Almighty painter

Chapter 227 Tossing a Coin

"Sign him!!!"

Hanks received a call suddenly at almost four o'clock in the morning yesterday.

Business management courses tell us that the bigger the business, the fatter it becomes and the slower it runs.

Mashi Gallery is not the kind of giant trust group with hundreds of thousands of employees, but it can also be regarded as a multinational private company with a conservative asset valuation of more than several hundred million euros.

The entire company's operating system is like a complex gear set.

The direct leader of a hunter broker like Hanks is the administrative manager of the Asian region, and the administrative manager is also supervised by a senior administrative director in the gallery headquarters in Regensburg.

The director is responsible to the big boss Ma Shi III.

Such as the big contract Mrs. Sakai proposed yesterday that is not within the scope of authority that Hanks can agree to.

It is necessary for Hanks to convey the opinion to the manager,

Then communicated to the headquarters by the manager.

The administrative manager of the headquarter took a brief look at it, because Mrs. Sakai’s proposal included not only the share, but also the requirements for a solo exhibition and the publication of a special album, so it was necessary to conduct comprehensive communication with the operation department and the exhibition department.

If necessary, you will need to request legal intervention.

And because it involves such great artists as Lin Tao and Professor Sakai.

Therefore, after the entire gallery executives discuss an appropriate opinion, it needs to be submitted to Ma Shi III himself in the end, and the billionaire will personally make the final decision and make a key decision.

If all this matter goes around quickly, it will take a week and a half.

Catch up with the busy season when galleries have major exhibitions, it would be great if accurate feedback can be sent within ten days.

Representing a great artist is a very tedious and meticulous job.

No matter before signing the contract or after signing the contract, we must be rigorous in everything, so as to reduce possible friction and disputes in the future and take away all the interests that the gallery can take away.

Gu Weijing himself is not a great artist, but the contacts standing behind him allow him to enjoy the treatment of a great artist.

Hanks originally planned to wander along the Yangon River in the past few days, visit the Shwedagon Pagoda, and kill chickens.

By the way, he hoped to see if he could have a relationship with Mrs. Sakai, and leaving a private phone call to establish some contacts would not be in vain.

So when Hanks got a call from the gallery in the wee hours of the morning, he was shocked.

Not just shocked.

When Hanks found out that the gallery not only gave instructions in the middle of the night with black lights, but also called himself the moment when the big boss Ma Shi III himself.

Hanks' face turned green.

That's the owner of one of the largest galleries in the world!

Relying on his surname Ma Shi, Hanks held a champagne glass to the big boss every year at the annual meeting of the gallery, and he gave a general nod to a large number of people on the rostrum, and it was fine.

For events such as the family dinner held at Christmas, his collateral relatives would not be invited at all.

Hanks even vaguely remembered that Ma Shi III bought a small winery in the south of France.This season of every year, Ma Shi III should stay in the lavender fields that are about to open in southern France for vacation.

Staying up late to make work calls while on vacation, is it the same for a boss?

"Sign him!"

Ma Shi III's majestic voice came from the far end, waking up the surprised and overwhelmed agent, "Hanks Ma Shi, right? If you can't sign him, I will be very disappointed, so don't take the trust."

"WTF..."

Mashi is a big family.

The sugar tycoon in the first half of the [-]th century was also the founder of Mas Gallery, Mas I. When he passed away, he set up a family trust fund, and future generations can get money according to the bloodline, and use the trust money to go to college, see a doctor and so on.

The Marsh family has long since ceased to operate in the industrial sector, but the trust has remained.People like Hanks can also get one or two thousand euros a month from it.

It is very troublesome for the company to fire a person, and it has to give various compensations, but the deactivation of the trust is the power of the parents of the generation of Lima Shi III stipulated in the bank contract.

These collateral relatives can stop for whoever they want.

"Sign him, and this year's gallery's excellent employees and bonuses are yours, and I invite you to this year's Christmas family dinner."

