Almighty painter

Chapter 647: Second Exhibition Painting (Part )
Gu Weijing had been thinking about asking Shengzi whether she would go to the Good Luck Orphanage to paint today, as her parents had come from Japan.

"Yes, we will leave in a while. I have an appointment with Koko to do some painting."

It was only a short while before daybreak.

However, he received a reply from Katsuko Sakai almost immediately.

"My mother brought us presents specially."

After a while.

The second message followed.

"Okay, I'll pack my things for Singapore this morning, so I'll be there a little later, maybe around eight o'clock."

Gu Weijing typed.

He put down his phone, cleaned the room from top to bottom, and counted and put away all the belongings.

Gu Weijing walked out of the bedroom and simply washed up.

The house is empty and messy.

All the glass display shelves in the art shop have been cleared out.

Half-packed suitcases, half-open, were piled in the corner of the art shop's hall along with various crates padded with moisture-proof mats.

Everything they saw indicated that they were about to go on a long journey.

Yangon has a mild and humid climate.

After all, his own calligraphy and painting shop was not rented out.

If a house is uninhabited for a long time and moisture-proofing is not done properly, many things will become moldy within a year or two.

My cousin Gu Lin was admitted to the University of Huddersfield in the UK.

Gu Lin actually wanted to go to the United States to study at university.

She longed for the romance and passion of American universities, where parties were held every day, handsome guys drove luxury convertibles through the long streets of the campus, and the whole school went wild and partying when there was a football or ice hockey game.

But my aunt stopped me.

My family is moving to England anyway.

If aunt is ready, she will go and accompany me to study.

My uncle flew to London last Friday as the personal assistant of "National Painting Association member, contracted painter of the Ma Shi Gallery, cultural figure, great artist, Tong Xiang Gu".

He went ahead to check out the accommodation environment and look for a house.

The overseas stipend at the Ma Shi Gallery is quite generous.

According to what my uncle said from the agent.

In the center of London, this money may only be able to rent a small apartment, but if you don't mind commuting on the train for 40 minutes to an hour every day, you can find a pretty good single-family house in the suburbs.

Enough to accommodate a large family.

My grandpa, aunt and cousin will take the same flight tomorrow afternoon.

Grandpa and aunt worked until late at night to pack up things yesterday and haven't gotten up yet.

After realizing that her plan to set herself free in college would probably be shattered by her parents' constant following, my cousin immediately prepared to grab the tail of the happiness of youth.

She was invited by her best friend to go out all night last night and she didn't go home at all.

So the old house is very deserted.

Drops of water slid down from the awning at the door of the old house.

Gu Weijing thought again of Uncle Alai and the description of the city's temperament he mentioned.

The other party said that Yangon was a stuffy furnace, and the temperature of the coal ash underneath was almost enough to burn red steel, but from the outside, it still looked foggy, wet and steamy.

It is now the end of June.

Yangon has officially entered the rainy season a long time ago, and it is common for it to rain during the rainy season.

However, Gu Weijing had the illusion that there seemed to be extra rain this year.

It was like all the rain clouds in the world were chasing all the pedestrians in this city.

He stood under the eaves.

Looking at this foggy, wet, and steamy sultry city.

"I'm almost done with the illustrations for the exhibition. I've sent the electronic version to your email. Can you please see if there are any questions?"

Gu Weijing lowered his head.

On his mobile phone, he selected the electronic scans of the drawings he had created for "Cats" in recent days and sent them to his agent, Mr. Sloth.

Then Gu Weijing opened his umbrella and walked into the rain in front of him.

In the wet mist.

The temperament of everything became slow and heavy; even the cars that used to speed by seemed to be shrouded in misty air.

By the time he arrived at the Good Luck Orphanage, it was already an hour later.
-
In the golden sunshine.

The temperament of everything became quiet and peaceful. Even the busy Elena Manor in the past seemed to be shrouded in a relaxing golden gray.

