Almighty painter

Chapter 724: The House Number of the Fateful Man (Part )

For such a troublesome matter, the best way should be to be a coward as Lao Yang said.

Do less and make fewer mistakes.

Not doing anything is good.

Getting through the exhibition safely and securely is better than anything else.

At the age of 18, being able to appear in an international biennial is not unprecedented, but it is also a considerable achievement, one in a million.

After the exhibition is over, according to Brother Yang... he, Gu Weijing, can also be considered a big star!

Brother Hao's story taught Gu Weijing a truth.

Real troubles can never be solved by burying your head in the beach, acting like an ostrich or a turtle.

You can keep running.

Keep running.

But one day, it will find you, ring your doorbell, and leave you with no way to escape.

Instead of hiding in a corner, waiting in fear for unknown danger to come.

It is better to put on your best clothes, pin a rose on your chest, hold the nine-ring Zen staff upside down in your hand, knock on the door of fate, walk in and say to it, "Good afternoon."

The so-called destiny is something you must face bravely.

Gu Weijing felt that some parts of Lao Yang's suggestions made sense.

He had no right not to listen carefully to the experience shared by a senior art assistant who had worked in the industry for many years.

and so.

Gu Weijing obediently took out his mobile phone and found the contact information of Hanks, the agent of the Ma Shi Gallery.

When he glanced at the world on his phone, it was still early morning in the other party's time zone.

It's not convenient to make a phone call.

So Gu Weijing wrote a short email, briefly explaining the situation he was facing, the exhibition, the seminars at the exhibition, and the strange attitude of the organizing committee assistant, and expressed his hope to get the other party's professional help.

There are also some suggestions, but Gu Weijing has his own different ideas on how to deal with things.

He and Lao Yang have completely different life experiences and completely different personalities.

For example... hiding behind Katsuko Sakai and leaving everything to her.

Go find Mr. Cao?
This should be a good choice.

If it is really necessary, Gu Weijing will do so.

But since he came to Singapore, Old Master Cao Xuan did not choose to meet him, wanting him to face it all.

Then.

Just like what Gu Weijing said to Lao Yang, "Okay, leave it to me."

He decided to rely on his own efforts to face the undercurrents in the exhibition.

If Gu Weijing wanted to become a great painter, there were some things he had to solve on his own.

The only difference is whether to solve it now, or... ten years later, or twenty years later.

The difference between boys and men is that men should not think about everything and hide behind the wings of this or that adult, shedding tears and waiting for others to lend a helping hand.

Now I try to face it myself. When a problem really occurs, I really have no other choice.

He could also go back and find Mr. Cao.

Wait until twenty years later.

He stood alone on the stage, still as immature as a child, and there was no adult to help him.

Gu Weijing stood up.

He stood at the hotel window and looked down at the city.

The bustling city is bathed in the afternoon sunshine, and red taxis are traveling through the tree-lined streets of the city's expressways, like the first maple leaves changing color in late summer and early autumn.

Burning like fire.

He quietly looked at the cars passing by on the road for a long time.

Suddenly.

Gu Weijing took out the mobile phone from the table again and found the contact information of the curatorial assistant.

He didn't send a message.

But he dialed the phone directly.

"Beep, beep, beep..." The phone kept ringing with a busy tone until the telephone company automatically hung up due to timeout.

It looks like the phone is not with the other person.

There was no expression on Gu Weijing's face.

He chose to replay it.

Less than a minute later, the call was hung up again because no one answered.

Gu Weijing dialed the same number again.

This time.

When the ring reached the fourth ring, the call was finally connected.

"Thank you for not blacklisting my number. I was really worried that you would do that, Ms. Rampling."

Gu Weijing spoke into the receiver with a smile.

He knew the other party wouldn't do that.

No.

will not.

She is an assistant who is professionally responsible for connecting participating art exhibitions and exhibition assistants.

Resentment, coldness and alienation are all within the acceptable range, even pretending to be busy at work and answering the phone by mistake is also acceptable.

But "blacklisting" seems too deliberate.

"Hey! This is not a good time to talk. You know I'm currently working on the reception for an important VIP painter! Please don't repeat yourself..." A woman's voice, speaking very quickly, came from the other side of the receiver.

She concealed it very carefully, but her voice was still mixed with anger that was not completely concealed.

or.

