Gu Weijing turned his pencil around on the desk with his fingers, turning a deaf ear to all the malicious whispers around him.
As a young painter who is about to have an exhibition at the Louvre Abu Dhabi.
Of course he has enough confidence to ignore all his peers who laugh at him as clowns.
All right,
Strictly speaking, rather than saying that Mashi Gallery wants to spend a lot of money to open a personal exhibition for itself, it is better to say that this development promise is the devil's bait to lure Faust into signing a contract to sell his soul.
They are just two sides of the coin thrown in Hanks' hands, not hell and heaven.
It's just one contract with extremely generous benefits and another contract that's a little crazy and unprecedented in the industry.
The "devil" Mas III was really too generous.
So generous,
Gu Weijing knew that he might have signed a contract of sale covering the entire golden years of his career, but he didn't feel bored at all, only excitement and excitement.
"Is this the magic power of Mr. Cao Xuan?"
Even if you think with your toes, if it weren't for Mr. Cao's effort, the incredible option of opening an art exhibition at the Louvre Abu Dhabi would definitely not have appeared on the negotiation table.
No matter how talented you are, it’s useless.
Tokyo Gallery also cooperates with top art museums, but they have never promised to give Sakai Katsuko a solo exhibition in the art museum.
Perhaps a similar scene will occur one day in the future.
But that's not now,
Not next year,
Not when Miss Katsuko was 19 years old.
It’s not that Tokyo Gallery doesn’t pay attention to Katsuko Sakai, but there has never been such a precedent in the industry.
The gallery has its own mature cultivation gradient.
New painters generally have to join other colleagues, and after signing a contract, they first participate in some academic seminars and group art exhibitions organized by the gallery itself, and show their faces in front of the collector media.
Those who perform well can obtain higher exposure resources and be recommended to participate in small biennials as special invited painters, and then participate in large-scale biennials such as the Lion City Art Exhibition.
Only after you have achieved good results can you consider starting a personal exhibition.
For the sake of cost considerations, the initial personal exhibitions were very small and were simply held online.
Only when the market feedback is good enough can we gradually increase the scale of personal exhibitions, move to a larger stage, and consider giving opportunities to participate in art fairs...
The reward at the end of this endlessly long ladder is to hold your own solo exhibition in a large art museum.
Just like in motorsport, you have to drive European karts first, then Formula Renault, and then win championships in F4, F3, and F2. Maybe you have to go to other sub-top competitions to train for two or three years before you can finally sit in the cockpit of an F1 car and let hundreds of millions of viewers around the world cheer for the players.
This is a mature business cultivation model developed by modern galleries that has been tested over time.
Precisely because each step doubles the amount of money burned in the previous step, for regular new painters, if they want to gain more exposure, they must go through layers of screening.
After detailed evaluation and inspection by the marketing department, it was deemed that the gallery deserved to devote more resources to this agent painter.
Making sure their investment pays off will allow painters to move to the next level.
When Mrs. Sakai initially proposed the conditions for a solo exhibition, she judged in her mind that even if Mashi Gallery agreed, it would only be a small-scale, very elementary solo exhibition.
It is already very thoughtful to have a physical venue instead of an Internet art exhibition that only has a total of 10,000 views.
More requirements are to make it difficult for other people’s galleries.
At the age of 19, he is too young and too green.
To give him such a big occasion, to attract the attention of art lovers all over the world, he may not be able to control it himself.
Promote a 6-year-old karting prodigy into the ultimate cockpit of F1, and he might be killed as soon as the car starts.
The huge public opinion and media criticism is likely to flood the gallery and their agent painters like a huge wave.
think about it,
A nineteen-year-old amateur painter with no convincing achievements has achieved something that countless people have struggled to achieve throughout their lives.
Those fellow painters who are still struggling to climb the thorny road of art must be jealous and hate you so much!
Ma Shi III actually made this incredible promise.
I really don’t know if it’s fearlessness or madness.
The gallery completely put everything on the gambling table and gave everything they could.
The personal friendship with the UAE royal family and the qualification to hold a joint art exhibition with the Abu Dhabi Museum are the biggest trump cards of Mashi Gallery. This is also the fundamental reason why this old gallery, which is gradually like a withered towering tree, can be called a first-line gallery in people's subconscious no matter how it declines.
It can still outperform intercontinental galleries like Tokyo Gallery + BTAP.
Even in the eyes of famous artists, this opportunity is definitely moving.
It is the strongest publicity resource and T0-level exposure channel in the hands of Ma Shi Gallery. Looking at the entire art history, it can also be regarded as one of the honors ranked in the middle and lower T1.
This stage is slightly inferior to those super art museums, and is comparable to the art exhibitions held by many European national art museums.
