Almighty painter

Chapter 586: Exhibition Prelude and Watercolor Department
The artistic review will initially eliminate paintings that are poorly painted, incomprehensible, or clearly inconsistent with the Biennale's theme of "Human Noise".

It is the link that screens out the largest number of shoddy works and painters who are trying to get lucky.

simply put.

If you send the organizing committee a suspicious pile of excrement, you will usually be screened out in the first round.

If you send a blank paper to the organizing committee, you will be rejected in the second round.

That’s not to say.

There is no way these things would appear in an art exhibition.

According to news reports, it seems that viewers can often see blank paper in some foreign art exhibitions and museums.

In the fields of Dada art and minimalist art, it is not uncommon for creators to frame a piece of white paper and exhibit it.

It's an act that's almost ruined.

In certain circumstances, it's not uncommon to see excrement at an exhibition, or even something even more outrageous that no one can understand.

There was once an avant-garde art exhibition in the Czech Republic, and someone hanged himself in a corner.

The air conditioning in the exhibition hall is turned on very well, and the installation artworks in the exhibition area are all designed in a variety of strange ways.

and so.

It was not until four and a half days later, when the smell of decaying corpse became so strong, that the patrolling security guard suddenly realized, "Oh my god, this thing is not an exhibit!!!" There was a sharp bang, and with shaking hands he called the police.

Very dark humor.

However, this situation generally occurs more often in experimental art exhibitions and avant-garde art exhibitions, which have a relatively niche audience and are relatively more radical.

Government-organized urban biennales such as the Singapore Biennale generally hope to become a tourist card for international tourists.

It can be regarded as a weather vane of urban culture.

Since it is a weather vane, the work must be upright and stable, and its ideology should focus on the cross-cultural dialogue between Eastern and Western art.

All the curators over the years have been working in this direction.

However, the preferred artistic direction may vary slightly from session to session depending on the curator.

A few years ago, Singapore invited the famous Mr. Fumio Nanjo, director of the Mori Art Museum in Japan, to serve as the international curator in Lion City.

The criteria for selecting the works to be included are more focused on the postmodernism category, and they prefer to see the reflections on society and the times in the works.

This time, the curator is Director Tonks of the Taylor Art Museum.

Compared to Mr. Nanjo, it is generally believed internationally that Tonks' aesthetic taste is more classical.

When evaluating a work of art, the focus will also be on the color or shape of the work itself.

therefore.

Compared with previous years.

In this Biennale, if nothing unexpected happens, the exhibition areas for installation art and plastic arts will be reduced.

There will be more pure painting works, and at the same time, the requirements for the painter's technical skills in color, line and structure will increase accordingly and become more picky.

This can also be seen from the list of members of the organizing committee's expert panel of judges released on the official website.

The breadth of careers has been narrowed, while the professionalism of painting has been raised.

Voting judges.

Many writers, famous directors and journalists are missing.

Most of them are pure painters and art critics.

In this situation.

If you want to engage in art that is original and has a high threshold for appreciation, you must at least have well-known artists who can be specially invited to participate in the exhibition.

otherwise.

The auditions are like a battlefield where thousands of people are competing for a single-plank bridge and a large group of people are fighting for a small exhibition booth.

Without highlights in painting, it would be difficult to overcome it purely through creativity.

“It’s another small step towards the Singapore Biennale.”

Gu Weijing smiled.

Last week, Katsuko Sakai received the notification that she had passed the second round of review.

He wasn't too worried about himself either.

The entry threshold has been raised.

Two Lv.5 and one Lv.6 painting skill levels should not be blocked by a single threshold.

This level can be considered excellent among professional painters in the entire Southeast Asia.

In previous years, one could directly aim for the award.

The first and second rounds are also preliminary reviews.

Usually the works are not handed over to the judges.

Expert resources are very valuable.

There are thousands of submissions, and the judges certainly don't have the time to review them one by one.

It is the responsibility of the chairman of the organizing committee and the staff in the curator's office.

The real key is the three wheels.

The three rounds will be a real competition leading to the final round. After the image data of the work is handed over to the organizing committee, there are only three possible reply emails.

One is to be rejected directly.