When Miss Elena opened her eyes to the sound of soothing bells in the distance, it was already eight o'clock in the morning in Grize.

"Mr. Adrar said you've been feeling tired lately, so please don't let me disturb you."

Anna pressed the call bell beside the bed.

After a while.

The head maid of the manor wearing a white hat pushed open the door, followed by a personal maid holding a silver tray.

"I think having breakfast in bed occasionally is a very good choice." The slightly plump butler winked at the maple syrup muffins and coffee pot on the tray and said with a smile.

Anna nodded.

Living in a manor is a very tedious thing.

The dining table is an important social occasion and the most common place for all unmarried noble ladies to meet in the old days, second only to social balls.

Considering that the young peers who are invited to have dinner at home are often the younger generations of close friends of the family elders who have close connections in the political circle, or young talents with bright futures in the military.

Compared to some random handsome guy you hook up with at a dance, it is even more important.

and so.

The process of eating often becomes troublesome accordingly.

There are morning gowns for breakfast and long dresses for afternoon tea. Dinner is the most important place of the day to show off one's style. Even men's clothing, which is much simpler in style and grade than women's clothing, has many differences in style, such as big dresses, small dresses, blazer suits, jacket suits, tuxedos, etc. for different dinner parties.

It is also accompanied by various dining etiquette.

For example, during meals, unmarried daughters are obliged to pass the teacups to the older ladies present.

……

Anyone who casually puts on a shirt and goes out for a stroll with a donut in his mouth and a sip of coffee is committing social suicide.

In the harsh comments of the ladies of the upper class, he was basically the same as running naked on the street. Miss Elena changed her clothes at the dining table every day.

Not counting the matching headwear, earrings, brooches, watches and so on, the clothes for daily wear alone are more expensive than the total amount of three-piece suits that the well-dressed old man Gu has purchased throughout his life in order to show off on various occasions.

Many people don’t understand why in the novels of Balzac and Jane Austen, a piece of clothing wet by the rain can often make those bankrupt aristocrats who are pretending to be rich turn green in the face and want to fight with God.

Or why gowns, dresses, and bustles of all kinds become an important part of the legacy left to girls by mothers, aunts, and childless cousins.

This is because industrial production and the invention of chemical dyes have made clothes that people come into contact with on a daily basis very cheap.

Those truly couture ready-to-wear garments.

It is still very expensive and luxurious today.

If you knew that the various clothes in Miss Elena's closet are worth more than two million euros at the most conservative estimate, then you can understand what this means.

Louis XVI was dragged away and beheaded by a dog.

European monarchs did not dare to go too far, and upper-class men all over Europe began to wear military uniforms to show their hard work and simplicity, but they were still quite generous when it came to spending on girls.

Go back one hundred and fifty years.

The women in Count Elena's family, such as Kara, an unmarried lady of marriageable age.

In theory.

The money they spend on custom-made clothes at places like Printemps in one autumn in order to look presentable while having tea with the Prince of Bavaria or the Grand Duke of Saxony during the social season.

You can easily buy up an entire street in provincial France.

Take all the pearls and spend them like dirt - this is what the upper-class aristocratic culture of ostentation, wastefulness and dissoluteness is all about.

However, except for some very traditional families, social etiquette at the table is no longer as strict as it was in Victorian times.

Eating lazily in bed used to be the privilege of married women.

Young girls must dress up beautifully and quietly, like a flower waiting to be married, and appear at their seats at the dining table on time with a sweet smile.

This is called decency.

Anna sat up from the bed and asked her maid to place the small coffee table in front of her.

The butler placed a copy of the Austrian Fazinze, a copy of Oil Painting magazine, and a printed fax paper next to the coffee pot.

Elena's family was born into a military aristocracy, and although that was hundreds of years ago, the servants still kept the tradition of placing the important information they collected during breakfast where the master could read it easily.

Contents on the coffee table.

