Almighty painter

Chapter 847 Heroism
Gu Weijing felt that Anna was looking at him.

Detective Cat, a "female" illustrator on the Internet, felt a little uncomfortable when she was being watched by editor A.E. of Oil Painting magazine.

An inexplicable feeling of shyness lingered in his heart.

It's like you are sitting on the podium with a dignified manner, ready to give a speech, but suddenly someone finds you wearing your mother's long-sleeved dress, a belt with a scarlet rose pattern on it, and on your head...well, the blue crystal tiara of Princess Turandot that you had just seen in the lounge.

think about it.

What kind of social death scene is this? I am so embarrassed that I want to dig out a three-bedroom apartment with my toes.

Gu Weijing had an explanation for everything that was both surprising and very reasonable, but he still felt a very strong pressure from Anna's gaze.

He sat upright in his chair, supporting his left elbow with his right hand, and looked at the female host.

Miss Irina looked at him with a mysterious and calm look.

Gu Weijing felt that Anna's eyes were like a calm lake, with his face reflected on the surface of the lake.

after all.

Gu Weijing couldn't hold it in any longer.

He was the first to ask, "There is such a thing, why...who are you talking about?"

"What do you think?"

Miss Elena asked back calmly.

Gu Weijing shook his head calmly, as if this was something that had nothing to do with him at all.

"Rrose Selavy."

Miss Irina looked at Gu Weijing for a moment, then finally looked away and casually said a name. "This is a female pseudonym that Duchamp once used. This name was used in some of his early works and published poems."

Gu Weijing let out a light breath.

"Why? Because of Duchamp's own bad taste?" he asked.

"Who knows."

Anna shook her head.

"But if it were me, I would rather understand this as an experiment to break through gender barriers. Historically, female artists chose masculine names to publish their works, which was a reshaping of their personal identity. Then conversely. Male artists trying to use a feminine 'body' to publish their works can certainly bring a different perspective."

“It’s an attempt to treat gender issues equally.”

Anna shrugged.

"But, after all, men can never become women, and women can never become men, right? Is it really possible to change the gender perspective?" Gu Weijing asked softly.

When he first started drawing illustrations on the website, he chose the alias of a female painter, the only reason being that it would be more convenient for him to receive illustration orders.

But as the "Detective Cat" becomes more and more famous.

This identity also began to bring new confusion to Gu Weijing.

"No offense, I'm young, I don't want to act like an old fogy or offend any particular group. But I'm a man, I grew up with my own grandfather."

Gu Weijing said: "He is also here today and is sitting under the stage now."

"My grandfather pursues tough guy temperament very much, and his favorite writer is Hemingway. He told me since I was a child that I am a boy, not a girl, so I must be strong and I can't be like a sissy. I must take on family responsibilities in the future. I must work hard and I have the obligation to let my family live a good life. I must be firm and full of courage, which is masculine masculinity."

"So girls don't need to be strong, resolute, courageous, work hard, and take on family responsibilities?" Miss Elena made a sharp comment. "I may have a different opinion. Besides, there are many kinds of work. Even at home, whether they are full-time dads or full-time nannies, they are also taking on family responsibilities, right?"

Gu Weijing froze in place.

Instead, she smiled. Anna knew that what Gu Weijing had just said could easily be misunderstood, so she made a sharp comment.

"Just kidding. I know that's not what you mean. Mr. Gu, what you mean is that male artists can create works under female pseudonyms, and female artists can also create works under male pseudonyms. But you think that such pseudonyms may not touch the root of gender barriers, right?"

"Because they have been exposed to two completely different discourse systems since childhood. Objectively speaking... maybe men and women are different."

Gu Weijing paused, "I am not saying that women or men do not have the right to pursue fairness or...success, excellence and happiness. This is absolutely not the case. But...can we exchange our physiological differences? What is fair and what is unfair. If the Olympic Games eliminate the difference between men's and women's groups, and women compete with men in weightlifting, isn't this also unfair?"

