Almighty painter

Chapter 8 Master Cao Xuan
Gu Weijing didn't know that at this moment, the world's most famous UP owner on the other side of the ocean was browsing the store homepage he had just created on Fiverr in his bulletproof Lincoln sedan.

He is now in a slightly excited mood, waiting to welcome his first major international art project.

This morning is the official start of the [Shwedagon Pagoda Mural Restoration] project.

According to the expected procedure, there will be a small official ceremony in the morning. In addition to the invited artists, the mayor of Yangon, Dong Xia, and the staff of the Indian embassy will all appear, and my grandfather also needs to be present.

After Gu Weijing came back from his morning run, Gu Tongxiang was ready to go.

After he took a brief shower and changed into decent clothes, Gu Weijing sat in the back seat of the car.

There were originally two cars parked in the parking space in front of the book gallery.

One was a cheap Volkswagen SUV that I bought a few years ago, which is very common on the streets of Myanmar. During the Chinese New Year, my uncle and aunt drove away when they took their cousin back to their natal home.

Mr. Gu Tongxiang now drives an old car, a 1983 Lexus LS. He got second-hand cars from an RB dealer in the 90s.

There is also a little story about that era.

When the old man was young, there were few people in Myanmar who studied art, and even fewer people could appreciate Western paintings.

Regardless of his family’s objections, Gu Tongxiang mortgaged the house and a few small yellow croakers left by his elders, and got a few old Victorian oil paintings left by missionaries in Southeast Asia in the [-]th century from a Franco-Burmese hybrid whose ancestors were colonial civil servants. .

Antiques in prosperous times, gold in troubled times.

As the place with the worst economy in the world, everyone wants to fill their stomachs, and what they sell is the price of cabbage.

Later, some RB businessmen came to Myanmar to build a factory, which coincided with the climax of the RB bubble economy. The entire RB businessmen were buying the whole world with boldness and large sums of consumption. The entire art market followed the rising tide. Made a fortune.

Their family is not very rich in Myanmar now, but Gu’s Book Gallery has grown from a small workshop to a store with several hundred square meters, and Gu Weijing can now afford expensive art classes in international schools, and most of them have the eyes of the old man back then. credit.

"Who is running the mural restoration project?"

Gu Weijing asked expectantly, he still doesn't know which master is the person in charge of the whole project.

"Guess..." Gu Tongxiang made a fool of himself.

"Just guess."

Gu Weijing sat up straight and counted with his fingers.

"Since it is an official international project, I guess Myanmar will definitely invite internationally renowned artists. It is also the restoration of murals in oriental temples. At least it must have a foundation in fine brushwork, and it cannot be a purely Western-style painter. Such a scope is not enough. big."

"The great painters of Dongxia, Lin Tao, Wei Ziming, Tang Weiqing...or RB's Akira Koya, Hideka Tanaka, Kassei Sakai..."

Gu Weijing's grandfather, who kept shaking his head from the rearview mirror of the car, became more and more puzzled.

This is already the essence of the painters in the entire East Asia. If any one of them has won important international awards, who else could it be.

"Wait, it can't be...it can't be Mr. Cao?"

He suddenly thought of a possibility, and his heart beat a beat slower.

"That's right, it is Cao Xuan, Master Cao, who is in charge of the mural restoration work this time." Gu Tongxiang knocked on the steering wheel hard.

Mr. Cao Xuan, a native of Huizhou in the Eastern Xia Dynasty, is a representative of the Jiangnan School of Painting.

Taishan Beidou, which can be called the master of Chinese painting.

Compared with oil paintings, Chinese paintings, especially modern Chinese paintings, have received a cold reception from foreign buyers in the European auction market. Even for some gem-level masterpieces, most of the bidders are Asians.

But Cao Xuan... the name is an exception.

Relying on his unique oriental aesthetics and exquisite painting skills, he conquered the prejudiced foreign judges. He is the first Asian face in history to win all the internationally renowned art awards.

Just to put it this way, Cao Xuan is the only one in the world of traditional Chinese painting who can fetch $800 million to $1000 million for his works at auctions.

Many people don't know what this concept is.

You know, even some of Monet's works can be won for only a million dollars.

"How could it be Teacher Cao? He is almost 90 years old."

Seeing this kind of old gentleman who is like an idol in the eyes of young painters, Gu Weijing was not only happy, but also a little disbelieving in his tone.

The names he mentioned before are certainly well-known, but compared with Mr. Cao, they are still an order of magnitude worse.

Every gem-level artist like Cao Xuan has his own long creative cycle, and it may take several years of undivided conception and creation to complete a piece of work.

These masters are not short of money, but also have eccentric tempers. Few of them are willing to preside over the work of mural restoration, which is tiring, time-consuming, and suspected of being old.

And as long as they don't want to, no one will ask them to move them. Even if you offer [-] million dollars, others will just treat it as fart.

Gu Weijing also knew that Mr. Cao announced the closure of his pen five years ago.

Now he is invited by Hamburg University of the Arts to serve as the dean and lifelong professor of the Department of Oriental Art in Germany. He only gives lectures occasionally and has retired long ago and no longer paints.

"It's luck to invite Master Cao Xuan this time."

Mr. Gu stroked his somewhat gray beard.

As far as his age is concerned, strictly speaking, he is only half a generation younger than Mr. Cao.A painter of his age is just a witness to the legendary career of the other party.

Now that Cao Xuan is mentioned, there are still some children's excitement.

"Originally, Kazushige Sakai of Tama Art University was in charge of the restoration of the murals. The Myanmar government just sent a tentative invitation letter to the Hamburg Academy of Fine Arts out of politeness. They didn't even think about inviting that old man. Who knows... ..."

"Who knew Mr. Cao agreed?"

Gu Weijing asked.

"Yes, Mr. Cao has been teaching and educating people all these years, and he has put down his brush long ago to let more young people in the world understand the charm of oriental art."

Gu Weijing explained, "But the old man believes in Buddhism, and this time he heard that it was the repair of the murals of the Shwedagon Pagoda, a Buddhist holy place. After hesitation, he finally decided to contribute his own efforts."

The old man looked at Gu Weijing through the rearview mirror: "It is a rare opportunity to learn from Mr. Cao. You should cherish it. Grandpa has no way to match this kind of master's vision. If the other party is willing to give you some pointers , is enough to benefit you for a lifetime."

"I see."

The moment Gu Weijing nodded, a new prompt popped up in front of his eyes.

[Current task: Improve the proficiency of Chinese painting skills to Lv.3 semi-professional by drawing murals]

[Task Reward: (Knowledge) "Mojie Notes"]

[Task time limit: three days (current remaining time - 71 hours, 59 minutes and 59 seconds)]

(End of this chapter)