The second is to affirm your artistic level, but because the booths in the main exhibition area are too crowded this year, we will coordinate whether you are willing to be downgraded from the master group to the ordinary group and participate in the peripheral secondary competition unit or non-competition unit.

The last one left... is naturally the business class ticket to Singapore's brightly lit Esplanade, which is what all applicants dream of.

Fall into hell, ascend to heaven, or stay on earth.

Whether the efforts over the past few months will pay off, all will be revealed in the next one to two weeks.

There will be a fourth round of final review before the exhibition opens.

No works will be eliminated in the final review.

This is to designate individual booths for the painters selected for the art exhibition and their works.

They are all works of the master group.

Whether you are placed in a central booth illuminated by spotlights, at the entrance of a busy venue, or thrown directly into a corner like a toilet, the attention you receive will naturally be completely different.

When voting, even if the judges discuss the work first or last, these seemingly insignificant details will significantly affect the final award results.

In all forms of visual art, the judging process is inevitably influenced by preconceived psychological factors.

You first see a work you like and think you can vote for it.

Then when you watch the rest of the works, you will naturally have some prejudice.

It must be obviously good enough to squeeze the previous opponent out of the list that the judges have already written in their minds.

It's not uncommon for people to just not bother to read the rest of their work.

The probability of winning awards in the peripheral exhibition areas of an art exhibition is usually less than one-third of that in the central golden area.

The situation in film and television will be even worse.

Over the years, the only case of a competition film that was shown in the last round of the Venice Art Festival and succeeded in the voting was in 1988. But that's a story for another time.

As long as you are shortlisted for the main competition unit, everything is possible.

Only after passing the third round of review will you be eligible to discuss the probability of winning the award.

Gu Weijing forwarded a copy of this email to Lao Yang's email address.

Then he opened his phone and selected "Cao Xuan", the contact he had specially pinned to the top of his contact list in WeChat.

Gu Weijing had only added Lao Yang and Lin Tao on WeChat before.

That day, Mr. Cao talked to him on the phone for a long time. Before hanging up, the old man casually mentioned that he could let him know after he passed the preliminary review of the Singapore Biennale.

Then the next day, Lao Yang handed him a contact business card.

The WeChat name on the business card is Cao Xuan.

I don’t know whether this is the old man’s work WeChat or personal WeChat.

It’s different from Lao Yang who draws a nine-square grid in the morning and another in the afternoon, and every day a bunch of people cheer below, “Teacher Yang is great!”, and there are always rows of little hearts showing likes.

The content of this WeChat account is simply the same as that of a fraudulent imitation account.

Even high-quality imitation accounts are not so perfunctory.

Except for the two words "Cao Xuan", the avatar is the original WeChat avatar.

The circle of friends is also blank.

He opened the chat page, typed a few words, exited WeChat, checked the time, and then deleted the message again.

It was midnight in Germany.

I'd better talk to Mr. Cao again in the afternoon.

Gu Weijing closed the email, opened the uni-assist website in the browser favorites, entered his username and password to log in, and clicked the bachelor's degree application option on the application page.

The web page refreshes.

It shows that his VPD qualification has been successfully determined.

VPD is equivalent to Germany's high school graduation qualification. He will convert Gu Weijing's high school transcript into a transcript recognized by local German universities.

Website tips.

Because Gu Weijing did not submit the EU German B1 certificate or TOEFL (German) test scores, he could only study in a major taught purely in English at the university, or choose to take an extra year of preparatory courses.

At present, his application has been forwarded to the admissions office of the Hamburg Academy of Fine Arts, and the other party updated his admission progress last night.

Uni-assist is only a platform for transferring grades, recommendation letters and other materials between candidates and the German University Alliance.

Gu Weijing cannot check his admission results directly.

This is how German university applications work.

Very old-fashioned.

Various websites are like gears, one after another.

He took the university registration account and password given to him in the email from uni-assist, went to the official website of the Hamburg Academy of Fine Arts, and copied and pasted the information to log in.

There was an Arabic numeral 5 on the inbox, reminding him that he had five unread notifications.

Gu Weijing was certain in his heart.

According to the experience of seniors.

Often a letter is enough to reject you.