"Similarly, it is difficult for tough male literature to have the soft and delicate touch of female writers. Can you imagine what it would be like for someone like Hemingway to wear women's clothes, skirts, and...Turandot's tiara?" Gu Weijing asked, "Anyway, I will never be able to imagine it. It would be like an embarrassing disaster. Isn't painting the same? It floats on the surface but cannot touch the depths of the heart. Men cannot truly become women, and women cannot truly become men."

"Using a pseudonym to paint - I feel like it's a game to gain a 'competitive advantage'. Sometimes, I even think it's a shameful thing. You can move a ladder to climb over the obstacles, but the wall will always be there. It will not collapse or disappear, because it is destined to be so, from the moment people are born." Gu Weijing wondered if he was using the identity of "Detective Cat" to win the trust of others, things that should not belong to him.

"You got it wrong. Art is not about weightlifting, it's about understanding."

Miss Elena shook her head.

"Biological differences will not disappear, but prejudices, stereotypes and constraints can be eliminated. These are two different concepts."

"Of course Hemingway could never become a woman, but that doesn't mean he couldn't write texts that moved women, nor does it mean he couldn't write delicate female characters. Hemingway also wrote many complex and three-dimensional female characters... And the gender transformation I'm talking about doesn't mean having a sex change operation. It's not about making a man become a woman, or a woman become a man."

"It's a deep level of understanding, a deep level of love."

"Mr. Gu, I went to a traditional girls' church school when I was young. On the one hand, it was very affluent, but on the other hand, it was also very old."

Anna said, "It's the kind of school that spends more than half of its time teaching you how to become a real upper-class woman in the future, a real lady that your husband will feel respectable. It's as if there is some great magic that only by following the standard procedures, going to church on time, praying earnestly before meals, learning the lives of those respectable ladies, taking care of your husband and children, cutting flowers, and arranging balls can you gain happiness."

"On the contrary, if you break this spell, get the order of operations wrong, or match the wrong pattern of the tablecloth, you will be cursed like all unsuccessful magic. In the 21st century, even the most conservative church schools dare not tell women that you can't have a career or you can't have a dream. However, I can see this in the eyes of some of the teachers. They are saying with their eyes that you must find a very rich and powerful husband to marry." "I don't like this. Since I was a child, I have had a very deep understanding of gender barriers. But this doesn't mean that you can't understand men. I understand that sometimes society blames and burdens women, just as I understand that sometimes society blames and burdens men."

"After all, society also requires them to work very hard and eventually become very rich and powerful. Only then can they find a girl they like in the sisterhood of the girls' church school in Vienna and marry her."

Anna said with her characteristic dry humor.

"Believe me, it's really hard. Maybe no easier than asking a cripple to figure out how many kinds of social dances there are."

The guests on stage couldn't help but laugh along.

"So, sometimes, I would also think about problems from a male perspective. It's not that I suddenly became a man, but I was trying to understand them. In some special issues, I would put myself in the real situation they faced. Some of the comments I wrote as an editor of AE were very 'manly'. Even if Hemingway was invited here, he would agree with me."

"Of course, I will never be able to truly become a man, nor can I understand what a 35-year-old middle-aged painter who is on the verge of unemployment, has to pay for his family's medical insurance, his little daughter has leukemia, and the bank is about to take away his house has to deal with."

The woman shook her head.

"Last year, during an interview with Oil Painting magazine about the current living conditions of grassroots painters, I received a letter from a gentleman in Nevada, which almost brought me to tears. I tried to write something in his voice, which was of course likely to be filled with my subjective hysteria about him, and women's subjective hysteria about men's perspectives. It's just like the subjective hysteria of some male artists when they create female figures, and Bernini's subjective hysteria when he carved the intense expression on Mother Teresa's face."

"So, if there is any criticism about this, I will fully understand and humbly accept it. But I think this attempt is meaningful. This is a gentle deconstruction and dialogue."