In fact, the curatorial assistant did not try that hard to hide his attitude towards Gu Weijing.

"I'm sorry to bother you, but I have a problem with the exhibition. You are my only official contact with the organizing committee during the exhibition. I'm not a VIP, but it's your job to receive and answer my questions. If I have any questions or confusion about the exhibition, I should contact you. If the situation is urgent, you can call me 24 hours a day-"

Gu Weijing paused.

"——At least, that's what was written on the official invitation letter sent to me by the organizing committee."

"Is there anything wrong with my understanding? If so, please give me the phone number of the staff who can answer the exhibitors' confusion, and then you can hang up. I apologize for disturbing you."

silence.

The person on the other end of the phone seemed to be thinking about how to respond, or whether to just hang up.

After a few seconds.

There was a helpless sigh from a woman.

She neither hung up the phone nor successfully pulled out a string of phone numbers from her pocket and slapped them on Gu Weijing's face to shut him up.

"it's me."

She seemed to curl her lips.

"If I encounter an emergency, you will be the staff responsible for receiving me. My understanding is correct, right?" Gu Weijing confirmed again.

"Yes. If you have any questions about the exhibition process, date or event arrangements, you can ask me." Lamp switched to the official tone of a telephone company operator, as if he was ready to do his best to save face and not give this difficult guy any chance to make trouble.

“Welcome to the Singapore Art Biennale. It’s my pleasure to serve you,” she said in a tone that did not sound happy at all.

"Excuse me, is there any problem now?" The curatorial assistant tried hard to be alert.

"I want to ask you a favor."

Gu Weijing said "please", his tone was calm without much of a request in his voice.

He just looked out the window at the city silently, "About the exhibition period——"

"Hey. Young man, let's not talk about this, okay?"

The curatorial assistant seemed certain of what he was going to say.

This was never a difficult thing to guess, considering that she had just given the other party a setback.

"Young man, you may have made a mistake."

She secretly laughed at this guy for being so naive and scary.

Does the fact that the curatorial assistant is responsible for coordinating the artists' daily life matters during the exhibition mean that anyone who calls will be assigned an extra booth?
What a weird train of thought.

There were already people who were much more important than him who had greeted him in advance.

Except for being embarrassed.

What's the point of him calling himself?

What's the point of him trying to be clever and confine himself with words?

Meaningless.

ridiculous.

She doesn't even need to play the buck-passing game.

If this guy dared to ask for an extra booth on the phone, she would slap him in the face "pa, pa, pa".

It's really asking for trouble.

"As a curatorial assistant, I am happy to provide you with reasonable assistance to the best of my ability." Bonnie Rampling emphasized the word "reasonable".

"In order to maintain the fairness of the exhibition, I also have the responsibility to reject any unruly ideas. Do you understand what I mean?"

"If you are in an emergency situation like you are lost in the city, you are being questioned by the police because you lost your passport, you have a high fever, or you broke your leg falling down the stairs, then there is nothing wrong with calling this number."

There was a hint of sneer in her tone.

"But if you want to make this call and ask the exhibition to give you a backdoor and special treatment, then don't say anything. Young man, I suggest you don't make it difficult for me or yourself. Don't think you are so special. Being able to enter the main exhibition area of ​​the Singapore Art Exhibition at the age of 18 is already a rare opportunity. If I were you, I would learn to be content and cherish it."

The curatorial assistant chuckled.

"This phone number is not from Santa Claus. You can't treat me as a wishing tree. So--"

On the other end of the phone.

Lampche secretly raised his "hand", ready to slap someone hard and hard at any time.

"Excuse me, now, let me ask you, do you have any confusion about this Biennale?" "Yes."

Gu Weijing nodded and stated his request without hesitation.

"I would like to meet Mr. Tonks face to face. Perhaps... tonight's social dinner would be a good opportunity?"

Huh?
Lampche froze in his heart as he was about to slap her in the face.

The curatorial assistant was slightly startled.

This was not what she thought the other party was going to ask.

But soon.

The woman burst out laughing.

what the hell.

No, I'm still daydreaming there.

As the curator of this Biennale, perhaps the most important person in the art exhibition, Tonks could not be an ordinary painter who could be met by just saying over the phone.

She did not deliver the "slap", nor did she put down the "arm" that was raised in her heart, which was still waiting there.

