Almighty painter

Chapter 462 On the drawing paper
People say that water cannot be recovered.

Tangning watched the overflowing headlights gradually disappearing through the old streets and alleys of Salzburg. She finally said nothing and asked the driver to turn around and go back.

When she was twelve years old, she saw her teacher hold an exhibition, and the flashbulbs shot through the turbulent sea of ​​people.

Everyone is shouting the teacher's name, as if the world is spinning around you.

At that moment, Tangning saw what a top artist could live like.

That scene instantly planted the core of a growing dream in her young heart.

now,

She has long been familiar with the glorious days when glory and reports go hand in hand, and the spotlight shines on her.

Tang Ning thought that the jujube tree in her heart had grown into a big tree.

Even occasionally, for a moment, Tang Ning felt that Cao Xuan's status was not something she could reach by stretching out her hands and tiptoes. At least it was no longer unattainable, and she could vaguely see his back.

Maybe just by your own efforts.

In as little as ten years or as much as twenty years, Cao Xuan may be able to reach the position he is in today.

But at this moment.

When the motorcade from "Oil Painting" sped away behind her.

Tang Ning clearly understood that thirty years later, in front of her teacher, she was still just a small shrub under a giant redwood tree.

The arts are a winner-takes-all place.

It might as well be worth tens of millions.

Ranked in the top fifty or top thirty in the world.

But what really affects the world and determines the trend of the times are only the names of a few, the most important figures.

Sir Brown is, Gagosian is, Miss Anna Irina is, and of course her teacher Cao Xuan is.

But Tangning was not.

So she can only drift with the wind and clouds like a dandelion.

Because she is still not important enough.

There are only a few seats where you can sit at the table and decide what to serve tonight.

In front of these people, there is no essential difference whether she is worth thirty or three hundred. They are just names on the menu, not a player enjoying a gluttonous feast. At most, she just sprinkles a little more flash on the "plate". Just gold foil.

Nowadays.

The profound status gap was once again clearly displayed in front of her.

Tangning once again became the little girl who looked up at her teacher's back with envy.

"This position must be mine, no one else can take it away."

When she inherits Mr. Cao's position, this will all be hers.

After seeing the teacher's endless glory, how could Tangning give up this position to others?

How can she allow others to extend their dog paws towards her beautiful art world?

"Thousands of rocks compete for beauty, and thousands of valleys compete for flow."

Tang Ning read each word word by word, as if she wanted to chew the words into pieces and swallow them into her stomach.

"Boy, you don't understand. This sentence is well said, just like the word "competition", it is also the word "competition". Want to compete with me?" She took out her mobile phone, hesitated for a moment, and began to edit the text message.

[There is a work that I hope will be included in the Singapore Art Exhibition. I think you might be interested in "paying attention" to it? should be--】

"If you want to win a prize, wait until next life."

Tangning looked at the text sent on the phone screen and sneered.
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"We have reserved sixty minutes of recording time, and the Shownote list of key contents has been sent to you. Editor-in-chief Irina... Colleagues in the buying department hope that you can set aside more time for Cao Xuan's future planning. A little time... We have marked the highlights of the interview for you. The media noticed that Cao Xuan went to Yangon to participate in a mural project earlier this year. He would choose to leave his later years for churches or temples like Matisse. Mural creation? And..."

A middle-aged woman was sitting in the passenger seat, holding a pen and checking the work list.

Since Anna returned to the magazine.

There seemed to be a polite and very subtle restraint between herself and Sir Brown.

Sir Brown is at ease as his chairman.

Anna is content to be her new column manager.

After Sir Brown solemnly issued a correction to the media about the false misunderstanding caused by the Muse Project, and personally expressed his apology to Miss Elena at the reception.

It seems that things have turned around.

This is just what it looks like on the surface.

It seems like there is a thin bamboo thread with weights hanging at both ends, maintaining a fragile balance.

