and pieces such as silver plates and clay pots he made.
The artistic value of these things will definitely not be higher than this oil painting, but they are all works of truly super famous artists, which is equivalent to spending money to buy a name.
In terms of investment expectations, the appreciation potential is much higher than that of anonymous fine oil paintings.
"Even if it's an imitation, this imitation is a bit scary."
Hanks compared the original work with Gu Weijing's imitation.
He doesn't want to worry about small amounts of money now: "Mr. Gu Tongxiang. Let's do this. We can give an extra 20,000 US dollars in subsidies. We have maintained good cooperative relations with the visual art departments of more than 20 prestigious European art schools. If If necessary, we can provide Gu Weijing with a university place, and the Max Foundation will also cover the expenses for further studies."
"If you, the guardian, agree, we will sign a contract when we leave. Believe me, you will never find a more generous price."
Gu Tongxiang really felt that this condition was impressive enough.
Especially the latter condition is really exciting.
The cost of foreign art schools is only slightly lower than that of some private medical schools.
Similar to law school, the tuition fee for one semester is 8,500 euros, and each academic year is divided into four semesters, which is common.
If you can't get a scholarship, you may not be able to carry a debt equivalent to the amount of a suburban apartment in the bank after college. Moreover, it is difficult for foreigners to apply for student loans, and the interest rates are also high if they are approved.
Do the math.
The benefits of Ma Shi Gallery alone are no less than the annual allowance.
"Can Ma Shi Gallery guarantee that it will open a solo exhibition for Gu Weijing?" Gu Tongxiang asked.
"As long as he performs well, we have no reason not to allocate resources to him." Hanks' answer was still very artistic.
Gu Tongxiang was still hesitating.
At this moment, the old man's cell phone rang. He answered the phone, said a few words briefly, and turned to Hanks.
"Gu Weijing will be back soon. Let's listen to the child's opinion."
When Hanks walked out the door, he noticed that the translator was a few steps behind and gave him a wink.
"I probably understand. You want to spend tens of thousands of dollars to sign a middle school student?" The translator rolled his eyes.
"So?" Hanks said expressionlessly.
"Why don't you give me some favors? The money in the briefcase belongs to me, and I'll help you deal with this family." The translator blinked again, his tone a little cunning.
"You? You know painting."
Hanks looked at the translator in front of him in confusion.
"I don't understand painting, I understand the rules." The translator laughed in his heart at the foreigner's ignorance.
He is engaged in business legal English, and in a humane society like Yangon, he comes into contact with many local bureaucrats on a daily basis.
Think about yourself and understand how power works.
"Myanmar has a very strict foreign exchange control law. It is a criminal offense for an individual citizen to hold foreign exchange equivalent to more than 4 million kyats. The law is like this, and there is a lot of room for specific operations. These foreign tourists are Not many of the stores I do business with are completely legal and compliant. I have some local connections, so it’s easy to deal with them.”
The translator smiled slyly and said quietly: "As long as you use a little money to bribe, you can't do whatever you want with this kind of family."
Hanks rolled his eyes and looked at the translator like he was an idiot.
What an idiot mountain cannon.
What he wants to sign is an artist, not a beautiful girl to be a street bitch. If there is any enmity, it will be a lose-lose outcome.
Most of the real dirty tricks in the gallery industry are in the contracts.
Payment methods such as the proportion of commission deductions and share settlements, whether painters need to bear curatorial expenses, and liquidated damages and exemption clauses that clearly favor the gallery.
Some galleries especially like to use this kind of thing to trick newbies who don’t know how to do it.
The content seems to be very good, but in actual operation it is full of traps.
The easiest way.
The painter's annual art sales are US$100,000, so each party should get half of the 50-50 split, which is US$50,000. At this time, the gallery will casually make an account and tell you that in order to hold a solo exhibition for you this year, it cost US$300,000, and this money must be deducted first.
If the contract you sign stipulates that curatorial expenses need to be deducted before profit sharing, the artist may end up owing the gallery money after working for nothing.
Hanks is not a very innocent person.
Mashi Gallery digs holes and forces contracted artists to pay compensation. It's a bit embarrassing to go to court to sue, but it can keep a few such clauses in its hands.
Even if he only signs a short-term contract now, he will not be able to renew the contract however he wants in the future.
The reason why he didn't do this was not that Hanks didn't want to put a tight bit on the little donkey he bought, but mainly to save the face of Professor Kazunari Sakai, the intermediary.
Just bully the ignorant little bumpkin.
Hanks didn't dare to trick the "friends" introduced by the great artist Professor Kazunari Sakai.
Before coming to Yangon, he also conducted corresponding background checks and found out that Professor Kazunari Sakai stayed in Yangon for more than a month at the beginning of the year and participated in the Myanmar government's Shwedagon Pagoda restoration project.
Hanks even knew that Gu Weijing and his grandfather were also on the list for this project.
He speculated that it was at this time that Professor Sakai accidentally discovered Gu Weijing's talent and became interested in talents. That night, he easily recommended Gu Weijing to Ma Shi Gallery.
With the identity and status of this family, they are far from qualified to follow a great artist like Sakai Kazunari, and they should not have an overly close relationship with Professor Sakai.
Even so,
Hanks' contract is still a good one.
The painting circle is really a sea where strength is the only thing that matters, and sales volume determines social status.
The essence of art is a game where the big fish eats the small fish.
Big galleries eat small galleries, and big artists eat small artists. Whoever is at the top of the food chain has more say.
This Gu Weijing's sales are zero, so he is just a plankton.
Dyke Allen can sell five million dollars of paintings a year, and he is a hammerhead shark that Mashi Gallery can wait on with great care.
Professor Kazunari Sakai can sell works worth hundreds of millions of dollars.
In this water, even if he is not the Cthulhu sea monster with forty-five tentacles lying in the abyss of the sea, he is definitely a round, fat blue whale.
If such a master can't sign, he must give the other party enough respect.
Even if Professor Sakai forgot about Gu Weijing after introducing him, Hanks would not dare to go too far.
pity--
Don't know why.
On the phone, Professor Sakai clearly expressed his admiration for this young man, but he had no intention of accepting him as his apprentice.
Otherwise, it would be necessary to arrange for Gu Weijing to go to Dyke Allen's studio.
If he could become the kind of direct disciple that Kazunari Sakai loved so much in his private studio, just this one clause would make his contract worthy of being personally reviewed by the big boss, Mr. Masashi III.
——
The driver wearing white gloves drove like an invisible transparent person. There was no radio on or music playing in the car.
The thick aluminum doors and double-layer laminated glass isolate most of the noise on the road, and the black Mercedes-Benz drives as if it is suspended in the air.
It was embarrassingly quiet.
Gu Weijing felt a little uncomfortable and embarrassed since he got in the car.
In the passenger seat, the blond Mrs. Sakai is always looking at herself through the rearview mirror of the car. Her eyes are condescending and arrogant in the past, but they also carry a stronger sense of scrutiny than before.
The girl sitting next to him saw his nervousness. At this time, she reached out her hand and gently took Gu Weijing's palm.
Gu Weijing was very sure.
This scene fell in the eyes of Mrs. Sakai in the front row.
The noble lady narrowed her eyes, her eyes dangerously reminiscent of a hunter's eyes when he looked at the country pigs running wild in his cabbage field.
Just when he was wondering whether Mrs. Sakai would stop the car and throw herself into the Yangon River on the right in the next second. Mrs. Sakai looked away.
"There is orange juice in the armrest refrigerator in Nakajima. If you feel thirsty, you can drink it yourself." The blonde aunt said coldly.
(End of chapter)
