Live Appreciation, Congratulations to Brother

Chapter 451 Collection of Western Artworks

There are many more similar examples in the album.

They are all famous Western realistic oil paintings, abstracted into several squares.

"Looking at these simplified patterns, can you feel the same emotion as the original painting?" Fu Sishi looked at Zhang Yang and asked.

"A little bit." Zhang Yang replied, touching his cheek.

In fact, there is not a trace.

Fu Sishi said that these squares can convey a feeling of joy, nobility and holiness to those who appreciate the painting.

Just like the original.

But Zhang Yang couldn't feel it at all.

"Is there just a trace? How about changing it to another one?"

"Where's this one?" Fu Sishi asked again.

"I feel it." Chu Ziqiang replied quickly, while he was proofing Zhang Yang.

"Where are you Zhang Yang?"

"I feel it too." Zhang Yang's expression was even more serious than Chu Ziqiang's.

He was afraid that if he didn't, he wouldn't be able to hold back his laughter.

Xiao Chu's eyes were clearly focused on Fu Sishi's side face just now. He was too busy looking at people and didn't look at the painting at all.

As a result, Sister Fu asked if she felt any emotion, and he answered instantly.

Zhang Yang felt that Xiao Chu was more abstract than the colorful squares in front of him.

"Very good." Fu Sishi nodded with satisfaction, "This shows that you are all talented people who appreciate Western art."

"It can be completed very smoothly, from the aesthetics of the plot to the upgrade of the emotional aesthetics of the images."

"Actually, abstract art is like this, using colors to express emotions without sticking to the lines in reality. The key to appreciating this kind of art is whether you can feel the emotion of the author."

"Then can I understand that if I can't feel the emotion of an abstract painting, it's because the artist is not good enough." Chu Ziqiang asked.

"That's right." Fu Sishi happily clapped her hands and gave him a thumbs up, "This is the standard of judgment of the general public."

“But when we do art trade, we mainly rely on the artist’s reputation.”

"Is that so? It's been a long time since I've been here. Sister Fu, what works by painters do you have here?"

"Kandinsky, Mondrian, Malevich, Kupka, Delaunay, or Miró?" Chu Ziqiang asked with familiarity.

Seeing the heated discussion between the two people in front of him, Zhang Yang shouted in his heart:
Chu Ziqiang you to cheat!

What I said just now seemed to me that I had prepared it in advance. Xiao Chu was stuck in reciting the names of the eight great masters of the Tang and Song Dynasties. How could he recite the names of so many foreign painters on the spot?
But this is a good thing for Zhang Yang, he finally doesn't have to appreciate those complicated color lines.

In fact, abstraction also exists in traditional Chinese culture.

That's calligraphy.

Kuangcao is like regular script after abstraction.

There is also a certain threshold for appreciating cursive writing. Most people really can’t understand what is written in cursive. This is similar to abstract paintings.

Zhang Yang closed the album and listened quietly to Chu Ziqiang and Fu Sishi's exchange of their understanding of Western art.

But soon, Xiao Chu gave people the feeling that his secret was about to be revealed.

Seeing that his good brother was about to fail in "picking up girls", Zhang Yang, as a conscientious wingman, quickly spoke:
"Sister Fu, by the way, where are all your works of art? Can you let me see them?"

"To be honest, I have been involved in the antique market for a few years, but I have not had much exposure to modern Western paintings and sculptures."

"They are all in the gallery. The environment at home is not good, so I can't let them go."

"That's such a pity." Zhang Yang said with regret.

"It's okay. I'll take you over there early tomorrow morning." It was rare for Fu Sishi to meet two close friends, and the word happiness was almost written on her face.

Of course Chu Ziqiang had no objection and agreed: "Then let's get up early tomorrow and go to your gallery, Sister Fu."

"Okay, let's go, I'll show you the room, and you should go to bed early."

……

Arriving at the room, Zhang Yang had just locked the door when the phone rang.

It was still a video call from Xiao Chu, who wanted to communicate with Zhang Yang about tomorrow's day.

"How about I find an excuse to escape during the day tomorrow?" Zhang Yang suggested.

"To be honest, I really can't get a word in when you talk about Western art or something."

"No, please don't."

Chu Ziqiang on the other end of the phone refused continuously.

"Brother Yang, wait a minute."

"What do you want to do?"

Zhang Yang asked while watching the video.

Chu Ziqiang didn't reply, and first fixed the phone on the bedside.

Then he retreated to the center of the bed and kowtowed three times directly to the camera.

In order to thank Zhang Yang, he directly gave him a big gift.

"As for that?" Zhang Yang asked, "Aren't you afraid of injuring your arm again?"

"As for, very important." Chu Ziqiang swallowed, not knowing whether it was because of excitement or because he kowtowed too hard just now, his face was red.

