Almighty painter

Chapter 831 Anna's Reward and the Prelude before the Official Opening

"Ok?"

Gu Weijing stopped.

"What are you talking about—"

"Yes, yes. It's mine, it's mine. At the party that day, I felt that Brother Gu was short of a watch, and I wanted to force it on him." Lao Yang's smiling face had already flashed out from behind him.

“This is actually my watch.”

He pushed Gu Weijing to the back with his butt.

Teacher Yang couldn't help turning the thick gold watch on his wrist. The colored diamonds he had secretly inlaid on the bezel emitted colorful and dazzling light under the chandelier in the opera house lounge.

The style of the painting looks like a Hobbit on the top of a volcano, turning the One Ring, a symbol of power, on his finger.

"Oh my god!"

He was already shouting in his heart.

What did I say! What did I say! What did I say! Which watchmaker's slogan is this? A successful man needs a big, decent gold watch! This is so true.

The cowboy in Lao Yang's heart hummed with pride.

How much the watch is worth or something like that, no matter whether the diamonds on the watch are original or added later, it would be a joke to put it in front of others.

But temperament.

Temperament is important.

At the party that day, after eliminating various possibilities, Lao Yang felt that it might be Brother Gu's large gold watch with unique style that attracted Anna's attention.

Didn’t Balenciaga also launch a bracelet that looks like scotch tape?
Miss Elena might like this kind of thick and hard jewelry style, and think it is very stylish and cool.

This incredible inference has been fully verified today.

The woman was impressed by his big gold watch. Even after many days, she noticed the watch on his hand!
If it was a coincidence once, could it be a coincidence twice?
Our teacher Yang is really awesome!

Case solved.

Sure enough, the licking technique he taught to Brother Gu that day produced amazing results.

He casually taught Gu Weijing three or two moves, and the effect was so good. This great master of bootlicking personally demonstrated all his skills. Just think about it, the effect...can't be bad.

"I heard that you gave him a suit. Well, you also thought that he didn't dress well at the party that day. What a coincidence, isn't it? Great minds think alike."

Old Yang slapped his thigh with emotion.

"Oh, Brother Gu is good in everything, but he is a little immature and has no experience in many things. He needs an adult to help him. Check on him. He might be a little nervous about today's interview. If you can, please take care of him——"

He specially sent Gu Weijing to the backstage just to help him out.

Anna's aura was too strong and the conversation between the two was too weird. Lao Yang had just observed for a long time but couldn't find any room to display his skills.

The art director took the initiative to turn the topic to him.

Yang Dekang immediately licked it.

Anna stared at the middle-aged man in the mirror in a trance.

Lao Yang showed his dog-licking smile that he had trained himself with for Hainanese chicken rice and Chinese mitten crabs. It was so authentic. He locked eyes with Anna for a few seconds, then seemed a little lacking in confidence and his gaze drifted to the ground.

"..."

A fawning smile, an evasive look, a shiny watch.

Ok.

The woman's eyes scanned each item one by one, and when all three pieces were complete, the case was solved.

Miss Elena nodded slightly.

She closed her eyes.

She applied eye shadow with a thin brush, her guilty eyes were obscured by the fine powder, and her wrist holding the brush was suspended in the air, not falling down for a long time.

"Ms. Elena... You think this watch is very nice, right? Do you want Gu Weijing to let you wear it during the interview?"

As Lao Yang licked it, he felt that this was really weird.

Before going back to buy two more big gold watches to keep, he still wanted to get to the bottom of this matter.

"It's...it's interesting."

Anna paused and gave an ambiguous answer.

"There's no need to put it on him."

The woman threw Lao Yang aside. She opened her eyes, looked at Gu Weijing behind Lao Yang, and smiled.

"Just return the cross when you can."

"Well, if you do well today and bring a wonderful report to Oil Painting Magazine, I will help you get your coat, shoes, and watch as a reward."

She blinked.

"Little painter."
-
Cui Xiaoming and his father found a seat in the back row of the opera house.

He was a little nervous and gave a half-smile towards the wavy red curtain on the stage.

"A good show."

Cui Xiaoming said in a voice that only he and his father could hear.

Bald Cui Xuanyou knew what his son meant, and laughed along with him, looking towards the stage behind the curtain with contempt on his face.

Today is a big day, a critical moment that will determine the outcome of the art exhibition.

Cui Xiaoming raised his phone, snapped a photo, and posted it on his personal social media account, captioning: "This afternoon, I watched the live interview of Oil Painting magazine with my father."