It also changed from the king's secret letters sealed with wax and the military mobilization preparations for the Austro-Prussian War to newspapers and the magazine "Oil Painting".

Anna fixed her hair.

Her eyes quickly passed over the Austrian Zeitung and picked up the Oil Painting magazine next to it.

Oil Painting magazine is published every two weeks.

When there is a large-scale biennial or an important interview with a celebrity, a special issue will be published.

This issue of Oil Painting magazine was just published last week.

Anna is now the head of the magazine's visual arts department, and all editorial comments and art appreciation are reviewed and finalized by her.

therefore.

When she flipped through the magazine, she basically only looked at the buyer's guide at the back and the section summarizing the week's art news.

"Damien Hirst announced his entry into the NFT field. It is no secret that the famous artist Hirst has a strong interest in NFT crypto art transactions. This time, the bold British has brought a different way of playing to the industry. Hirst announced that every time one of his NFT crypto artworks is bought, he will burn the physical painting corresponding to the NFT artwork to ensure the unique attributes of the work..."

"This autumn, the Singapore International Art Biennale will open. According to a report from Lianhe Zaobao, international curator Mika Tonks said in an interview with the newspaper earlier last week that he was "full of confidence" in this art exhibition. He believed that unlike previous ones, this Singapore Biennale would more deeply reflect the style of the times... During the exhibition, Oil Painting Magazine will follow up and report..."

……

Anna took a bite of her muffin.

His eyes quickly scanned the most popular news in these circles.

The Singapore Biennale is getting closer and closer. At the turn of summer and autumn, this year's New York Art Fair will be held at about the same time as the Singapore Biennale.

The Lion City Biennale is an art competition.

The New York Art Fair is an art fair.

In terms of specifications, the latter is even stronger.

New York is the center of modern art and one of the most important markets for art transactions.

Almost all the world-famous super galleries will participate in it.

International Biennials tend to be academic and confrontational; they are places where painters compete with each other and win reputation and applause from professional judges.

Art fairs, on the other hand, tend to be more commercial in nature. Although there is competition and confrontation, there are also opportunities to become famous with just one painting. For example, the turning point in Uncle Sakai's net worth was when his painting was sold at an art fair for nearly 30 pounds, thus catching the attention of senior critics.

But overall, art fairs are still a place where great painters who have already earned the respect of the industry can turn the fame and applause they received at the Biennale into money.

The magazine will send a team to follow up on both art events.

A deputy editor-in-chief of the Visual Arts Department, he is also a very important guest critic on the voting jury of this year's Singapore Biennale.

The Biennale organizing committee originally invited Anna.

Anna refused.

No one is surprised.

The judges of the International Biennale seem so impressive... well, they are indeed impressive. Even Kazunari Sakai would be happy to join the jury to brush up his resume and make some friends if it weren't for the fact that his daughter had to avoid suspicion when participating in the exhibition.

But Anna's work mailbox contained too many invitations of similar level to read through. But unless she could divide herself into several parts, it would be impossible for her to go to all of them.

She is currently the Visual Section Manager and Art Direction Director for Oil Painting magazine.

Very busy, okay.

It's like Jane Arnold, who couldn't even take on a big contract that most illustrators could only dream of in their lifetime, so he needed to bring Detective Cat into the fold.

Different identities.

For some people, it is a precious opportunity that is enough to change their lives and is worth risking their lives for.

To some people, it's just a normal thing.

The people at the magazine all thought that Miss Elena would focus her work on the New York Art Fair during this period.

It's not like she was invited to be the president of the Venice Biennale, so she can just turn it down.

Even the gold medal works of the Singapore Biennale usually have a market value that is unlikely to exceed US$500,000, or even US$300,000.

The New York Art Fair is Gagosian’s home turf.

The winning bidder for each work can be worth several million dollars, and there is a small chance that a super work worth tens of millions of dollars will appear.

In comparison.

The latter is more important and more in line with the identity of the art director of Oil Painting magazine.

(End of this chapter)