As expected of a capitalist, Ma Shi III was deeply ignorant of the principle of using a whip and carrots to drive the little donkey to the mill, so he promised benefits casually.

"come on."

When Hanks was debating whether to be happy or worried, the chief executive's call came in.

Then there's the director of operations and the exhibition planner.

Then there is the company's legal director.

Hanks didn't know why.

He just knew.

this night,

All the senior executives of Mashi Gallery are staying up late and working overtime for a contract for an amateur artist.

Ma Shi III did not hang up, and has been connected in the conference call, occasionally expressing opinions and giving instructions because of some specific terms.

To the bewilderment of everyone on the call, Mas III wasn’t always fighting for his gallery’s interests.

Many times he is asking the team under him to make greater concessions and share more benefits and benefits with Gu Weijing.

Especially at the moment when the big boss finally said the welfare condition that he could agree to the other party.

Even the operations director and exhibition planner, the two old men who have worked for Ma Shi Gallery for more than 30 years, are somewhat confused.

An unknown artist.

Even if he has a close relationship with Professor Sakai and Cao Xuan's second disciple Lin Tao, he is just a newcomer after all.

Ma Shi Gallery is not an unranked great painter.

Is this really necessary?

The conference call had just ended when it was dawn.

Hanks simply didn't go to sleep, washed his face twice, got into a taxi and went straight to Gu's Painting and Calligraphy Shop.

"May I ask, how did you do it?"

Hanks was let into the room by Gu Weijing, and when he sat down on the sofa, he still couldn't help but say.

"What do you mean?"

"With all due respect, Mr. Ma Shi III personally called and dealt with the situation of a newly signed amateur artist overnight. I have worked for so many years and this is the first time I have met." Hanks yawned while leaning on the cup, and sprinkled toilet water on his neck and arms like he didn't want money.

Gu Weijing didn't answer. He turned his back to the window and looked at the Yangon River in the morning, leaving Hanks with a back full of the rising sun.

He is not pretending to be mysterious or profound.

Gu Weijing really didn't know that the big boss of Ma Shi Gallery was so interested in him.

He could guess that it should be Mr. Cao Xuan's handwriting, but he didn't know more about the specific details than Hanks.

Gu Weijing took out his cell phone from his pocket.

Lao Yang sent a reply not long ago, the content was very cold and only a few short words - "Old Cao understands, OK."

"According to your request, I have already written out the contract. I have obtained the authorization of Mr. Ma Shi III. As long as you want, we can sign the contract at any time."

Seeing that there was no answer from Gu Weijing, Hanks put away his curiosity and opened the password briefcase at hand.

"Wait a minute, I have sent a message to Mrs. Cruz, she will be there in a while."
-
"The contract period is five years? Including a place to display your own work at the booth of the 2024 Swiss Spring Art Fair?"

Mrs. Sakai stared suspiciously at the paper contract up and down, trying to see the trap under the honey cake come out.

Is this... the sun is coming out of the west?
When Mrs. Sakai raised the conditions yesterday, she knew that according to the habits of the big gallery, it would not be so easy to agree directly.

The two parties will definitely have to test and pull each other for a long time.

Mrs. Sakai put forward such a high condition, which is to give Ma Shi Gallery room to bargain.

What kind of personal art exhibition, publishing a special collection of paintings.

These conditions are for negotiation.

If the talk is good, they will get a bargain, but if the talk is not good, Gu Weijing will not suffer anyway.

If he is capable enough, these exposure resources are not stipulated in the contract, and he can also obtain them himself.

If your own mud can't support the wall, even if the mask agreed in the contract is met, the gallery can still do it perfunctorily.

Being able to discuss the main points has already achieved the psychological goal of satisfying Mrs. Sakai.

The gift she gave this kid was enough for him to eat for a long time.

But this... what's going on!
Mrs. Sakai looked at the signature and authorization seal of Mashi Gallery below.