All kinds of treacherous realms in the human heart, hidden knives in smiles, are like countless tiny aphids lying on silk threads, biting the already extremely thin fibers.

Everyone knows that the bamboo threads will break at some point, and a new round of internal palace fighting is about to begin.

But until that moment actually comes.

Everyone is still living in peace and harmony in this strange atmosphere.

News reporting often follows a principle.

It is easier to become famous in fields closer to the torrent of power, such as current affairs investigative reporters, and it is easier to make money in fields closer to the torrent of money.

Art publications have a little bit of both, preferring the latter.

Many people have misunderstandings about the daily work of an editor at an art or fashion magazine.

I think their daily job is to travel first class to major shows and art exhibitions around the world.

Wear evening clothes to attend receptions and dinners under the crystal chandelier.

Invite popular celebrities to set up red lines with some brands to do marketing, and then privately ride horses and play ball with sports superstars like James and Hamilton, or a certain European count.

I'm so obsessed with it, I feel so happy just thinking about it.

In fact...

It seems that is indeed the case.

Whether you are a critic or an artist, the art-related industry is a place where the Matthew Effect is very obvious.

The lives of small editors and reporters in the industry are actually quite complicated.

Except for the occasional free luxury goods, the salary is slightly higher than the average, and is no different from ordinary office workers in the news field.

Probably similar to the per capita income of financial newspapers.

But he can become the column editor of leading magazines such as "VOGUE" and "Oil Painting".

If you don’t want to be the next Galeries Lafayette or Coco Chanel.

Working time can really be spent "eating, drinking and having fun".

365 days a year, I wish I could attend fancy drinking parties and throw thousands of invitations and invitations coveted by girls on Instagram into the trash can.

But if you are not willing to just be a happy transitional figure, and want to perfectly exercise the power in your hands and create your own "governing" style.

The work immediately became extremely busy.

The visual art column of "Oil Painting" magazine is the most important and largest department of the magazine.

It is responsible for exclusive interviews with well-known artists, summarizing art trends, tracking large-scale art exhibitions, discussing industry trends with art directors of various galleries, text columns, audio and video columns.

There are also cross-border projects with fashion trends and so on.

During the European Art Annual Conference, there are many corresponding supporting activities.

Major art museums in Austria will hold special art exhibitions. "Oil Painting" magazine will also have a special interview with the most concerned participants at this annual meeting.

The project was one Sir Brown had set the tone for months earlier.

While the annual meeting was going on, he himself became the most talked-about news figure and a villain. This was definitely something that Jazz had never expected.

But after Anna took over.

I felt that there was no problem with the arrangement of this project, so I continued to check the scheduled schedule and came to interview Mr. Cao Xuan today.

Record a podcast by the way.

This podcast does not refer to "Mr. Sloth's Art Salon", but is called "Beyond the Paper".

It is the official podcast of the magazine.

Updated every Monday.

There are nearly 300 million subscriptions on Apple Podcasts, and there should be a similar number on third-party subscription platforms such as Spotify, Google Podcasts, and Castbox.

Just one paid monthly issue can bring in tens of millions of euros in subscription revenue every year.

In a niche field like art, having a few million fans is no easier than Mr. Hyperion's over 100 million fans on YouTube.

It is undoubtedly the world's most authoritative and widely accessible art audio program.

It must be admitted.

No matter from any angle or any media form, "Oil Painting" magazine is a unique and almost "monopoly" giant media in the industry.

This is why Sir Brown believes that Anna will definitely agree to come back as the column manager even if she knows it is difficult to do.

Credibility and authority require constant verification over time in order to be sufficiently convincing.

This is the accumulation of several generations.

No matter how much attention Ms. Irina receives and how good her image is, the rewards from starting over from scratch will still be far from being able to compare with the huge benefits if she can really capture the magazine.

"Cao Xuan."

Someone said the name.

It is quiet in the dark night. Rolls-Royce is famous for its excellent sound insulation performance. Although it is equipped with a powerful twelve-cylinder large-displacement naturally aspirated V12 engine, it is not the same as a restless and roaring supercar.