In today's era of online applications, many European universities are no longer bothered to send paper rejection letters. They just say, "A person's success and achievement does not depend on any specific admission results, but on how you take advantage of the unlimited opportunities you will find when you finally enter university. I'm sorry..." and then tell you to get out with a polite formula of nonsense.

Those who send a lot of things are usually stable.

really.

The first few letters reminded him that a DHL international letter had been sent and asked him to check it, as well as some declaration documents required by overseas students sent by the Admissions Office, and guidance on how to fill out the Videx form for the German visa.

Gu Weijing opened the last email directly.

The email has the dual school emblem watermarks of the shield of the Academy of Fine Arts Hamburg in Germany and the lion and unicorn of the Royal Academy of Arts in the UK.

"Dear Mr. Gu Weijing:"

“Renoir once said that art is a changer of the real world and a guide for free souls. Art creation is always a manifestation of courage and fearlessness. They are not afraid of difficulties and they pursue their dreams. Since 2005, the “Menzel Turner - Master of Excellence Project” jointly established by the Hamburg Academy of Fine Arts and the Royal Academy of Arts is dedicated to finding such an outstanding existence.”

“Students admitted to the program will spend three years studying in Hamburg and go to the Royal Academy of Art for one year of advanced study. After successful graduation, they will eventually be able to obtain a bachelor's degree from the Hamburg Academy of Fine Arts and a master's degree from the Royal Academy of Fine Arts.”

“Generally speaking, the graduation rate of students at the Hamburg Academy of Fine Arts within a standard semester is only 19.8%, and the postgraduate program at the Royal College of Art is a two-year program, which is rare in the UK. Therefore, this will be a difficult course for ordinary people to complete. But we are not looking for ordinary people. This is destined to be a journey that only a few brave people can complete.”

"The work of admissions review is difficult and painful. Every year, the admissions office receives thousands of applications from the best students from all over the world. Due to the limited number of places, we cannot admit many students whom we hope to see on campus. There are only a few masters in an era, and only a limited number of people can become candidates for masters. Excellence is not enough for this standard. We can only accept the genius of the "best of the best." "

"I am honored to inform you, Mr. Gu Weijing, that you are the candidate we consider to be the "best of the best". We are impressed by your talent, outstanding contribution, passion for study and work, and sense of responsibility to your family..."

Gu Weijing leaned back slightly.

He took a sip from the teacup next to him.

nailed it.

He knew that applying to the Hamburg Academy of Fine Arts should not be difficult for him, but he was still a little worried about whether he could be admitted to this outstanding master program.

after all.

Not only is the Hamburg Academy of Fine Arts a good school.

The Royal College of Art's comprehensive ranking has long dominated the top spot in a large number of art university rankings, and it is also the only full-research art school in the world.

The UK is famous for its poor Master's degree.

Even for schools like Cambridge, Oxford, and Imperial College, applying for a master's degree is not as difficult as you might imagine.

The Department of Arts is the best of the best.

The Royal Academy of Arts is an exception.

The difficulty for art students to apply for graduate school is about the same as the difficulty for someone who wants to be a lawyer to become a "Harvard golden boy".

Every year, people’s brains are stolen and dogs’ brains are beaten out.

I got it done in one go and got a double-yolked egg straight away.

Although the admission letter was a bit corny, Gu Weijing didn't know how the admissions office could see his "outstanding spirit of contribution, passion for study and work, and sense of responsibility towards family" from the application materials he submitted.

But the admission letters from famous European universities are all in this style, praising each of their admitted students to the point of being rare in the sky and unparalleled on earth.

Considering the difficulty of applying for this "Master Program", such praise is not too blatant.

Being praised is always a very pleasant thing.

Gu Weijing continued reading happily.

"Congratulations, Mr. Gu Weijing, you have been admitted to the Menzel Turner - Master of Watercolor Program. Please make a decision and reply before July 7st..."

Wait?
It seems like something strange has been mixed in.

Gu Weijing was suddenly stunned.

I took the acceptance letter back and stared at the description of "Watercolor Department" in a daze.

Watercolor faculties.

Hey, hey, hey, didn’t I go to learn oriental art from Mr. Cao?
How did I suddenly get admitted to the watercolor department?

(End of this chapter)