If this was a scene from a Japanese comic book, there would already be a whole row of question marks in her head.

Not only was every condition she offered yesterday met without any discount, the gallery even took the initiative to adjust the contract period from the seven years she proposed to five years.

"The contract that came out after staying up all night? It seems that you guys really want to sign Xiao Gu."

Mrs. Sakai glanced strangely at Hanks who was sitting there, tired and about to doze off, from the corner of her eye, and asked as if nothing had happened.

"With 100% sincerity and [-]% patience, we only provide the best service for the artists represented by Ma Shi."

The blond manager drooped his head, kept drinking half a dozen bottles of Nescafé coffee he bought from the front desk of the hotel, used caffeine and urination to combat sleepiness, and casually recited a slogan of the gallery.

Seeing his dazed look, Mrs. Sakai knew that the other party might also be confused.

"I see that in the contract, you decided to bring Gu Weijing to the art fair next year?" Mrs. Sakai asked curiously.

"Well, the gallery has already rented the booth, and we can promise that we will give Mr. Gu no less than three works for the exhibition."

Hanks held out three fingers.

Art Fair is the abbreviation of International Art Fair.

Art fairs, modeled after World Expos, have been around since 1851, shortly after Queen Victoria hosted the high-profile World Exhibition of Industry in the Crystal Palace.

Nowadays, art fairs are not held every four or five years like the World Expo and Olympic Games, but dozens of art fairs are held every year in major countries and developed cities around the world.

A painter wants to be famous,

Except for the very high threshold of opening a special personal art exhibition.

The channels for public painters are nothing more than two—participating in a biennale with a very large flow of people or participating in an art fair that can sell works at a high price.

There is no distinction between the two, and many things are similar.During the exhibition period, there will be a large number of art masters and wealthy collectors.

If you insist on making a difference,
The former is more like an artistic competition, while the latter is more purely a commercial sales exhibition.

Moutai won a gold medal at the XX World Expo, and has been selling well overseas since then, and the story of how many bottles were sold has been blown to this day.

Art fairs are similar occasions.

It is because the commercial atmosphere is more serious, and all participating galleries on this big stage come to sell paintings in large sums, so the cost of participating in art fairs is very high.

To participate in the Biennale, just register directly.

As long as you can pass the audition by the organizing committee, you can participate in the exhibition without any money.

There is no audition for the art fair, everyone can participate, and basically the paintings will be sold if they participate.

Everything is great, except... the booths are all for money.

The blatant price tag.

It requires a lot of money, very much.

The Ota Art Gallery, where Professor Kazushige Sakai works, participated in the San Diego Art Fair in the United States the year before last, which is one of the most popular art fairs in the world.

Several large galleries in North America will participate almost every year.

At that time, Daejeon Art Gallery received an offer of US$60 for a week’s rental of a small booth that could not accommodate several artists’ works.

The bunks that go a little further to the center cost 80 to 100 million US dollars, and then double directly. The large booth in the center is even directly auctioned.

No less than 350 million U.S. dollars a week, which is equivalent to the cost of thousands of U.S. dollars for every minute the paintings on the booth are placed in front of the audience during the exhibition.

How many art students have been painting for a lifetime, but still can't sell a piece of work worth a thousand dollars!
High art has always been a crazy money-burning game.

The exorbitant cost of participating in art fairs has almost prevented scattered independent painters from entering the exhibition.

Large-scale art fairs often only allocate the booths of the national teams of various sovereign countries, as well as the official booths of large galleries or small and medium-sized galleries that are planning to sell the pot and sell the iron in the magic place of the art fair, which is full of money.

Every artist who can be brought by the gallery to participate in the art fair is the heart of the gallery owner.

They are the gallery's most important premium assets.

nonsense,

In the past, the works of some unknown little painters were made, and the little painters made money, but the gallery couldn't even collect the booth fee, and lost the underpants.

"The booth at the 2024 Swiss Summer Art Fair? The Spring Art Fair here refers to the Basel Swiss Art Fair?"

