Almighty painter

Chapter 728: Anna and Katsuko Sakai had a good atmosphere when they first met
(This chapter is for tomorrow.)
"If you want to be a fascist, you might as well be a plague pig."

——Hayao Miyazaki, Porco Rosso
-
Katsuko Sakai also reached out her hand.

"real?"

She inquired, blinking.

Katsuko Sakai had never had the same memory before.

The woman in the wheelchair might just be a casual courtesy.

There are only so many people in the upper-class art circle. It is only natural that she met someone at a party, an exhibition, or a cafe near an art exhibition while following her father, who was eating a donut, and then forgot about it.

Shengzi was only puzzled by the fact that a woman like Anna Elena was different from others even if anyone just looked at her from a distance at one end of the long street.

During the thirty thousand days and nights that a person wanders "by the lake" in his life.

Even if she is not the unique frog you have been waiting for your whole life.

She is also a golden phoenix bird that only lands on the branches of the paulownia tree once every hundred years.

Someone who has seen such a beautiful creature fly across the sky with his own eyes.

Even if it's only for a moment, you will never forget it in your life.

Even if this golden divine bird did not fly over from the horizon, but was sitting in a chariot transformed into a wheelchair, leading a lion pulled by a large black and white spotted dog, and rolling through the clouds.

Same thing.

The bright and burning ruts will solidify eternity in the deepest part of other people's memories.

"It wasn't in Berlin, it was in Tokyo, at a children's art competition. It was about four years ago."

Anna didn't seem to be just being polite.

The woman looked at him for a moment, her chin and slender neck maintaining a unique and elegant balance, as if she was truly recalling and thinking.

"I was almost the same age as you are now."

She said, "In March 2019, I was still in college and was an intern at Oil Painting magazine. I was responsible for writing an article about the development of animation art. We followed the editor-in-chief to Japan to visit Mr. Hayao Miyazaki, and the location was set at the Western Museum in Ueno Park."

"After the interview, the editor-in-chief had already left, and I was watching the cherry blossoms on the glass corridor on the top floor."

Because of the painting style that is a fusion of the East and the West.

Hayao Miyazaki's film style is often strongly associated with Impressionist oil paintings.

The Tokyo Museum of Western Art is the museum with the largest number of Impressionist works in Japan.

It is located within Ueno Park.

The latter is a famous cherry blossom viewing spot in Japan.

March to April every year.

As winter is gone and before the first spring rain, cherry blossoms will bloom all over several nearby blocks.

The most famous thing about Ueno Park is not the pink thousand-cherry blossoms or mountain cherry blossoms, but a small pale white flower.

Standing on the top floor of the art gallery and looking down at the city, it feels like floating in the city's skyline, watching the heavy snow that came three months late covering the entire city.

"And that day, Ms. Sakai, you should have been there too."

Anna looked at Katsuko Sakai.

No one present had expected that the usually cold Miss Elena would show a strong interest in Sakai Katsuko the first time they met.

"Oh, it was March 19, the National Museum of Western Art. I remember it, I remember it! It was the one Sony held..."

Kazunari Sakai seemed to suddenly remember something.

He patted his belly, moved forward and tried to get closer to her, but was gently kicked on the calf by his wife.

Miss Elena obviously has something to say to her daughter. The two of them are in a good mood. Why are you meddling in their affairs at this time?
Is this the time for you to brush your face?

The blonde aunt didn't seem very satisfied with her husband's eyesight.

"Yicheng, come with me."

She whispered in her husband's ear.

When faced with a curator of Tonks's level, the husband went to show his face, curry favor, and use his meat bombs to smooth the way for the children.

Just right.

But when it comes to Miss Elena, this is no longer necessary.

The more you do, the more mistakes you make.

Her husband's 200 pounds of flesh may not be of much weight compared to the 600 years of wealth of Elena's family.

Instead, we should let nature take its course and let things take their course.

It's rare that Miss Anna would take the initiative to say something to her daughter. This kind of natural and fateful encounter is extremely rare and precious.

There’s no need for my husband to come closer to show his presence.

