Almighty painter

Chapter 83
If there is one thing that is most famous in Myanmar, it must be the jade market.

In its heyday, mainland businessmen came to Myanmar every year to buy jade from the jade market, and the transaction volume reached tens of billions of dollars, accounting for one-third of the Myanmar government's fiscal revenue, and the jadeite economy accounted for more than half of the national income.

Correspondingly, here is modeled on the emerald public market. Those who sell fish have a seafood market, those who sell fruit have a fruit market, and those who sell calligraphy and painting naturally have a calligraphy and painting market.

When Gu Weijing's taxi stopped, his uncle and a middle-aged man with shiny hair were already waiting at the door of the warehouse.

The middle-aged man was wearing a brown coat, with two upturned mustaches at the corners of his mouth. Because of long-term smoking, the beard was smoky brown.

"Mingla (hello)."

The mustache was very polite, and quickly opened the door of the taxi for Gu Weijing.

"Boss Wu, this is the nephew I told you about. The old man wants him to come and see the world this time." The uncle waved at Gu Weijing.

"Happy New Year."

Gu Weijing nodded towards the other party.

This Boss Wu is the Erdao dealer who sold the "Kingfisher Singing Bamboo" picture to their family before.

Today's calligraphy and painting fair was opened by Boss Wu and a few familiar colleagues. They control many small calligraphy and painting vendors in Yangon, and they are said to hold a lot of good paintings in their hands.

Several relatively large local galleries and all well-known collectors who are interested in antiques and old paintings have received invitation letters from Boss Wu and the others.

The market opened in the morning.

Gu Weijing saw that many people had gathered in the opened door of the warehouse, including his uncle.

The uncle has been running the calligraphy and painting business of Gu's Book Gallery in recent years.

Gu Weijing was not interested in this kind of thing at first, but this time it was a calligraphy and painting fair that favored old paintings from the last century.

The works of Impressionism have had great influence in the group of painters in the past 100 years.

He wanted to see if Boss Wu, a second-hand dealer with mixed works, had any works that met his requirements. Even if he couldn't buy them, it would be good to have them appraised and copied on the spot.

So after talking to the old man at noon, Gu Tongxiang sent him over.

Perhaps because of the problem with the painting "Kingfisher Singing Bamboo" at a glance, the old man admired Gu Weijing's eyesight.

This time, he was approved with a quota of two thousand dollars, including the five hundred dollars returned by Boss Wu, and put it in an envelope for a total of two thousand five hundred dollars.

U.S. dollars cannot theoretically circulate in Myanmar, but green Franklins have always been hard currency in any troubled area.

In private transactions, the exchange rate that these merchants can offer is even higher than the official exchange rate.

Their family is doing business with foreigners, and they usually like to accept US dollars.

Two thousand and five, plus Gu Weijing still has some money in Paypal, so the odds and zeros should be enough to buy a good painting.

This is also why he wants to come here to try his luck.

"Mr. Gu, right? You are really a dragon and a phoenix among people, amazing!"

When the mustache boss Wu saw Gu Weijing, he didn't neglect him at all because he was young. Instead, he picked on Thumbs.

This made Gu Weijing a little strange.

Boss Wu is much older than himself. Although the business of Gu's Painting and Calligraphy Shop is important to him, it can't be said that people point to their house for dinner.

Considering that the other party's previous transactions were not very authentic, Boss Wu should be more polite, but this attitude is already close to flattery.

Doesn't make sense?

"Your nephew is promising, and he was actually favored by Brother Hao. I heard that Brother Hao is very loyal to my younger brother. I think that in a few years, Mr. Gu will take care of me."

Boss Wu handed his uncle a Marlboro and lit a cigarette for him personally.

Ok,

Gu Weijing knew what was going on.

The sale and purchase of this kind of second-hand art dealers are divided into black and white.

Boss Wu's calligraphy and painting public offerings belong to Bai Dao's business, and it is the art dealers who go to the underground black market to make a lot of money.

Many of the paintings in their hands did not know they were obtained, and they might even be stolen goods. The smuggled goods purely for tax avoidance were considered clean.

European and American art museums, especially those not well-known private universities or art museums affiliated with churches with excellent collections, have been robbed and stolen once a month.

For famous paintings worth millions of dollars and tens of millions of euros, it is strange that they are not robbed ten times or eight times a year.