Ding dong.

A few minutes later, his social media account received a notification that his post had been liked.

Nowadays, galleries also focus on multimedia omni-channel network operations.

Great artists often have millions of fans interacting on their social media accounts. If they are good at online marketing, such as the anonymous painter Banksy, the number of followers on Instagram was in the tens of millions many years ago.

After all, this is Cui Xiaoming's first time participating in a formal art exhibition. He is considered a newcomer in the art world. His personal account has only 1,800 followers, but the quality of his "fans" is very high. To be precise, at this point in time, apart from relatives and friends, most of the people who pay attention to newcomers like Cui Xiaoming are people in the industry, including some buyers, brokers, or agents from large galleries.

Cui Xiaoming also pulled out a separate list.

A reporter for the German edition of VOGUE, the director of the Cross-Horizons Art Project, and an administrator of a European art sponsorship foundation...

what.

Cui Xiaoming's fingers paused slightly as he flipped through the list of "People Following You". He scrolled through the list again and again, and even entered the other person's name to search.

He was surprised to find that an art dealer who had had contact with his family had unfollowed his social media account.

Ok.

He remembered that the other party seemed to be someone from the Ma Shi Gallery.

"Has the Ma Shi Gallery contacted you and my mother recently?"

Cui Xiaoming asked his father curiously.

"No."

Cui Xuanyou was also using his social media account, and he looked up when he heard this. "What's wrong? Didn't you say you wanted to wait until the Singapore Biennale was over before making a decision? Wait for Gagosian."

"Yes, it's okay."

Cui Xuanyou shrugged.

"Jo, is that the agent of the Ma Shi Gallery? I remember him, right? He unfollowed my personal account before. Maybe the Ma Shi Gallery doesn't want to wait any longer."

Although these agents do not use the official accounts of the gallery, they all have verified identities, and it is not a matter of simply moving a finger to decide who to follow and who to ignore.

Unfollow.

It can also be understood as a statement.

"call."

Cui Xuanyou exhaled, "Actually, the conditions offered there are quite good. Few established super galleries will offer such good conditions to newcomers. The Ma Shi Gallery is willing to take a chance now."

"If he wants to scratch my lottery ticket, he has to consider whether the lottery ticket is willing to be scratched by him."

Cui Xiaoming frowned and shook his head.

His mood was a bit complicated.

Any top gallery is a great starting point for newcomers in the industry. Cui Xiaoming has never really lost contact with the Ma Shi Gallery.

Both sides were struggling and waiting, waiting for Cui Xiaoming to make a decision, for Ma Shi III to raise the price, or for the heads of other intercontinental galleries to make a decision.

suddenly.

It seems that the Marsh Gallery is not waiting any longer.

Forget it.

This is their loss. Didn't they miss out on Andy Warhol because they were hesitant? It is said that the two sides were only $40 apart in terms of intention and could not reach an agreement.

This is not Cui Xiaoming's fault.

He believes that the Ma Shi Gallery will repeat the same mistake again.

The Ma Shi Gallery was not his best choice, it was just Plan C or Plan B. If he could get Plan A, Plan B, or Plan C, it would be meaningless.

"Is that the one who copied you?"

Cui Xiaoming refreshed his social account and a fan left a message under his post.

Cui Xiaoming clicked on his profile picture and took a look, confirming that it was not his father's secondary account.

Who sent it?

Those who could hear the rumors that he and his father had intentionally spread so quickly were probably also at the Biennale, right? Or do rumors really spread that quickly in this industry?

Cui Xiaoming raised his eyebrows.

Think for a moment.

He clicked on the comment box and replied with a "helpless shrug" expression under this reply.

Although Cui Xiaoming felt that there was no need for Cao Xuan to make a fuss about this matter, telling Cao Xuan in person that he had asked Gu Weijing to learn his painting style was already the limit of his courage.

Let him say directly that Gu Weijing copied his words.

Cui Xiaoming really doesn't have the courage to do that.

He could only fan the flames with expressions that made people think too much.

Fortunately, there are some things that Cui Xiaoming dare not say, but he can say them freely in "Oil Painting" magazine.

Ms. Elena has the guts to do this.

And it's huge.

audacious in the extreme.

She dared to say at the European Art Annual Conference that the magazine's chairman, Sir Brown, was Adolf, and asked Gu Weijing whether he had plagiarized or "borrowed" her works. What a big deal.

He gave the other party a very interesting interview topic.