Mrs. Sakai couldn't help but want to confirm.

In the evaluation report of "Oil Painting" magazine, Art Basel was listed as the art fair with the most prominent growth rate of visitors and total transaction price after 2015.

Every year, four phases of art fairs are held in Victoria Harbor of Dongxia Hong Kong, Basel City of Switzerland headquarters, Miami Beach of the United States, and the banks of the Seine in Paris. It is convenient for Europe, Dongxia and the United States, which have the largest number of collectors and wealthy groups in the world, to visit.

The scale and volume are not lower than the San Diego Art Fair that Daejeon Art Gallery participated in.

“Oh, of course, what else could it mean besides Art Basel?” Hanks asked in a confused tone.

"In this case, please write the exact name of the art fair on the contract. If it is convenient, make sure to write down the booth positions for Gu Weijing's more than three works."

Mrs. Sakai was afraid that the other party was running a pheasant show with a similar name, so she just made up for it.

In the middle of the sentence,
She herself felt it was unnecessary.

Li Gui pretends to be Li Kui's garbage and cheap art fairs, and there are also some in the industry.

But to participate in this kind of exhibition, Ma Shi Gallery will not want the face.

"Okay, no problem. I'll change this one later and print it out again. I'll give Mr. Gu more than three pieces of artwork to participate in the exhibition."

Hanks didn't want to get entangled in such trivial matters.

In the early morning conference call, he was given full authority to sign the contract.

There is no need to ask your superiors for instructions on such trivial matters.

The big boss, Ma Shi III, looked eager to fly over from southern France directly on the phone. What kind of villain is he, a wage earner.

The savings to the gallery went back to Hanks' pocket.

"Do you have any other questions, Mrs. Cruz?" Hanks yawned again, as if he was being flattened and rounded by Mrs. Sakai.

"I have no problem, it is indeed very sincere."

Mrs. Sakai thought she had nothing to say.

It's just too sincere.

Today was school day, Katsuko Sakai didn't come with her, the blond auntie glanced at Gu Weijing who was quietly sitting next to her and reading the contract.

"Is this kid really that good?"

Mrs. Sakai kept humming in her heart.

I am afraid that my son-in-law will have a hard life, and I am afraid that my son-in-law will drive the Land Rover.

This description is not appropriate, but it quite fits Mrs. Sakai's complicated mood at this time.

She came to act as an intermediary to negotiate the contract for Gu Weijing, and the more favorable the conditions, the better, but Mrs. Sakai felt a little sour when she was so generous.

It was a long time since her husband was brought to participate in an art fair by Ota Art Gallery, and the eldest daughter Katsuko Sakai could run around on the ground.

Also because there is not enough booth space.

One piece of work was removed on the spot, and only a 30-foot large oil painting was put on the corner of the booth rented by Datian Art Gallery.

The painting was bought by a wealthy Lebanese businessman for £27.

That year's art fair was also the first work in Uncle Sakai's life that sold for more than 30 US dollars. Since then, the average price of works has entered a stage of rapid growth.

Ma Shi Gallery has just signed Gu Weijing with this precious opportunity after so many years of hard work.

Mrs. Sakai recalled the history of hard struggle between herself and her husband.

I suddenly felt that life was so fucking unfair.

"The sales target is US$20. If you're lucky, you'll get it in one art fair." Mrs. Sakai curled her lips.

"This is directly recommended to enter the ranks of international artists."

The reason why she set the figure of 20 U.S. dollars at the beginning is because if the cumulative sales exceed 20 U.S. dollars, it is generally considered by the art circle to be regarded as a painter with a certain international reputation.

It's just a very low-level international painter.

Take Gu as the classic age.

The gallery can sell him 20 knives of work, even if he doesn't make any money at all, he won't get any money, and he won't lose this reputation at all.