“I don’t think there is any need for that. You can ask me directly about any questions you have about the Biennale.”

She said calmly.

"Does it also include the inside information about the subsequent symposium at the Esplanade?" Gu Weijing asked back.

"What inside information could there be? It's just a rare symposium. It's almost the same as all the academic lectures in the world."

Lampche was alert in his heart.

What rumors did the other party hear?
"It seems that you can't answer all my questions about the Biennale."

Gu Weijing smiled and said, "So, it is very necessary to meet the curator Mr. Tonks, isn't it?"

"The art show is fair. Young man, it's fair."

“Every space in the museum is designed to have a specific purpose,” Lampcher said. “I don’t think that if you meet with a curator, he will change his mind and give you an extra booth during the exhibition. Whether your painting is specifically called ‘Human Noise’ or not.”

"No. Ma'am, you have misunderstood me the whole time."

Gu Weijing shook his head.

"I'm not calling to request an extra booth or to change my exhibit. Just like you're mistaken, I didn't name my painting "Human Noise" just to please the judges."

"A very nice girl told me that whether you have regrets or not does not depend on whether you win the award, but on whether you have produced the best work. If you have really produced an outstanding work, but the organizing committee rejects your request to participate in the exhibition -"

"Then the one who should feel regretful should not be you, but the organizing committee itself." Gu Weijing said in a declarative tone.

"The Impressionists had no chance to participate in the official French Salon. When Turner's watercolors transformed from realism to subjective emotional portrayal, they were rejected by the art supplies dealers who cooperated with him because they felt that they did not conform to the mainstream aesthetic taste of the upper class. Rembrandt's works were not accepted by Armstrong's City Hall because they offended the governor."

The young man said gently.

"History has proven this time and again. If a work is truly outstanding, it is not the artist who should feel sorry for it."

“So, from the beginning, I didn’t ask the organizing committee of the Lion City Biennale to allow me to use it in the exhibition. It is called “Human Noise” not because the theme of the Singapore Biennale is called “Human Noise”. Because it is called “Human Noise”, it just happens to be suitable for the Lion City Biennale. This is the cause and effect relationship.”

"If it is not allowed to participate in the exhibition, then... I can accept this result, and I will inevitably feel regretful. But if Mr. Tonks really makes up his mind and thinks that this painting does not meet the exhibition standards. Then OK, he is the curator, and this is his art exhibition. The curator is the owner of the Biennale, and his subjective aesthetic determines the eligibility for the exhibition. Since I am here to participate in the exhibition, I fully accept this rule. As for whether he will feel regretful - I think history should give its answer."

Who is more regretful, Gu Weijing or Tonks? History will give its answer.

This is a strong statement.

It can even be said that these words sound a bit crazy, but the crazyness is not annoying, but beautiful.

Lao Yang is a well-rounded person.

All-inclusive.

It is inevitable that it is slippery, appearing cunning and greasy, and it spins around on the table. Even if there is some intelligence in the heart, it is like the shaken egg yolk, mixed with the little jokes in the stomach, forming a greasy and sticky ball.

Young artists must have ambition, so that their works will have substance and strength, and their paintings will look beautiful.

Young men should also have ambition, and be reserved yet sharp in their conduct and behavior, so that they can be flesh and blood and have a jade-like quality.

It looks better too.

In his speech, Gu Weijing used Turner, Rembrandt and the Impressionists as examples of comparison, all of whom are the most proud figures and the most romantic schools of painting in the history of art.

Although curatorial assistant Ms. Bonnie Lampcher does not like Gu Weijing.

Unexpectedly.

When she heard these words, she didn't even find them harsh.

Lampchet thought she would be furious.

No.

Combined with the young man's eloquent tone, the woman surprisingly thought that his words sounded quite convincing.

It's not that Lampche believes in nonsense that the curator will regret this in the future.

Instead, she believed in the persuasiveness of Gu Weijing's words, that this eighteen-year-old young man really thought so at the moment.

Painters in their forties and fifties are shouting that if you reject me, it would be like rejecting Rembrandt or Turner, and you will regret it in the future!
It makes the listener feel a kind of sarcastic and pedantic air of frustration.

Like a self-admiring... wilted cabbage bud.

When applied to an eighteen-year-old young man, these words are just right.

It makes people sound excited.

