Almighty painter

Chapter 729 Suddenly, something was wrong with the air (Part )
Miss Elena likes Katsuko Sakai's honesty and straightforwardness.

"Did you draw this picture yourself?" she asked.

Katsuko Sakai nodded.

"That's fine."

Anna nodded and smiled gently, faintly and brightly.

It's really different - "It feels completely different to listen to someone's description from word of mouth and to actually talk to her face to face and exchange smiles with her."

Katsuko Sakai thought to herself.

Not long ago, on this floor, standing in a similar position, listening to the conversation and laughter of his father and Director Tonks in the office not far away, Shengzi felt that apart from the works, a lot of the conversations and interactions at art exhibitions were just formulaic courtesies.

Where have I seen you, and where have you seen me?

All kinds of things here.

Countless repetitive people repeating repetitive lines and making repetitive laughter.

Laughed once.

And laughed a thousand times.

Boring, uninteresting and tasteless.

Katsuko Sakai just thought that she had summed up the social rules between people, but a short conversation with Miss Elena revealed fallacies and counterexamples to this rule.

Even if the woman is in a wheelchair, the story she talks about is "Where have I seen you before?"

When Miss Elena opened her mouth, it felt completely different from her father's social conversation, which had the aroma of donut-like milk and baked wheat flour.

She was so beautiful that she naturally became the center of conversation, with a kind of stern and graceful majesty.

She is so strong that she doesn't need any hypocritical courtesy. During the conversation, there is a kind of sincerity that goes her own way.

When the other person's light chestnut eyes look at you with a smile flowing from them.

Anyone would feel that it was a smile as precious and pure as gold.

Such a pure smile without any impurities is something that a person can only encounter a few times in his life.

She's actually smiling at you.

Without any flattery, fawning or artificial joy.

Anna Elena, from the moment she was born, she never had to try to please anyone.

Never.

After only meeting for a few minutes, Katsuko Sakai realized that the rumors were not true, at least one thing.

In real life, Miss Elena is far from being as unapproachable as she is portrayed in rumors or video programs.

After a few short conversations.

Shengzi discovered that she was a person who loved to laugh. She could easily make the whole city feel happy and cheerful with her laughter.

"Ms. Elena..." Shengzi began.

"Anna, just call me Anna." Miss Elena said with a smile to the painter girl who discovered Grandma Kara's posthumous works.

"Have you seen my painting?" Shengzi asked.

"of course."

That day.

When all the interviews and joint activities are over, the number of tourists gradually decreases and the museum is gradually closing.

Anna walked alone to the booth downstairs where Katsuko Sakai's works were hung.

"The So-Called "Cherry Blossoms"" - Miss Elena could easily tell that it was a work of art whose composition was created with reference to the abstract elements in the famous anti-war oil painting "Guernica" by Spanish painter Picasso.

The painting is a surrealist work created by Picasso based on the bombing and massacre of the Spanish town "Guernica" by the fascist Nazis.

This painting is similar.

However, the length is much smaller and the color is much brighter.

At that time, the documentary "Nanjing Incident" broadcast by Japan's NTV TV station about the Nanjing Massacre won a news award and caused controversy in Japan.

When Picasso created "Guernica", he only used three colors: black, white and gray to create the pain, suffering and bestiality that the fascist war brought to mankind.

This work uses three colors: red, white and yellow.

It is the color of blood, elegiac couplets and soil, and it is also the three most common colors of cherry blossoms. Katsuko Sakai uses a more impressionistic and bloody and straightforward way to show the pain, disaster and unforgivable atrocities that the Japanese invaders brought to mankind during World War II in the name of the so-called "cherry blossom" spirit.

The nameplate next to the work quotes the original words of the NTV documentary director.

"——If I don't restore the truth and don't stick to it, I don't think it can be considered a work that can stop war in the true sense."

"The idea is very good, very brave, and very persistent. However, for the work itself, a 14-year-old girl painted such a grand and cruel topic, with a little bit of abstract elements. It is inevitable that there is a problem of paying more attention to the picture design than to the emotional expression. The brushstrokes are led by the idea you want to express, rather than the emotions you want to express."

Anna commented.

She probably really admires the other person.

Judging from the intensity of "Anna's Sharp Comments"'s attacks in the past, Miss Elena's current attack power is not even as strong as biting you with the little fangs of a sloth bear.

"However, for a young painter who is only fourteen years old, this is not a big problem."