"Brother Yang, you don't know how long it has been since I chatted with Sister Fu for such a long time. The last time I chatted with her for more than five sentences was when my second uncle fell and she called me to ask about the situation."

"So long?"

Zhang Yang thought for a moment and realized that it would be two months since Chu Zhenmin was injured.

No wonder Chu Ziqiang was so excited that he even kowtowed.

"Yes, so you must be there tomorrow. I think Sister Fu has a good impression of you. With you as the lubricant, we won't be embarrassed."

Lubricant? Zhang Yang had a dark look on his face.

His role as co-writer is such that he is not even considered a wingman.

"Okay, let's go to bed first, and we'll go together tomorrow."

"Brother Yang, please go to sleep first. I will recite some knowledge about Western art. It will be useful tomorrow."

"Niubi." Zhang Yang gave Chu Ziqiang a thumbs up sincerely.

The next morning, Fu Sixi took Zhang Yang to her gallery in the Chongwenmen business district.

Her business is quite large, and she rents half a floor of an office building. As soon as she gets on the elevator, she can see the golden embossed characters "Shuhong International Gallery".

There are also translations in English, French, German, and Spanish at the bottom.

Full of international style.

In stark contrast to such a good sign, is the decline of the gallery itself.

Decline does not mean that the decoration is bad or that there is a lot of dust, but that there are no employees and no customers.

Floor-to-ceiling curtains blocked the room, making it look lifeless.

"The international art trade has been a bit difficult in the past two years. I usually bring them over when I have guests. Other times, no one comes in except the cleaning lady." Fu Sishi opened the door and explained to Zhang Yang and the others. road.

"Have you not considered sending it abroad or to Hong Kong for photography?" Zhang Yang asked curiously.

In China, it is a bit difficult to sell the works of Western artists at high prices.

Unless they are world-renowned painters like Picasso, Van Gogh, and Monet.

But it is a pity that Picasso is a Cubist, Van Gogh and Monet are both Impressionists, and Fu Sishi prefers abstract art works, and basically bids farewell to the domestic market.

To be honest, Zhang Yang found it incredible to hear Chu Ziqiang say that her gallery had been making money in the past few years.

"Of course there are auctions. In fact, the reason why my gallery survives is by selling the works of our domestic abstract painters in overseas markets."

"Are they works by our domestic painters?"

This time it really touched Zhang Yang’s knowledge blind spot.

"Who owns it?" He had only heard of Zao Wou-Ki, because his paintings were expensive, costing hundreds of millions.

But Zao Wou-Ki is of French-Chinese origin, so this kind of relationship can only be said to be acquaintance, but it is a bit far-fetched to insist that he is a domestic painter.

The outside world also evaluates him as "a representative of Western modern lyrical abstractionism."

"Zhang Yang, you mentioned Zhao Wuji before, so you should also know Wu Dayu, right?" Fu Sishi said with a smile.

"Uh... I don't know."

"Wu Dayu is Zao Wou-Ki's master and the founder of Chinese abstract painting." Chu Ziqiang explained thoughtfully.

This is all information that he has memorized many times, and he can pick it up easily.

"It may not be easy to understand when we are talking like this. I happen to have Mr. Wu Dayu's paintings here. I will take you to see them."

"Okay, okay." Zhang Yang wanted to see the real thing.

Otherwise, listening to these two people talking would be a bit boring and a bit jail-breaking.

"Actually, one of the important reasons why I wanted to start an abstract art business at that time was because it was still a blue ocean in our country."

"I thought it was going to develop soon, but, you know, it stalled for a while, and now it's here."

Fu Sishi talked about this casually, looking a little helpless.

Zhang Yang can understand because he has also thought about this issue.

When he first studied the antique market, he discovered that the biggest difference between the domestic and foreign collection markets was oil paintings.

Especially abstract paintings.

At auctions in Europe and the United States, the most expensive works are basically abstract oil paintings, with prices at the top of the real pyramid.

But in China, this kind of art is completely marginalized.

Zhang Yang thought about whether to get involved in this field, but finally found that not only could he not appreciate it, but he could not even find talents who could appreciate these things, so he had to give up.

"Okay, this is Mr. Wu Dayu's painting." Fu Sishi stopped in front of a small colorful painting.

Seeing this painting, Zhang Yang's first reaction was not how good the painting was, but the size of the painting.

This is too small.

The width is only about ten centimeters, and the length is definitely not more than twenty centimeters.

Looking at the content of the painting again, it seems that it was drawn with crayons.

Paired with a small piece of white paper, Zhang Yang would believe it if he said it was a graffiti written on a drawing book by a primary school student in art class.

The bottom of the frame clearly states that this is "Flower Garden" by Wu Dayu. It was painted in the 80s and is a wax painting on paper.

The price is 2 RMB.

Forget about crayon drawings, why are they still sold so cheaply?

Zhang Yang expressed his doubts: "Is this drawn with crayons?"