It is almost the same as the temptation that can be found in the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg and the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy, which are long-standing old-school museums with a history of three to four hundred years.
When Mas Gallery wanted to sign Professor Kazunari Sakai's contract for the next five years, the core condition it offered was not at all a contract quotation of tens of millions of dollars.
I am just willing to open a personal art exhibition for Uncle Sakai at the Louvre Abu Dhabi.
Six centuries have passed since the Renaissance, when the Medici family established the first art museum in human history.
This is probably the first time in history that this opportunity has been presented to a minor!
Even though he knew that this was the gallery's bait to lure him into signing a long-term contract, Gu Weijing decided to jump into the bowl willingly and obediently.
Theoretically, the opportunity to open this kind of art exhibition depends on seniority, personal connections, timing and luck. It is not something you can just open if you have good painting skills.
If he goes step by step, even if his painting skills reach the sky, Gu Weijing believes that he will never be able to get such an opportunity again before he is thirty years old.
Gu Weijing really couldn't refuse.
"Reckless young man, congratulations on signing a fifteen-year contract of prostitution."
Mrs. Sakai did not stop her, and her tone was not sarcastic. She just shrugged, "With such a long contract, you hope that you can have a good relationship with Ma Shi Gallery in the future and not be hidden. Fortunately, Mr. Ma Shi III looks really good." I quite like you. But to be honest, Xiao Gu, I don’t blame you."
"If such a contract is placed in front of Shengzi, I will let her sign it after struggling for a long time. If it is placed in front of the young Isei, he will pounce on it without hesitation. He will struggle and hesitate in his heart for a second. It’s an insult to the condition of ‘holding an art exhibition in a top gallery’.”
"Knowing that you can't reach it, you still rush forward like a moth to a flame, just to get a little closer to this goal. This is the charm of the Louvre."
Mrs. Sakai's chest was rising and falling violently as she spoke.
Obviously she was also shocked by the conditions offered by Mr. Mas III.
Gu Tongxiang, another elder in the living room next to him, was already so happy that he became stupid and fell into a state of madness close to that when Fan Jin won the exam.
Yesterday I was still in tears, but today I just sit there and laugh.
An art exhibition at the Louvre?
My grandson?
Gu Tongxiang didn't care whether it was a bad check or not. Gu Weijing probably wouldn't be able to grasp this opportunity.
Just the combination of the two words "Louvre" and "Gu Weijing" brought Mr. Gu the same pleasure as an orgasm in his skull.
I was so happy that I wanted to dance.
This is definitely the happiest day in Mr. Gu's life. When he made a small fortune by selling ancient paintings, Gu Tongxiang had never felt so happy.
"I just hope you can understand that this is just a goal for you to work hard for. Don't be discouraged if you can't complete it. Even if you fail to open a personal art exhibition in the United Arab Emirates, as long as you continue to paint seriously, one day you can be in the painting gallery in Paris. It’s not impossible to hold a painting feast of your own.”
The blond aunt stood up and patted Gu Weijing on the shoulder, comforting her.
The Painting Gallery in Paris is the main hall of the Louvre in France where paintings from various countries are placed. It is known as the best in oil painting art in the world.
Picasso's paintings during his lifetime were collected by the Louvre and placed in the hall of the painting gallery.
"Whether you can get it or not depends on God's will. Just do your best and obey God's will."
Before Gu Weijing completed the signing, Mrs. Sakai checked the contract one last time and made more detailed agreements on several terms.
Including the issue of ownership of the paintings prepared by Gu Weijing for the Lion City Art Exhibition.
According to what's on the contract that Hanks brought.
The formal agency agreement between Gu Weijing and Ma Shi Gallery should take effect at the end of August when the Shicheng Art Exhibition closes.
Starting from 0:00 on August 27, 2023, whether executing contract A or contract B, Gu Weijing will officially become the official agent artist of Ma Shi Gallery.
"Who owns the exhibited paintings, Gu Weijing himself or Ma Shi Gallery? It should be agreed in the contract." Mrs. Sakai pointed out the ambiguity in the contract.
"The Ma Shi Gallery will invest corresponding resources in Gu Weijing's work. If you enjoy the resources, it should be the gallery's work." Hanks said immediately.
"That's fair, I have no objection." Mrs. Sakai smiled and did not object: "It's just that the corresponding resources are too vague. Ma Shi Gallery should give us a complete marketing plan first."
"I can only say...it can be considered depending on the situation."
Hanks smiled bitterly.
Ma Shi Gallery has proposed such a gambling agreement, and then spends hard money to send Gu Weijing to participate in the exhibition to win the prize, and then spends even more hard work to give Gu Weijing millions of dollars to hold an exhibition at the Louvre Abu Dhabi. Large personal exhibition.
What are they planning?
Is it possible that Gu Weijing is the illegitimate son of Ma Shi III?