The woman spoke to Sakai Katsuko very gently.

"I was holding a collection of Hayao Miyazaki's illustrations in my hand, looking at your work in front of me, and I heard the piano music that was played fifteen minutes before the Western Art Museum closed to remind visitors that the visiting time was over. It was Ryuichi Sakamoto's "Merry Christmas - Mr. Lawrence."

“The music, the artwork, the time, everything is matched appropriately. Hayao Miyazaki and Ryuichi Sakamoto are both the most representative and outstanding artists in Japan, and at that moment, I remembered the name of another young painter who deserves attention.”

"Sakai Katsuko. Not Sakai Kazunari's daughter, but Sakai Katsuko. At the time, I didn't even realize that your father was Sakai Kazunari."

Miss Elena said calmly: "I was wondering, one day, you will become a real great artist?"

"thanks, I will."

Katsuko Sakai said with a smile.

It’s not that I will “try hard”, but that “I will”.

Interesting.

There is really no affectation or awkwardness at all.

"Shouldn't it be that whether I can become a great painter or not doesn't matter, I only care about painting well and producing my best works?"

The woman looked at Miss Sakai's baby face.

Shengzi was stunned for a moment.

"Oh, I listened to the podcast salon you recorded with Mr. Sloth. When I said I thought you were worth paying attention to, I wasn't just being polite."

Miss Elena responded with a slight teasing.

"It does make some sense." Katsuko Sakai shook her head and then nodded.

Anna smiled softly again.

In the past five minutes, she had smiled at Kazunari Sakai's daughter more times than she had at anyone else in the past month.

It's so cute.

Her understanding of Katsuko Sakai originated from their encounter at the National Museum of Western Art in Tokyo four years ago, and was deepened by her various investigations into Ms. Sakai over the past few days and her conversations on the podcast.

In the past, Shengzi had left a good basic impression on Anna.

She is also one of the discoverers of "The Old Church in the Thunderstorm".

After Anna had basically dispelled her doubts about them conspiring to forge Grandma Kara's paintings, it was naturally a good thing.

When they met in person, the feeling that Katsuko Sakai gave Anna was very different from just gazing at her from afar or chatting through a voice call.

In the past, Anna's affection for Katsuko Sakai was mostly the kind of favor that a superior bestows upon a "meritorious official."

Her love for Katsuko Sakai is the same as that of a collector for an interesting and exquisite Russian nesting doll, a purely appreciative love.

now.

Miss Elena found that Katsuko Sakai was much more interesting than she had imagined.

at least.

She was not the kind of girl she had inferred based on Katsuko Sakai's past works and interviews - a porcelain doll-like painter who appeared gentle on the outside but had relatively closed emotions inside and was indifferent to anything except painting.

A person without a soul cannot create a work with a soul.

Such people may be able to easily reach the pinnacle in terms of technique, but they will always be short of true lasting greatness, with a hint of mysterious charm.

The history of the development of fine arts has proved that countless masters of art who depict lines and structures, after reaching high levels of penmanship, ultimately all transformed the expression of technique into the expression of emotion.

This is also what Anna just mentioned, the hidden flaw in the painting of Miss Katsuko that she had seen before.

She had worried.

What he saw was an enhanced, pure version of "Van Doorn PLUS".

If you are truly devoted enough to the path of art, then this route cannot be said to be necessarily wrong. It can only be said that there will be regrets and imperfections in the process of climbing the peak of art.

After just a few minutes of conversation.

Anna quickly dispelled such doubts.

The other person is a painter with a lovely soul.

When a porcelain doll has a soul, it is no longer a collectible.

She is a truly lovely girl who can make Miss Elena truly like her.

"I have seen not only your works in the Western Museum that day, but also your works exhibited in the Singapore Biennale this time."

Anna is in a wheelchair.

She walked to the glass bridge on one side and looked down at the hall on the ground floor.

Art exhibitions often have such designs. The ceiling of the first floor hall is very high, or in other words, it is almost not high at all.

In order to ensure natural lighting, solar energy shines from the top ceiling all the way to the bottom floor, and also to people's sight.

The marble floor reflects the sunlight like water waves.

The wind blows over the water, creating layers of golden waves.

Miss Elena looked at the booth at the entrance of the Biennale.

Four years ago in the afternoon, she was staring at the little girl who was surrounded by reporters and being interviewed in the art gallery.

Same people.

Same scene.

The painting, however, is completely different.