Manufacturer claims.

Even while traveling at 100 mph, their VIP passengers could still hear the tiniest notes of the Cleveland Orchestra's Sinfonietta.

It's like hearing the quiet wind on the Bohemian plains passing by your ears.

The profile of the young woman's face on the reading lamp was also as smooth as tranquil jade, as if her hands were slightly cold.

She closed her eyes.

Anna arranged the interview and went through it one by one in her mind, recalling in her mind what she had read about Cao Xuan's life when she was sorting out the information.

From birth to growth.

The capital, the magic city, studying abroad in Paris, and then returning to China... She and Cao Xuan didn't have many interactions before. The closest thing was the short flights of stairs at the opening ceremony of this annual meeting.

But Miss Elena is familiar with Cao Xuan's life history.

In preparation for this interview.

In the car, she also watched two documentaries about Cao Xuan at double speed, one from the local perspective of Yang Ma, and the other from the overseas perspective of French TF1 TV station.

The size of "Oil Painting" may mean that it is not difficult for the oil painting official to interview some top painting masters.

But the interview is still very technically difficult.

History is not without its mistakes.

In the interview with Hunter Bull in 05, readers commented that they were incomprehensible. Historically, other media outlets interviewed Picasso, but were sued. Later generations repeatedly mentioned the joy of whipping corpses.

It may not be that the person doing the interview is not professional enough.

But the art masters all have strange personalities and are extremely difficult to maintain.

Fortunately.

In Anna's impression, this Eastern master was quite gentle and kind, so he shouldn't be too difficult to get in touch with.

But even so.

It’s also difficult to keep a talk show from falling into mediocrity.

Because of this top master, when she became famous, her father was not even born yet.

Living in the spotlight for half a lifetime.

There are numerous relevant interviews.

Those who can report it have been reported hundreds or thousands of times by predecessors. I wish I could even pick my nose with whichever finger I like and have it captured by the paparazzi.

It cannot be reported.

Why are people willing to talk to you?
Just because you are an "Oil Painting"?
No, this is not enough, far from it.

There is too much homogeneous content, so even for "Oil Painting", it is difficult to dig out different content in just one hour of interview time.

Anna knows.

Sir Brown was in his chairman's office, staring at her silently with joking eyes.

Anna has read the detailed list of questions in the letter.

If there is a problem, there will definitely be no problem.

Even if Sir Brown wants to lay landmines for her, this little trick of causing an interview accident is too low-level.

Quite the opposite.

According to the content of this outline, there will definitely be no problems in the interview. It will be smooth, neither good nor bad. It is completely in line with the magnanimity of a large media such as "Oil Painting", and it is also the tone of Sir Brown's media work over the years.

But she believed it.

Sir Brown will surely smile in his heart.

"Look, little Anna, I have already said that I am a professional in the field of art criticism. Even if you become the column manager, what will happen? You are still my puppet and a human microphone, right?"

Sir Brown is a very capable person who knows his mistakes and can correct them.

He carefully summarized the two experiences of the live broadcast of the board of directors and the opening ceremony of the annual meeting, and realized that the reason why he created such a big mess is——

When it came to speaking on stage, he was no match for Anna in terms of provocative power.

Compared with Miss Elena, he is too immature.

How to deal with the people, how to give speeches, the Elena family has been in this business for hundreds of years.

If the emperor hadn't died.

Anna was born in the UK and was a very standard hereditary member of the House of Lords.

Sir Brown believes he has to respect the experts.

If you can't play it, you can't play it.

But conversely, no matter how to deal with artists "correctly", sorry, if Sir Brown is not an expert, no one would dare to call himself an expert.

Miss Elena is only in her early twenties.

Sir Brown has been at the helm of the visual section of Oil Painting magazine for longer than Anna is old.

He had to drag Anna into the professional field, and then use what he was best at to defeat the opponent.

(End of this chapter)