Interpol estimates that the annual art black market is a genuine tens of billions of dollars.

The bald boss Hao Ge is a tycoon engaged in this kind of underground black market and fake and stolen works of art.

Otherwise, I wouldn't be very proud to tell Gu Weijing that as long as I work for him, I can afford a Ferrari within one year and live in a villa within two years.

Boss Wu obviously didn't know where he heard the news, and he mistook himself as Brother Hao's subordinate, so he was a little frightened.

"You're mistaken. Brother Hao did approach me, but I refused. I just want to be a down-to-earth painter, and I don't have the ability to eat the rich. No matter what news Boss Wu hears, it's not true. "

Gu Weijing said with a blank face.

"Uh...this?"

Boss Wu with the mustache was obviously startled.

There is no way for a person like him to get on the road with Brother Hao. He never imagined that someone would refuse the opportunity to make a fortune with Brother Hao.

The uncle who was waving a cigarette and puffing away was also a little embarrassed.

Myanmar is more chaotic.

The more chaotic the place, the greater the influence of this underworld tycoon.

Ever since the news that his nephew was favored by Brother Hao came out, the uncle would obviously be looked at highly when he was doing business, and he actually quite enjoyed this feeling in his heart.

In his opinion, even if he doesn't want to get too close to Brother Hao, it's fine if he doesn't refuse or agree, there's no need to be so cold and not let others step down.

"I'll go, but your nephew will refuse Brother Hao's invitation?"

Boss Wu's tone was full of surprise, as if he was looking at a fool.

"Uh... Our family has strict family education."

Under Gu Weijing's stern gaze, the uncle finally answered honestly.

The smile on Boss Wu's face immediately became indifferent at a speed visible to the naked eye, shaking his head, muttering something in his mouth, as if walking away.

"Be more tactful! The world is not black and white." The uncle persuaded.

"Uncle, don't get too close to people like Brother Hao. It's best not to have any signs of it. White is white, and black is black. If you mix a drop of black ink into the white paint, you will never be able to wash it off."

Gu Weijing disagreed with his uncle's opinion. He shook his head, not wanting to continue the topic, and was about to walk towards the warehouse ahead, but was stopped by his uncle again.

"How much money did my dad give you?"

Uncle took Gu Weijing's hand.

In fact, he didn't feel bad for this nephew, and he didn't have as much opinion as his wife did about the fact that the old man wanted to pass on the family business to his nephew in the future.

His own daughter, Gu Lin, weighs a few pounds, and he has a sense of proportion.

It is obvious that she is neither suitable for painting nor business. In the future, she will be sent abroad to go to university for gold plating, and then she will be fine with finding a good son-in-law.

The uncle is also surnamed Gu, and knows that the family business passed down by the ancestors will eventually be inherited by someone.

My nephew is obviously the type with some talent for painting.

Uncle will be happy for him if he becomes famous and has a family in the future.

However, when he saw the thick envelope in Gu Weijing's hand, he was a little uneasy. He felt that such a large investment in calligraphy and painting had to be done by himself.

"What painting do you want to buy, I will help you as a staff member?" The uncle licked his lips. He had already regarded the money in the nephew's envelope as his own.

"It's not much money, it's all Myanmar currency."

Gu Weijing came with a mission, and he looked closely at the envelope in his hand.

He knew that when he nodded, the money in the envelope had nothing to do with him, so he immediately refused coldly, and then stopped talking to Uncle, and walked towards the warehouse where the public offering was located.

Although the auction of calligraphy and painting sounds mysterious, it is actually nothing more than an auction with open bidding.

The entire warehouse is about a few hundred square meters, and there are many booths. The booths are full of calligraphy, paintings and painting tubes. Next to them are the origin and introduction of this painting. Everyone has a small number plate when entering the venue. .

If you like this painting, then please put your intention price and amount in the small mailbox next to the painting, and the one with the highest price will win.

Gu Weijing walked into the warehouse and walked around casually.

He is not interested in other oil paintings or watercolors.

Eyes are only focused on works in the Impressionist style.

After all, Impressionism is one of the most influential painting genres in modern times. There are indeed many paintings with Impressionism or Impressionist techniques.