Even illegitimate children may not receive this treatment. This is simply like the little ancestor of Ma Shi Gallery.
Since the ancestors of Ma Shi III are already lying obediently in the family cemetery, I haven't heard of anyone suddenly pretending to be dead.
So normally,
Hanks said that he would consider it according to the situation. In fact, since he signed this contract, the gallery will definitely not work hard to promote Gu Weijing.
Although the Singapore Art Biennale has attracted much attention from the academic and art circles this year, it is only an emerging art exhibition with a short history.
There are no fewer than twelve or three biennales at the same level as it and more important than the Lion City Art Exhibition in the world.
Ma Shi III even hoped to get Gu Weijing's fifteen-year long-term contract, and used this failure to tie all of Mr. Cao's potential disciples to the warship of his own gallery in the future.
As Gu Weijing's artistic style becomes more mature, there will be more opportunities to win awards!
At that time, we can even consider some of the main awards of the Biennale such as silver and bronze awards, instead of just the "Best Newcomer Award" and the "Wonderful Creativity Award" like this year, which are very marginal consolation awards. Trophy.
Hanks thought about it: "Well, at least, we can bear all the expenses for Gu Weijing to go to Singapore, book him a hotel or something, and we can give him a standard of five hundred dollars a day during the exhibition. How about that?"
"Forget it, don't worry about it. We will decide the hotel ourselves, and the ownership of the painting will be given to Gu Weijing himself in the contract."
Mrs. Sakai smiled.
Regardless of whether they win awards or not, works that are qualified to participate in the masters category of large-scale biennales can easily be sold for a guaranteed price of more than US$7,000.
Ten to twenty thousand, thirty to twenty thousand is also common.
No matter how small a mosquito is, it is still flesh. It is not cost-effective to give the ownership of a painting that will be very memorable after becoming famous in the future to a gallery for a few days in a luxury hotel.
"If I want to win an award entirely on my own merit, my current painting level will definitely only match the mood of the organizing committee. If I can completely solve the fragmentation of the painting, and add the personal sketch of the finger smearing method proposed by Katsuko Creativity, if you draw a painting that is [feeling something from your heart], you should be relatively confident.”
At this time, in the back row of the Dulwich classroom,
Gu Weijing recalled the scene of signing the contract a week ago, thinking about the recent plan in his mind, tapping his fingertips on the desk.
"It would be great if I could produce a work with richer emotions or master-level techniques."
Gu Weijing thought about it for a while.
Ms. Tang Ning's entry "Hundred Flowers" at the Magic City Biennale in 2000 is a Chinese painting that has reached the level of a master.
Successfully won the gold medal that year.
In terms of influence and the scale of previous competitions, the Lion City Art Exhibition is almost different from the Shanghai Biennale.
Except for some great painters who are occasionally specially invited to participate in exhibitions, the level of the painters attracted to participate in the exhibition is about the same.
Gu Weijing now has some understanding. In the field of art, the master level seems to be an insurmountable threshold.
Just like the name given by the system to this stage - if you cross this limit, you are a real master. If you cannot cross it, you are just an ordinary professional painter.
He recalled the electronic album on the official website of the Lion City Art Exhibition.
Among the painters who can participate in the main exhibition, as long as they are creators in the field of classical art who pursue painting techniques, Level 4 is almost the lowest baseline for participation.
There are painters who can reach Level 5 all over the place, and there are seven or eight works that are exhibited at the third level of Level 6 professional level every year.
Most of the awards at the Biennale are won by these Level 6 paintings.
However, it is extremely rare to have works at the master level of painting.
Compared with the level 3 profession, which is not uncommon, it is obviously only a small stage away, and the number of people has dropped completely like a cliff.
There may not be a piece of work like this produced every year.
Gu Weijing only saw paintings in the electronic albums at the Singapore Art Exhibition in 2009 and 2017 that amazed him with their vivid brushwork.
After using calligraphy and painting appraisal, Gu Weijing found that they were indeed master-level paintings.
The former is a first-level sketch master, and the latter is a first-level watercolor master. One is from the National Gallery of Art in Singapore, the largest local gallery in the Lion City, and the other is from Lehmann Maupin in New York. They are all considered to be high-ranking dignitaries in the painting world, and it is natural for them to do so. Won the gold medal that year.
If only I could improve any item in "The Good Luck Orphanage under Yangon" to the master level.
No matter how fierce the competition is this summer, no matter how it is a duel field for countless middle-level painters from all over the world, winning the prize is a matter of course.
"It's difficult." Gu Weijing shook his head.
He understands that no matter how hard he works for a hundred days, the goal of reaching the master level is too elusive and out of reach.
Just to upgrade from lv.5 to lv.6 would cost a hundred thousand dollars, and to upgrade to master level would cost even more.