If she were a qualified media person with a conscience and sensitivity to news, she would definitely be interested in the information submitted by her father.

They had already performed ninety-nine prostrations, and all that was missing was this final prostration.

This interview program, which is already at the center of public opinion and shrouded in the shadow of fraud, will be the last card to cover Cui Xiaoming's exquisite Cathedral of Siesta.

Cui Xiaoming closed the fan list of "Following Me" and replaced it with the media list of "The Ones I Follow".

The magazine he pinned to the top of his list was Oil Painting.

Number of fans: 167, 23.

Sixteen million followers is much less than the number of fans of fashion media such as Cristiano Ronaldo or "Vouge". Considering the content style of "Oil Painting" and the relatively small fan base of serious art, this is already a very, very amazing number.

It is worth mentioning that.

Anna Irina's personal account basically did not send any messages before. After becoming the new art director of "Oil Painting" magazine, it was only operated by Secretary Elliot, who routinely forwarded some interviews related to the magazine. It was a very "Business is Business" social account.

That's it.

With the successive popularity of YouTube videos, the European Art Annual Conference, and the Irena Family Museum, the account has nearly 300 million followers.

It's quite a wonder.

Cui Xiaoming first unchecked the list of items he particularly wanted to follow, including the Ma Shi Gallery and the Ma Shi Gallery agent named Jo. When it came to "Ma Shi III", he hesitated.

"Well."

Forget it.

Not the person but the matter.

Don't make things too awkward. The gallery owner might not even pay attention to these little things. However, Cui Xiaoming was still very sensible and decided to give Massimiliano Marx III some face.

He scrolled down the screen of his phone and looked at the names in the special attention list, including Oil Painting Magazine, Anna Irene, Gagosian Gallery, Larry Gagosian, Ma Shi III, Lisson Gallery, CDX, Pace, and Perrotin.

Cui Xiaoming was lost in longing.

He is an ambitious person. Ever since he first came into contact with the social platform, he would always stare at these names for a long time with anticipation.

when.

When will these names appear in the list of “those who follow him” instead of “those he follows”? When will a big figure like Thomas Pieter III hesitate in front of his portrait?

That means.

Has Cui Xiaoming really become a prominent painter in the industry?
He stared at the venue, imagining what it would be like one day when he would sit in that position, with his leather shoes on his knees, being interviewed by Ms. Elena.

It's not like Gu Weijing who was laughed at like a clown.

Instead, he is worshipped like a hero.

What a grand and magnificent achievement that would be.

In a daze.

Cui Xiaoming seemed to see the Sistine Chapel built with playing cards on the table in the hotel.

"Is that supposed to be his grandfather in front?"

He heard his father speak beside him.

The bald man sneered.

"He's dressed so formally? If you don't know, you'd think he's going to rush onto the stage and say a few words on behalf of his grandson." Cui Xiaoming's father teased with contempt.

"So capable of holding it."

"Is it necessary? Look at the entire venue. Which judge knows him? Who would care about him? Who is he performing for?"

……

At this moment, there are still forty minutes before the interview officially begins.

It was quiet backstage at the opera house.

The front desk of the opera house was also empty.

The guest scholars of the organizing committee are all very busy! It is already very good that they can come here to watch an interview and listen to a lecture in their busy schedule. Except for those who are very interested in this exhibition and tourists who have grabbed audience tickets and hope to interact with famous artists, no one will come so early.

Gu Tongxiang was sitting alone in the corner of the front row, reading Hemingway's "The Snows of Kilimanjaro" by himself.

He knew that maybe some people would think he was pretending, or maybe no one in the venue cared about him.

It's ok.

Gu Tongxiang has suffered from being ignored and lonely.

He is a man who can hold his own and can pretend to be relaxed and at ease even if no one cares.

Grandfathers should set an example for their grandchildren, telling them that whether they are facing "Oil Painting" or a room full of guests, even if no one is interested, they can still pretend to be a heavyweight.

An Ran pretends to be cool.

"Mr. Gu?"

But Gu Tongxiang didn't expect that he would actually be recognized by someone.

The old man turned his head.

A middle-aged man dressed very formally stood next to him.

"Who are you?" Old Man Gu was surprised to actually meet his fan. He subconsciously felt that the other person looked a little familiar, but he couldn't remember the name.

"It's me, you are." He stretched out his hand.

"Hello. My name is Liu Ziming."

The middle-aged man politely held Gu Tongxiang's hands with both hands and introduced himself. "I've heard a lot about you."

(End of this chapter)