A total of six different works of art are displayed on booths 1 and 2 on the left and right sides of the Biennale entrance.

A rough stone sculpture.

A very South Asian Amaravati style root.

A colorful collage.

A large paper-cut work and two paintings.

When Anna arrived at the Esplanade, she noticed that the nameplates below the two paintings both had Sakai Katsuko's English name on them. "One is 'Girl Reading Poems to Cats', and the other is 'Forest Princess'."

Miss Elena read out the names of two paintings from her memory.

"Yes."

Ms. Sakai nodded. "It also has another name called 'Quiet, Empty, Mysterious'."

In order to take care of the feelings of ordinary audiences, the symbolism of the title of the work itself is weakened, making it seem that the creator is not intentionally showing off high concepts.

At the last moment before the final exhibition, Katsuko Sakai followed her father's advice and named the work she created with Koko as the model "Forest Princess" to be more straightforward and concise.

"I understand."

Anna nodded.

She paused and continued, "Quiet, empty, mysterious. I understand."

"Ms. Katsuko, I saw several very interesting and excellent paintings at this Biennale. 'Twelve Arhat Cats', 'Bukit Timah', 'New Three Living Buddhas'..." Ms. Elena looked at the booth at the entrance on the ground floor. "Both of your works are among them."

At an international biennial, perhaps only every five, ten, or even fifteen years will a great universal work appear that would be included in high school art textbooks.

Every year, the International Biennale will always have many excellent exhibits that can be included by art academy professors in their classroom PPT templates for explaining excellent paintings or in the annual collection of selected art works.

So far.

Miss Elena has not found any great paintings in the exhibition.

Neither does Detective Cat's work.

A woman will not make subjective comments based on her personal preferences for a painter.

Detective Cat's technique might just qualifies as "great".

The idea is not good.

It is a warm work, an excellent work, but not a great work.

Anna believes that DetectiveCat already has the foundation for greatness.

With her help, Ms. Cat will have the chance to paint something truly great and monumental one day.

but.

That would not be today, and certainly not this Lion City Biennale.

The gap between the "Cat" series of watercolor drawings and "Bukit Timah" is the gap between outstanding excellent works and ordinary excellent works, the gap between great techniques and excellent techniques, but not the gap between great works and excellent works.

Based on her experience, Ms. Elena judged that the highest gold award of this Biennale should be between "Cats" and "Bukit Timah".

Except Bukit Timah.

There were also several excellent works that caught Anna's eyes.

What impressed her most were the two oil paintings that Katsuko Sakai placed at the entrance of the exhibition.

The most special one is the "New Three Bodies of Buddha" by a German painter in the special exhibition area.

Buddha, Ares, and the goddess of good fortune and money, gods from different mythological religious systems, constitute three different bodies of Buddha on the canvas.

In terms of size.

That oil painting is probably the largest work in the Biennale.

Even when judging awards at art exhibitions, the judges will not simply judge based on size, whether it is installation art or painting art.

The longer the article, the more effort the creator has put into it.

You have invested more time and money, so it is reasonable that the larger the size, the more popular it will be when it comes to awards.

When collectors commission paintings from painters privately, painters of the same level often require the finished work to be larger and the price to be charged higher.

A Japanese entrepreneur customized a personal portrait from Kazunari Sakai.

If it's an 8x10 inch work that can fit in a small frame, you might be able to buy three truckloads of donuts with that money.

If you want to paint a portrait as big as "New Three Bodies of Buddha".

I am afraid.

The fee would be enough to buy a small donut factory.

Not just big.

The graphic design of "New Three Bodies of Buddha" is also very interesting.

The oblique triangle composition, like the tilted brick towers in the city of Venice, expresses the dynamics of gravity in a stable state.

Next to the Buddha stand the Greek god of war and the goddess of money. It is the tallest of the three statues and the highest point of the triangle composition. However, unlike those typical religious disciplinary paintings, it is also the location of the sun and the direction from which the light comes.

The sun shines brightly.

The painter adopted a very unusual approach.

The Buddha was hidden in darkness, with light and shadow flickering beneath his topknot.

in contrast.

The goddess of money and good luck is completely exposed to the strong sunlight.

The colors are bright and sparkling.

Miss Elena appreciates this unconventional and creative composition style.

This kind of composition design is very much like a metaphor for the upper-class art society - the success or failure of an artist's career is determined by many things other than "Buddha" and art itself.