The blonde aunt smiled gently towards Miss Anna, turned quietly, and forcefully led her husband away.

"I remember that! It was an art competition for the Asian region held by Sony and Sony Columbia in North America. At noon that day, I took Katsuko to eat Sukiyaki, Hokkaido style. I just don't know if Elena..."

Uncle Sakai was grabbed by his wife, bleating and gradually walking away.

Curator Tonks, who was following behind, saw this scene from afar and felt a little envious.

How difficult is it to get a date with Miss Elena?
At the weekend, Tonks stood at the entrance of the exhibition, turning into a "husband-waiting stone", waiting anxiously, but she never saw the young lady herself.

Today, I finally got someone to "come" to the exhibition. I begged and pleaded with "Oil Painting" for half a day and finally managed to get a half-hour meeting time at a time convenient for the person.

For this opportunity to talk.

He didn't even have lunch, and used the time other British people would use to drink tea to rehearse his lines.

Tonks just hoped to make a good impression on Anna.

It's not just the desire to write one or two more excellent reviews in "Oil Painting" magazine.

More importantly.

The Elena Family Foundation is a major financial backer in the industry.

He licked the woman in the wheelchair until she was happy, and gave him a small portion of the annual sponsorship for the art industry from her foundation, which would be enough for him to have two more exhibition halls for his next exhibition.

If all the sponsorship fees for a year were given to him, Tonks could directly hold a large exhibition in London.

Who can resist such temptation?
Ever since he was rejected by his goddess at the graduation dance at the age of 18, Mika Tonks hadn't been eagerly looking forward to getting a "YES" from a girl for many years.

As a result, I was able to chat with Kazunari Sakai's daughter so easily?
Is it easier for young girls to find common topics?

I should have known this.

It’s not like Tonks couldn’t… well, he didn’t have a daughter, and if he had known this, he wouldn’t have been able to do anything, but he was really envious.

He held back, then looked at the Sakai Kazunari and his wife who were giving extra space to the young man, but in the end he didn't feel like being so shameless as to come over and bark a few times during the two people's conversation.

"gentlemen?"

Tonks noticed that his curatorial assistant was winking at him, as if he had something to ask him.

He looked at Anna and Katsuko Sakai who were chatting with regret.

He curled his lips.

After hesitating for a moment, Tonks turned and walked a few steps to the other side of the corridor, motioning for Lampchet to come over and talk in private.
-
That day in Tokyo.

Mr. Hayao Miyazaki gave Anna a collection of his personal illustrations.

Miss Elena was flipping through the illustrations of cherry blossoms and villages while looking at the city and cherry blossoms outside the glass window, her mind full of thoughts.

"Suddenly, I heard a commotion coming from below."

Anna looked at Katsuko Sakai in front of her.

She recalled: "At first I thought it was a tourist who recognized Miyazaki who was leaving, but later I found out that it was not the case. In the lobby below, there was a little girl with a bun sitting there. Her agent was putting a large picture frame on the display stand, and there were museum staff taking pictures of her."

"I'm pretty good."

Katsuko Sakai smiled faintly and replied.

She remembered it too.

There is indeed such a thing.

"Were you upstairs at the time?"

Katsuko Sakai never imagined that they were so close to each other many years ago.

"Yes. I was looking down from the third-floor bridge, and you were looking sideways at the picture frame behind you. You were wearing a pink floral dress, holding a certificate in one hand and a microphone in the other. You were smiling at the reporter, and you had a keen eye for the camera. At the time, I was wondering, where did that little painter come from?"

Anna tilted her head.

I wonder if he was imitating Katsuko's actions that day.

The woman, who looked as cold as a sculpture, had a rare hint of warmth and playfulness on her face.

“Then the interviews began.”

"I heard reporters' questions coming from the speakers downstairs, and they were in English, so luckily I could understand them."

"It's an art competition jointly organized by Sony and its North American film branch. The requirement is impressionist style. It's said that the winning works may be used as reference for the production of an animated short film by Sony Columbia." Although Sakai Katsuko is young, as a big devil-level contestant who has passed the Japanese youth art competition, she has participated in all kinds of strange competitions. "No matter whether it is used as film material or not, the final winning works can be exhibited in the National Museum of Western Art for at least one year."