"Mr. Gu, do you have any additional requirements? The terms you proposed have been added to the back of the contract. If it is anonymous, we will not interfere with your online illustration creation, nor will we ask for any rights."

Hanks scratched his hair: "Actually, there is no need for this. Mashi Gallery also has the intention to develop virtual blockchain art. If you are willing to cooperate with us, we also have good resources and platforms."

Gu Weijing flipped through the contract and added the corresponding clauses according to his own opinion.

There isn't any obscure legal jargon, and a lot of plain, concise vernacular.

Simple and straightforward, nothing fancy.

Mr. Sloth told him in the email that the more vague the professional vocabulary, the more room for debate there will be in court.

Ma Shi Gallery completely added Gu Weijing's request into the contract without embellishment, and they probably didn't think of tampering with it.

"Gu Weijing, are you still drawing illustrations? Anonymous illustrations are not easy. I know Takashi Murakami and KAWS, they are all geniuses who can sell themselves in front of the media."

Mrs. Sakai also saw these terms appearing in the contract.

She finally couldn't hold back the desire to rant, and sneered a little: "Just drawing, without a suitable opportunity and stage to show yourself, drawing to the level of the female artist in Mr. Haibo's video, isn't it a cheap painting for ten dollars a piece on the Internet?"

"It's a serious art of drawing with Shengzi and supporting each other. If you want to play, when you become famous and rich, you have plenty of time to play."

She and Mr. Cao's views coincided with each other, thinking that children have nothing to do when they are free, and they are just playing tickets.

Gu Weijing didn't explain, but just grinned at Mrs. Sakai.

"I don't have a problem anymore. Very satisfied."

All my hopes have been reflected in the document, even far beyond.

Gu Weijing has no reason to be dissatisfied with the contents of this contract.

"You can sign this contract now, but Mr. Ma Shi III thinks that we may play a little coin toss."

Speaking of which,

Hanks was suddenly relieved.

He took out a one-euro coin from his pocket and pointed to the contract in front of Gu Weijing.

"This is side A."

Then he took another document from the briefcase.

"This is side B." Hanks pushed it to Gu Weijing's eyes.

"Since you want to participate in the Singapore Art Exhibition, Mr. Ma Shi III said that if you are confident enough, you can choose a more challenging game. Let's sign an agreement. If you can win the award, then we will implement contract A. If you cannot win the award, we will implement contract B."

"Tch, I also said why you have suddenly become so generous. It turns out that this is the pit."

Mrs. Sakai sneered.

It turns out that such a good contract condition is just a condition for fishing in front of you.

Take Gu Weijing's current level of works that are eye-catching but far from perfect.

Can you win an award?
Is it still to see whether Ma Shi Gallery is willing to use cost marketing?

"What is the B contract, black slave bond? We don't sign such a contract." Mrs. Sakai was not happy.

"No, no, ma'am, let me say it again. We came here with full sincerity. All the terms of the two contracts are the same. Even if Mr. Gu fails to win an award in the art exhibition, we are still willing to sign the other party with the conditions you proposed, and we are still willing to bring Mr. Gu to participate in the Swiss Art Fair next year."

"Uh?"

This made Mrs. Sakai completely impossible.

"It's just that we have to sign contract B for 15 years. Mashi Gallery is really optimistic about you, and we hope to cooperate with you for a longer and stable period."

Hanks looked directly into Gu Weijing's eyes.

"I know you're wondering why you didn't sign a contract directly."

"If you are willing to make a bet, if you win the bet, Mr. Ma Shi III likes courageous young people. Being able to win in the master category at the age of 18 should also make history."

"For such an outstanding artistic talent, it is our honor to serve you. Mr. Ma Shi III is willing to give a gift that you can't even imagine."

With a mysterious smile on his face, Hanks handed Gu Weijing an exquisite thing like a Christmas card.

"To be honest, when I heard Ma Shi III say what he was willing to give you yesterday, even my boss thought that Mr. Ma Shi was completely crazy."

(End of this chapter)