One of the most eye-catching is an oil painting called "Mountain in the Snow", which is a painting brought to Myanmar by a Japanese collector in the Taisho era.

This is also the king of bidders in this auction of calligraphy and painting, and the base price of the bidding alone is 1 US dollars.

From the Meiji era to the Taisho period, a large number of Japanese painters were influenced by the new trend of art, turning from classicism to impressionism, and many Japanese collectors love to collect impressionist works.

In 1921 alone, collector Matsukata Kojiro visited Monet himself and purchased nearly 20 Impressionist paintings from him.

It's a pity that although Japanese collectors hold a large number of super fine works of Impressionism, the one in front of Gu Weijing's eyes is not included.

From Gu Weijing's point of view, the level of this painting should be similar to the works of the master group in the Singapore Art Exhibition that he browsed before.

Not at the level of a master.

He released a painting and calligraphy identification technique.

Sure enough, there was almost no strong mental stimulation.

【Title of the work: "Mountain in the Snow"】

[Sketch technique: Lv.4 professional level 4102 (5000/[-])]

[Oil painting techniques: lv.5 professional level two]

The real value of this painting is that it was exhibited at the National Art Museum of Myanmar as part of a private special exhibition the year before last, and the insurance policy next to the painting stated that the standard of insurance at that time was [-] US dollars.

Not to mention ordinary people, many collectors cannot understand the artistic value and technical skills of a painting.

But the more stories that paintings can tell, the higher the price they can sell.

How much a collector is willing to pay for a painting depends first on the author and then on the calendar.

As for the quality of the painting itself, sometimes the size of the oil painting is not as important as the size of the oil painting in the minds of speculative art buyers.

For example, many of the seals next to ancient Chinese paintings were stamped by later collectors. If they are collected by famous collectors or royal families in history, they will appreciate in value.Conversely, if a modern ordinary person puts his own seal on it, it will depreciate in value, and if it is not good, he will be arrested for destroying cultural relics.

Not to mention non-professionals who regard art as financial speculation, even top art auction houses such as Sotheby’s and Christie’s like to use ratios to determine prices in purchase brochures issued to collectors.

For example, in Monet's "Water Lilies" series, the size is better, and the lotus leaves are more expensive, a symbol of this simple truth.

The transaction price of a "Water Lily" at the Brothers Auction House next door is 2000 million U.S. dollars. My "Water Lily" is bigger than yours, so it is better than yours, and it will sell for 500 million U.S. dollars!

This piece of "Mountain in the Snow" became the king of this public offering because the collector who once held it was well-known in Japan, participated in art exhibitions, and had insurance records.

Although the National Art Museum of Myanmar is not a well-known art museum, it is not those pheasant exhibitions used to fool people.

Many people were discussing around the painting. Gu Weijing estimated that the final transaction price of this painting, even if it did not meet the standard of [-] US dollars, would not be far behind.

For him, what attracted his attention more was actually a small [-]-inch Impressionist-style work in the corner.

Because that painting didn't have so many stories to tell, it was just an unknown work of a small French painter, so it received much less attention.

There are shadows of Impressionism in the painting, and there is a bit of aestheticism in the painter's brushwork, which should be the work of the painter in his transition period.

Although the reserve price for this painting was only 1700 US dollars, which was one-tenth of that "Mountain in the Snow", the oil painting technique itself even reached the third level of Lv.6 profession.

But it is still a pity that it is only a little short of the master's rating, but it still does not meet the minimum requirements of the task.

Gu Weijing came here around [-]:[-] noon, spent about three hours in the warehouse until [-]:[-] p.m., and saw hundreds of works.

Except for those two paintings, none of these works were even worthy of his calligraphy and painting appraisal technique, and most of them were extremely poor.

"It's a pity, after all, it's just a public offering run by a few calligraphy and painting dealers. Maybe I should go to the galleries in the diplomatic area in the afternoon to see if there are any high-quality works... But even if there are, can they let me move an easel to copy them? "

Gu Weijing felt a little lost.

This is the shortcoming of Myanmar, a country with relatively average artistic environment and economic conditions.

If you are in Dongxia, Japan or Europe, even in art galleries in second-tier cities, not to mention master-level works are everywhere, but it is still very easy to find one or two suitable works for copying.

Gu Weijing even walked around the miscellaneous area.