Power, money, luck.

Self-righteous artists vied fiercely for the chance to win awards at the exhibition.

After achieving success and fame, the art master who was determined to oppose consumerism and materialism made a fortune by selling his artworks at high prices in the consumer market, and bought a Ferrari sports car and a private jet.

So--

If the success of a painting represents the success of power, then where is the space for art itself?

If the original intention of art awards was to encourage artists who do not compromise with the market, now the purpose of winning is to sell the works at high prices.

So what is the significance of the award?

When the sun shines on the faces of Miss Good Luck and the God of War Ares, it illuminates the glittering money everywhere that people are fighting for.

Amid the hustle and bustle of the human world, where has the so-called "Buddha" himself gone?

Anna read the subtle irony conveyed by the painting.

Not spicy.

Nothing serious.

It's like biting into a grain of unground black pepper in the pasta.

It tastes slightly numbing at first, and the aftertaste makes the judges smile.

This level of implicit expression taps into the depth of the work's content without affecting the work's participation in exhibitions and awards.

Just like British rock singers shouting about their rebellion against the upper class, they should cry bitterly at the knighthood ceremony, or kneel down and sob in front of Her Majesty the Queen of England.

The anti-consumerist art master should buy a luxurious manor.

In this sense, art society is quite divided.

Reflecting people through paintings?

Yes and no.

This is really a philosophical question.

Although the concept and composition of this painting are not as sharp, profound and brave as the "So-called "Cherry Blossoms"" that Katsuko Sakai painted when she was a child, it is obviously a better, more powerful and more unconventional expression than the formulaic environmental call made up of 16000 cans in "Bukit Timah".

It is also more popular with women.

The innovation contained in the brushstrokes of the German painter's work was more refreshing to Miss Anna than the CDX Gallery, which spent a lot of effort and tens of thousands of dollars to build a miniature model of Xishan as an exhibition stand.

The beauty of the West, the charm of the East.

She was deeply impressed by the fusion of oil painting and Chinese painting techniques.

Compared to the works of "Bukit Timah" by middle-aged second- or third-tier international painters who have been in the art world for many years, it loses only in terms of technical proficiency and the degree of completion of the work.

The work "New Three Bodies of Buddha" itself is not particularly complete.

The brushstrokes seem a little hasty.

The mood is also a little dull.

But for an artist who is trying to bravely explore a special painting style that is different from his predecessors and has a strong personal style, they are not a big problem.

The flaws are not concealed.

The value of composition and painting ideas can already cover up some mistakes in technique and emotion.

It can even be said that, apart from the paper in Asian Art, the excellence of Detective Cat is expected. The excellence of Takeda Tomoma is the kind of excellence that is always present in every major international biennial, which is full of formulas and routines, but has a very high degree of completion and a solid foundation.

The new style of painting, "New Three Bodies of Buddha", which is a fusion of Eastern and Western styles, is the biggest surprise that Ms. Elena encountered at the Singapore Biennale from the perspective of writing art criticism.

The composition of the oblique triangle.

Anti-routine conception.

A brushstroke that blends the East and the West.

Each one is very interesting.

The encounter at the National Museum of Western Art four years ago made Anna firmly remember the promising name "Sakai Katsuko".

So this time.

In the Esplanade, the name that Miss Elena remembered was the German painter "Cui Xiaoming".

His Chinese painting skills are slightly inferior to those of Gu Weijing who was able to paint "Wisteria Flowers", and his oil painting skills are obviously not as good as those of Katsuko Sakai who is next to him.

But both painting methods can be used, and they can be initially integrated with each other.

Really good.

What he lacks is time to polish and carve.

From an awards perspective, "Three Bodies of Buddha" is much worse than "Cats" and "Bukit Timah", and there is definitely no hope of it winning the gold award.

But from Anna's personal perspective.

The painting of "Bukit Timah" is like the Xishan exhibition stand beneath it. The overall shape has been determined. If the painter is given more time, even another twenty years, the most he can do is to carve the texture lines clearer and more three-dimensional.

After all.

The Maldivian painter could only paint a slightly more complete version of "Bukit Timah".

But Cui Xiaoming is different.

If we give him another twenty years, he will definitely have a promising future, a brilliant and magnificent future.

If you're lucky enough.

He may be able to touch the boundary of establishing a new school of thought.

Miss Elena plans to find an opportunity to meet the other party in the next few days.

(End of this chapter)