"Gender barriers are there. One can never become the other, but love, love and understanding can break down such barriers."

Anna looked at Gu Weijing.

"Hemingway would not wear a long skirt, and Joan of Arc would not stuff her pants with the high bulge of stuffing like Louis XIV. But breaking the gender barrier does not require you to do this, but requires whether you are willing to love the other person and understand the life on the other side. She will not let female creators lose their delicacy and sensitivity, nor will she let men lose their masculinity and become effeminate..."

"Ah."

Miss Elena shook her head.

“I don’t want to use this word. Delicacy and sensitivity have never been the exclusive domain of women, and tenacity and courage are not something that only men can achieve. The art world’s game of pseudonyms and disguises is a mockery of the gender perspective, of the social narrative structure that gender determines what you can and cannot do, what you can and cannot feel, and even whether you can succeed.”

"so."

“I don’t want to use words like manliness here.”

The female host pursed her lips.

"I would use the word heroism. Amidst layers of stereotypes, being able to love and understand each other is a kind of heroism. People who are willing to break stereotypes and fight against them are braver than those who stick to gender barriers or even hate each other. And heroism, love and understanding are not gender-specific."

She hasn't finished speaking yet.

Alexander was so moved that he started clapping. He knew that someone like Miss Elena would definitely be interested in similar topics.

Anna ignored him.

Her chestnut eyes looked brighter than ever. She stared at Gu Weijing without blinking, staring at his face.

Gu Weijing didn't know why the female host was staring at her or why she said those words to her.

A rebuttal to his casual remark.

An interpretation of the artist Duchamp's anonymous female identity, and her confession of adopting the abbreviated pen name "AE" after joining Oil Painting magazine.

Is it fair to fight?
He just felt that no words could be more touching than such a brave declaration of love and understanding.

Gu Weijing didn't know whether the identity of Detective Cat was known to others.

He just knows.

Miss Elena's words gave Detective Cat great power, more power than the check for 3 million euros, perhaps... even more powerful than the museum named after Detective Cat.

"Heroism, love and understanding are never gender-specific."

In the many years that followed.

Whenever Gu Weijing picked up his pen to paint as the detective cat, the following words would come to his mind from the hostess in the brightly lit opera hall of the Esplanade.

That feeling of shyness was washed away.

He took off the ridiculous crown from his head and put it in his heart.
-
"So, the truth has long been revealed. 1875 to 1877 was a peak period in Monet's creation in history. He created a large number of works with Asian elements, and began to achieve a certain degree of success in status. France is the art capital of Europe and can get titanium white pigment. We can also use it in Monet's works-"

Alexander waved his arms.

“Don’t confuse the issue.”

Rosings said, "Monet did use titanium white in some of his works. But that was after he became ill in the 1910s. It was not the same time as the 1875 to 1877 you mentioned. On the contrary, Monet developed many neurological diseases in his later years because he used too many toxic products containing heavy metals in his early works."

"If Monet had started using titanium white in 1876, there wouldn't have been so many things that happened later."

"Because of his artistic pursuit. Some painters were still using lead white until before World War II. Perhaps Monet felt that titanium white was too bright and lacked the classical warmth, so after trying it, he temporarily gave up this way of painting until he fell ill in his later years and had to pick it up again."

"Rosings, isn't the similarity in this work obvious? The short, thin brushstrokes in depicting the clouds, the visual style of combining thick and thin paint..."

“It seems a bit far-fetched to classify it as an artistic fingerprint. I think it’s more like the overall style of Impressionism,” Gustav interrupted.

"I still don't see why Monet's wife Camille had to use a pseudonym to paint. Besides, Coral is also a female name. If Camille was an outstanding painter and she and her husband accomplished each other, there is no reason why she should not leave her name in history."

"It's simple. Monet shamelessly exploited his wife's artistic achievements."

(End of this chapter)