The painting and calligraphy works in the miscellaneous area are even less interesting. Many of them are the works of local students. Of course, the things here are not too expensive.

"Ok?"

Gu Weijing noticed that a woman who did not look like a collector's workplace OL had been wandering back and forth in front of a sparsely populated booth for a long time like a pendulum.

Her eyes were always inadvertently looking at the objects on the booth, and she was holding a lady's bag tightly in her hand, and her expression seemed a little nervous.

"Are you looking at the painting too?" Gu Weijing was a little curious and greeted politely.

"Uh... no."

The female Ol immediately shook her shoulders unnaturally.

She is not a collector herself, but a translator for the Yangon Tourism Department. Recently, the Yangon government has a big project.

Many international artists fly to Yangon.

A woman was visiting a painting and calligraphy night market with a master of painting. The well-known artist accidentally saw a very good work on a street stall.
The master didn't stop at the stall at that time, but promised her that she could take it within [-] U.S. dollars, and the extra money would be considered as a reward for the translation lady.

There is also a reason why the master himself did not buy directly.

The master is a leading figure in the painting world, and he looks very distinctive. There are quite a few people who can recognize him in the calligraphy and painting night market.

If the other party shows interest in a certain painting, it is very possible to raise the price on the ground. It may only cost a few hundred dollars, and the master may not even be able to get five thousand dollars if he buys it himself.

What the masters of the family enjoy is the pleasure of knowing the pearl with the eye of wisdom.

Otherwise, what kind of famous paintings are not available in auction houses.

Sure enough, when the translator found the small vendor, the other party only offered $200.The translation lady was not in a hurry to make a deal at that time, she felt that she could still grind it out.

Based on her knowledge of these small local vendors, she was confident in bargaining down the price to one hundred dollars.Although she is a bit greedy, one hundred dollars is what ordinary people in Myanmar earn in a month.

As a result, within a few days, when she went to the street stall again, there was nothing left.

The wage earner who looked at the stall said that his boss took all the things on the stall and put them on the market for calligraphy and painting.

The translation lady searched in this warehouse all morning, and only then did she find her goal again.

Fortunately, those who have the artistic vision of a master will always be a minority among the minority.

In particular, the objects were still placed in the miscellaneous area, and no one cared about them all morning. The few people who saw the painting shook their heads and left.

Seeing someone asking at this time, the female OL immediately became nervous.

She was relieved when she saw the face of a minor, but she was not interested in saying anything more to the other party, so she snorted, turned around, and left.

Seeing the nervous look on the other side,
Gu Weijing felt even more strange.

He glanced at the stand that the female Ol had been staring at.

There are all kinds of miscellaneous things on the table, and they are arranged like a garbage dump.

There's a painting cylinder, a tablecloth, some pens, two candlesticks, a rusty faucet, and a few... Coca-Cola bottles?
The label on it reads——[The Great Writer Hotel decoration, three pens Maugham used to write books, some brass candlesticks, three fine oil paintings of the 150th century, two antique Coke bottles, sold in a package, with a base price of $[-]. 】

Gu Weijing felt a little funny when he saw the label.

There's a reason why this booth was unpopular.

There is an old colonial British hotel locally,

Because Maugham and George Orwell both lived in this hotel.People in Yangon are used to calling it the Dawenhao Hotel, and many young literary and artistic youths from the West come to stay here every year.

With the increasing passenger flow, the hotel has carried out modernization on the basis of maintaining the original building structure in recent years, and a large amount of construction waste has flowed out.

Although Maugham and Orwell did stay in this hotel, but you can say that a few pens are used by famous writers for writing, just like Dongxia, which is a time-honored brand, has to make up a story about Emperor Qianlong coming to eat.

Also to deceive foreign tourists.

The most valuable thing on the counter may be those Coca-Cola bottles from the early twentieth century. Some Yankees will indeed buy these things as antiques, and they may really be able to sell them for some money.

But, if you buy it home, you may not be able to run into such a fool in a year or so, and the cost of time is also money.

Naturally, there is nothing worthy of that female Ol's attention with all these junk.

There are oddities.

There must be something odd.

Thinking of this, Gu Weijing picked up the painting tube on the side and gently unscrewed the cap.

　Eat, get up in the afternoon and continue writing.Go for million today!
　　
　
(End of this chapter)