"Yes." Fu Sishi nodded and explained, "Mr. Wu Dayu only left 159 oil paintings in his life, each of which is worth more than 500 million."

“I was lucky enough to own two pieces before, but they were transferred to others when the gallery was in financial difficulty.”

"This "Flower Garden" is one of his more than two thousand pieces of wax on paper. I wonder what emotions you two can feel when you look at this painting?"

"Sunshine and happiness." Chu Ziqiang replied without thinking.

Zhang Yang did not speak, but looked at the message of the painting and fell into thinking.

This painting is, strictly speaking, a fake.

But it is inextricably linked to Wu Dayu.

Because this painting was painted by Wu Dayu's daughter under his guidance, and it also underwent some polishing by himself.

It should be considered a joint creation.

"Are there any paintings like this?" Zhang Yang suddenly had a bold idea.

It won’t all be joint creation, right? That would be fun to watch.

"No more." Fu Sishi shook her head, "But there is Chu Teh-Chun, do you want to see it?"

"Yes, yes." Chu Ziqiang answered on behalf of Zhang Yang.

He also kindly provided information to Zhang Yang:

"Chu Teh-Chun is the first Chinese academician of the French Academy of Arts and one of the 'Three Musketeers' in the Chinese art world. His works are all worth millions."

Chu Ziqiang's memory made Zhang Yang sigh:

If one-tenth of the effort in pursuing Fu Sixi's poems was spent on review, how could it be possible that he would even bother to take the exam?

When Zhang Yang saw Chu Teh-Chun's painting titled "May", he was immediately confused.

who I am? Where am I? What am I going to do?
Even when he learned that Fu Sishi spent a total of 1.5 million to take this painting, Zhang Yang didn't have any idea.

Because I really can’t understand it!

The experience of seeing Chu Teh-Chun's works was just a microcosm of Zhang Yang's whole morning gallery visit.

Next, he didn't understand a single painting.

The only emotion I can feel is "exhaustion."

Fortunately, Chu Ziqiang and Fu Sishi chatted happily. Zhang Yang at least had a kind of psychological comfort, that is: his efforts were useful.

When he left the gallery, Chu Ziqiang's smile was already crooked.

With his white turban and semi-disabled arms, he looked like a patient who had escaped from a mental hospital.

"Brother Yang, thank you so much for the past two days." On the way back in the car, Chu Ziqiang brought up old things again, "From today on, Brother Yang, you are my brother; Sister Shuyu is my sister-in-law."

"From now on, if you just say a word from Brother Yang, I will go through fire and water without hesitation."

"Okay, okay, don't be ridiculous, let me rest for a while." Zhang Yang lay on the backrest and pinched the bridge of his nose tiredly.

"It's okay, Brother Yang, you don't have to speak, just listen to me."

"As for me, I have another unwelcome favor."

"Brother Yang, you saw it just now. Sister Fu's current situation is not very good. I want to help her. But if I give her money directly, she will definitely not want it."

"Sister Fu, she is not short of money."

"It's okay, just give me the money and I can help her." Zhang Yang said casually.

"Really? Brother Yang, do you have any way to help her?" Chu Ziqiang asked in surprise.

"Yes, doesn't she accept money? I'll change it into gold bars and send them to her; if that doesn't work, I'll change them into antiques and send them to her, and then recycle them." Zhang Yang said with his eyes closed.

"Is this okay?" Chu Ziqiang scratched his head and thought for a while, but still felt something was wrong.

"She won't accept anything from you. If she's short of money, she'll go directly to her family and ask for it. One or two hundred million, Uncle Fu and the others still have it."

"How much?" Zhang Yang opened his eyes in surprise.

Is the Fu family so powerful? Why don't you just do a hell of an art business? Just lie down.

"Money is not an issue, what is important is to reasonably resolve her current situation."

"That's what I think. Brother Yang, don't you have experience in holding auctions? Do you think it's possible that you and Sister Fu can hold an auction in Xiangjiang?" Chu Ziqiang suggested.

"Sell all that excess inventory she has."

"Brother, your method is okay, but it's no different from giving her money directly, right?" Zhang Yang sat up straight and asked.

"I'm looking for her to cooperate now. Even a fool would know that it was you who instructed me to do this. Will she agree?"

"So, this matter is more secretive."

"What do you mean?" Zhang Yang felt that Chu Ziqiang already had an idea.

"Brother Yang, you still hold treasure appraisal conferences and collect auction items as before, but you also collect Western artworks."

"Then I'll go find Sister Fu and ask her to take the initiative to participate in your activities."

"Isn't that very reasonable?"

"This idea... is indeed feasible." Zhang Yang nodded and looked at Chu Ziqiang with a smile, "I wonder how much sponsorship you, Mr. Chu, are going to give to our Hailin Light program team?"

(End of this chapter)