Even if it is self-admiration, it is the self-admiration of roses and magnolias blooming in spring.

In a trance, Ms. Lampcher felt that it really looked like Turner.

(Turner's Self-Portrait, 1799)
In his young watercolor landscape of Westminster Abbey, Turner secretly wrote the name "William Turner" on a tombstone in the foreground of the picture.

He painted his name on the coffin and firmly believed that he would become the youngest member in the history of the Royal Society of Arts and be buried in Westminster Abbey, where celebrities gathered, after his death.

It's not just whether people at that time believed it or not.

But Turner himself must have really been thinking this when he picked up his pen to paint.

This is the high spirits unique to young geniuses.

"Believe it or not, Ms. Rampling, the reason I called you was not to ask for any help with the art exhibition."

Gu Weijing said.

The curatorial assistant opened her mouth. She wanted to make a few sarcastic remarks and end the call.

He hesitated.

She still asked softly.

"So, young man, what do you want?"

"Fair." Gu Weijing said immediately, "You said that the art exhibition is a fair occasion. Then, I think no matter what awaits me at the symposium, I should have the opportunity to know. I should also have the opportunity to prepare fairly. I hope to meet Mr. Tonks in person and have a chat with him in person."

"I told you, it's just an ordinary symposium, you just need to talk about your research? If the paper is fine, why are you afraid..."

Lampche shrugged.

perhaps.

She also felt that there was no point in saying these things on the phone, and her voice gradually faded away.

Gu Weijing didn't say anything either.

He had already stated his request and was just quietly waiting for the other party's response.

"What if Mr. Tonks really doesn't have time to see you because he is too busy?" the assistant suddenly asked.

"Then, I should seriously consider the subsequent conversation." Gu Weijing answered without hesitation.

"Consider? If I understand correctly, you are threatening the organizing committee with the lecture they are going to hold for you at the Esplanade."

The curatorial assistant chuckled, actually being amused by the young man's strange and incomprehensible logic.

This is as ridiculous as a desperate suspect holding his accomplice hostage with a knife and threatening the police.

It can definitely be included in the special compilation of "A Bunch of Stupid Thieves" produced by the TV station.

"I don't think this is a threat, but if you really want to understand it that way...you can," said Gu Weijing.

"Can I ask what your threat is? Are you going to cancel your attendance at the next lecture at the Esplanade? Seriously."

The woman asked playfully.

"I suggest you think carefully. This is not a child's game."

Seriously.

The curatorial assistant is indeed not afraid that Gu Weijing will disappear from the exhibition or suddenly announce the cancellation of the interview.

This is a game where you kill 800 enemies but lose 8800 of your own money.

Yes.

The organizing committee announced this meeting, then that meeting, adjusted the schedule, and then the symposium was cancelled.

It will embarrass the entire Lion Art Fair officials, making the Biennale look like a makeshift team made up of a bunch of headless flies, and will also cause a lot of judges to sprain their backs.

Even the interview team of "Oil Painting" might be very angry and write a few words of complaint.

But it was just embarrassing.

At most, it would make Tonks's efforts of barking "woof, woof, woof" to Miss Elena for so many days come to naught, but what else could it do?

The speaker didn't want to play anymore and ran away.

It’s not the organizer’s fault, at least the main responsibility does not lie with them.

Tonks couldn't chase after the man, bite him on the butt, bring him back to Miss Elena, and interview him by holding his head, right?

If this incident had not happened, Cao Xuan would probably be even more embarrassed than the organizing committee of the Lion City Biennale.

For Gu Weijing.

He must be out of his mind to dare to do this.

Attending the dialogue meeting will be one thing, whether or not you can clear the suspicion on your paper, and another thing is whether or not you will fall into the trap dug by the interview team.

Let’s not talk about whether the probability is high or low.

When he appears in front of the camera, he at least has a chance to speak, and at least has the possibility of clearing suspicion and not falling into the trap.

What the hell is going on when he suddenly quits his job?

To outsiders, it looks like the words "I feel guilty" are written all over his face.

This is a face-to-face interview conducted personally by Oil Painting, the most influential review journal in the art world.

This was also a dialogue held at the Esplanade – the main venue of the Biennale.

To an outsider who doesn't know the inside story, any one of these items seems like a good thing that is hard to find even if you try hard to get it.

(End of this chapter)