Even if he were to draw U.S. dollars, he couldn't draw hundreds of thousands of dollars for such a long time.
"We should focus on emotions." Gu Weijing thought about a feasible method.
The more realistic method now is to bridge the sense of fragmentation in the fusion painting as much as possible.
On the other hand, if the technical level cannot be improved, the emotional depth contained within the picture must be improved.
Mr. Cao Xuan taught him.
A good painting is an expressive image supported by three solid pillars: skill, emotion, and knowledge.
He has already felt in his own painting "The Little Prince" that when the emotion of painting rises to a certain height, it brings about a wonderful sense of magical communication between the audience and the work.
Although there are few paintings at the master level, there are even fewer paintings that can achieve the evaluation of "painstaking effort".
Among the previous works, Gu Weijing did not see even one.
Even those who can achieve the evaluation of "feeling something in the heart" are only a minority among the minority.
There are still traces of improvement in painting skills.
The infusion of mood and emotion into painting can really only rely on life experience and the favor of the muse. Monet even said that he could paint what he felt at will.
Gu Weijing knew that maybe finding a way in this aspect would be a better choice.
【Your free experience value has increased by 616.27!】
【Your free experience value has increased by 701.13!】
【Your free experience value has increased by 727.27!】
When he was thinking about the art exhibition, the system suddenly sent a prompt in his ear.
Gu Weijing opened the virtual panel and saw a prompt that a large amount of experience points had been received.
"Uncle Alai is so reliable in doing things. He got it done so quickly."
Gu Weijing was not surprised, just smiled slightly.
Myanmar’s currency control policy is very strict.
You can exchange foreign currencies for kyats at will. You can exchange as much as you want, as long as it can increase the government's foreign exchange reserves, the more the better.
It is difficult to exchange kyat into foreign currency.
Hanks made up his mind to have a good relationship with the young man who was personally cared for by the big boss.
He didn't even mention that the time limit for signing the contract he originally said has passed.
Hanks also had the savvy to see that the aunt was difficult to deal with and liked to take advantage of her.
So after Gu Weijing signed, the agent personally handed the large box of brand-new kyats to Gu Weijing in a private setting before leaving.
That's it - "As a small token of appreciation, I would like to treat Mr. Gu to a drink."
Hanks said with a bright smile.
This money was different from the gift given by Brother Hao Group, so Gu Weijing felt at ease with it.
He transferred tens of millions of kyats to Uncle Alai and asked him to help replace them with items that were urgently needed by the orphanage and donate them.
Uncle Alai worked very neatly and without any compromise. In the blink of an eye, the three supplies had turned into free experience points on the system's virtual panel.
Plus the newly recorded experience points of about two thousand points.
Gu Weijing's free experience points available for his distribution reached nearly 2,500 points.
He didn't have much hesitation about how to use the experience points.
Gu Weijing had already thought about it before. Sketching is the foundation of art modeling and can be used in a large number of painting-related situations.
One method is applicable to all methods, and its scope of application is extremely wide.
Improving your line modeling ability in painting is a sure-fire choice at any time.
The video on Mr. Hyperion's channel, with the beauty of the beautiful judge named Anna Elena, has now exceeded 430 million views.
One out of every five YouTube users has clicked to play this video.
Thanks to the reputation of the world's number one internet celebrity, Gu Weijing's linked mailbox still receives hundreds of thousands of new emails every day.
He even had to unlink and change to a newly registered email address to specifically handle orders in this area.
Since I introduced myself to Mr. Sloth and received projects from Scholastic Group, unless the subject matter is very suitable and the unit price is more than eight hundred US dollars, the order will be accepted.
Gu Weijing is no longer willing to take on Fiverr online business.
Earning three melons and two dates was boring, and he wanted to gradually get rid of the reputation of a cheap illustrator.
On days when there are no commissions from rich people, Gu Weijing will also regularly activate [Menzel's basic painting experience] to draw some simple patterns every day.
You have to maintain your sense of touch even if you don’t make money.
The more important purpose is that every time you activate the skill to learn how to draw with a pencil, your sketching skills will be greatly improved.
The rewards of persisting in exercise are great. Gu Wei has finally filled in half of the sketching technique column in the past week through his own efforts.
Now with this extra money, he should be able to directly enter the next stage and become his second skill to reach Level 5.
"This is really a glass of cold mango juice in the summer. Thank you, Mr. Hanks. I appreciate your kindness." Gu Weijing was very satisfied with the gift from the blond agent and chose to use the experience points he had just gained. All are assigned to the sketch column.
[Determined as sketching technique, allocated 2716 experience points? 】
[Ding, your sketching skill level has been improved! 】
[Current level: Lv.5 professional painter·Level 2 (1/10000)]
(End of chapter)