"Many of the journalists who came at that time were foreigners."

Katsuko Sakai explained.

"As far as I can remember, the name of your painting should be -"

"——《The So-called 'Sakura'》."

Katsuko and the woman in the wheelchair spoke together, but one used English and the other used the Japanese name used when the work was created.

The two looked at each other and smiled.

Shengzi smiled because she didn't expect that Miss Elena actually remembered her painting.

Anna seldom smiles at others, but she made an exception for Katsuko Sakai.

"I can still remember what you said in front of the camera."

"Cherry blossoms among flowers, warriors among men. From your words, I learned that cherry blossoms will only bloom after the temperature has been above ten degrees Celsius for ten consecutive days and spring has really warmed up. They will quickly wither in the first spring rain. Therefore, the ancients would say that the flowering period of cherry blossoms is half a decade, that is, seven days."

"It will bloom within these seven days, and it will also wither within these seven days. In just one week, it will go through its entire life. Cherry blossom is the national flower of Japan. In traditional culture, people like to compare beautiful cherry blossoms to samurai. They believe that the best warrior should be like cherry blossoms, living brilliantly and dying decisively."

Katsuko Sakai pursed her lips.

"The flower is the cherry blossom, and the man is the samurai." The girl said, "Watari Inazo said that the cherry blossom is the symbol of Bushido. Of all the flowers in the world, the cherry blossom is the most beautiful. Of all the people in the world, the samurai is the most prosperous."

Miss Elena nodded.

"I took a look at it and was not attracted at first. I was about to leave when I heard you say the following. The so-called samurai spirit certainly has a side that represents strength, fortitude, decisiveness, and loyalty. At the same time, it also has a side that is cruel, distorted, and obliterates humanity."

"Death without any lingering feelings, death without any scruples, death without any hesitation. Not only is he indifferent to his own life, but he is also indifferent to the lives of others." Katsuko Sakai interjected.

On the upper floor of the National Gallery that day.

Anna, who had already walked some distance away, heard the sound coming from behind her and suddenly stopped.

"——Using cherry blossoms to represent the samurai spirit, or even the samurai spirit to represent the national character, is to romanticize all these elements, romanticize cruelty, romanticize distortion, and romanticize the erasure of human nature. For a long time, such romanticization has had a great negative impact on Japanese society. When I was an exchange student in Europe, a classmate came up to me and said that in the movies, the Japanese would commit suicide by disembowelment if they failed to complete the tasks assigned by their lord. This is really cool and handsome. No, I told him, that's not cool at all..."

She stood still for a moment, then returned to the railing again, tilted her head and looked down, watching the fourteen-year-old girl telling her story to the reporters and the tourists attracted to the art gallery.

She looked at the eighteen-year-old Shengzi in front of her, as if she was looking at a fourteen-year-old girl that day.

"I remember you also said that this kind of cherry blossom-like spiritual metaphor also completely romanticizes war and aggression. It glorifies massacres as loyalty to the emperor, and glorifies militarist aggression as soldiers fulfilling their duties to the country. It turns the suffering of the lower-class people into a virtue of perseverance. If you can't face all this, you can't truly welcome change."

Anna flicked her palms.

"That day, I was on the third floor and listened to all your interviews verbatim."

The woman in the wheelchair smiled slightly.

"At the time, I thought to myself, hi, a 14-year-old girl can actually say that in front of the camera. She is really brave, isn't she?"

“Actually – a lot of the artistic interpretation of that painting was written for me by my mother.”

Shengzi shook her hair a little embarrassedly.

"She said that the art industry is an industry where angels and demons coexist. For some things, you have to choose them clearly without hesitation from the beginning. From a long-term perspective, it will be a good thing in every aspect."

That's how the arts industry works.

Angels and demons coexist; angels and demons stand side by side.

"She said that the artist's mission is not to oppose aggression, face life and death, face suffering, and praise humanity. Can it also be to praise aggression, ignore life and death, and erase humanity?"

(End of this chapter)