Almighty painter

Chapter 952 Detective Cat's Trendy Toys
After a series of farces, is *Oil Painting* still a sufficiently dignified art magazine?

Gu Weijing spent about the time it takes to drink a cup of tea reading the cover article of the magazine that Victor handed him.

This article, with its rather sensationalist title, reads like a scathing denunciation of the magazine "Painting," and was written by Sarah Ksinski, the magazine's third art director in just twelve months.

Both being women, they returned to the magazine "Oil Painting" from the outside world.

She was the complete opposite of Miss Elena.

Anna is the youngest art director in the history of *Paint* magazine, and many media outlets like to compare her to Jean Arnault, the LVMH heir, who became the director of the Louis Vuitton division at the age of 23. Sarah's return to the magazine means she has become the oldest art director in the entire 100-year history of *Paint*.

She belongs to the same generation as Cao Xuan, Richter, and other elderly artists in their seventies.

In 1971, on Picasso's 90th birthday, *Paint* magazine published its last special art issue dedicated to Picasso during his lifetime. That same year, Sara Kersinski, representing *Paint* magazine, conducted the interview with Picasso at the Louvre Museum in France.

She single-handedly created the best-selling single issue in the history of "Paint" (although Sarah frankly believes that most of the credit should go to Picasso, not her), setting a sales record that seems unattainable today. That issue even sold more copies than the New York Times on the same day, and this professional collection of art reviews was not only niche but also cost ten times as much as the New York Times.

In a daze.

This story is from half a century ago.

The woman who appeared so youthful and vibrant in front of the aged Picasso back then is now just as old, with graying hair at her temples.

Sarah Ksinski was also the first female art director in the entire history of the magazine "Paint". She served as the art director of "Paint" in the second half of the last century, when Anna's grandfather was still alive. After his death, she was once thought to be the closest candidate to the position of chairman of the board of directors of the magazine.

but.

Sarah declined the position and the sincere invitations from several top art museums, instead accepting the more relaxed position of tenured professor and head of department at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris, which precisely proves the correctness of Victor's three-step career plan.

Oh, right.

Sarah was also Sir Brown's mentor. Of course, back then, the current chairman of the magazine "Painting" was just Mr. Brown, not Sir Brown as he is today.

Twenty years later.

Last summer, Sarah announced that she had accepted the magazine's invitation to return to Gretz as its art director.

“Sarah, art influences the fate of the world—one summer in 1957, I first saw a copy of *Painting* magazine on the secondhand book table in a grocery store. The cover was messy, and on the left was a photograph of the grand wedding of Elizabeth Taylor and Conrad Hilton Jr., the heir to the Hilton Hotels, while on the right was a poster for the upcoming TV series *Wuthering Heights*. The grocery store owner, engrossed in listening to the radio, casually asked me, ‘Young lady, where is your mother?’”

I did not answer.

Between Elizabeth Taylor and the handsome, strong-looking actor from Wuthering Heights, I inexplicably picked up that magazine-like picture book. The cover featured an old Spanish man with a striking nose. P-a-b-l-o, P-i-c-a-s-s-o.

"Pablo Picasso, twenty years later, because the original editor-in-chief contracted the flu, I had a very precious opportunity to sit in the Louvre and interview him face to face."

"He said."

“Sarah—art will influence the fate of the world. In the half of my life that followed, countless things, big and small, happened, war and peace, prosperity and decline. But these words have always stayed with me. In the year Picasso said these words to me, *Paint* was undoubtedly the most important serious art criticism magazine in all of Europe.”

Last year, Brown dialed the phone and his first words were, "Sarah, we need your help. Have you considered returning to the magazine?"

"And at that time."

Sarah wrote.

"Before making the decision, I was thinking about a question—not whether Oil Painting is still one of the most important magazines in Europe, but whether, in the summer of 2017, Oil Painting is still a sufficiently solemn and serious magazine. Does it still possess the power of art?"

"Now, a year after returning to work, I have reached a preliminary conclusion on this issue, a somewhat harsh one."

The answer is—NO, no, it's not.

……

His behavior is completely different from Anna's; he's not as sharp or passionate. Surprisingly, it reads quite objectively.

Gu Wei has gone a whole year without touching any issue of "Oil Painting". As a first-year student at the Hamburg Academy of Fine Arts, it is really incredible that he did this.

After Miss Elena became Gu Weijing's agent, she prevented Gu Weijing from having any contact with "Oil Painting". It wasn't out of any subtle or complicated psychology on her part, but rather because Anna believed that it didn't have much meaning for Gu Weijing at the moment.

He needs absolute commitment and absolute focus.

During his last week or two in Singapore, Gu Weijing had had enough of being surrounded by media cameras. Now that it was time to focus on preparing for his solo art exhibition, she hoped he could avoid the external pressure brought about by excessive attention.

Anna also put forward archery theories.

When an arrow hits the target and loins itself in Deckard Anlen's large face, you can shout loudly.

When drawing the bow, one must forget everything and focus one's mind.

If he has any questions about art criticism, why not ask the magical Miss Elena? The former art director of the magazine "Painting" is right beside him.

Over the past year, various media outlets initially wanted to interview Gu Weijing, but Anna turned them all down as his agent. Only recently have the invitations gradually decreased.

The book under Victor Seymour's nose was the first painting he had read all year.

Director Sarah, with a detached, third-person perspective, analyzed the various problems facing traditional media in an era of significant newspaper decline.

In the 1970s.

A magazine company once ordered a commemorative cake to mark the occasion when a particular issue's subscriptions surpassed those of The New York Times. Meanwhile, The New York Times itself is struggling to survive, losing over $50 million in any single quarter in 2017.

on the other hand.

An even more important and pressing issue than the risk of loss is how to maintain the magazine's authority once it begins to form art alliances with commercial galleries and jointly operate commercial projects.

Sarah showed no mercy whatsoever.

She listed the ethical risks the magazine faced one by one. She even questioned the purpose of sections like the "Buyer's Guide," even though it's currently the section that brings in the most paid subscribers to the magazine.

What exactly is the self-definition of the magazine "Oil Painting"?
A serious art review magazine.

Or——

A serious financial magazine?
Can the value of art be simply evaluated and measured using investment data such as "buy," "hold," and "sell"?

Sarah didn't have a very high opinion of Miss Elena either.

Even lower than Sir Brown.

She described it as a childish game, where a young woman wants to take a cooking class to learn baking. After stirring the pan a couple of times with a spatula, she discovers, "This pan actually smokes!" Then, like the Princess and the Pea in a fairy tale, she throws down the spatula and runs away, abandoning the half-burnt mess to someone else. "Coward."

Gu Weijing deciphered the hidden meaning in Sarah's article.

The elderly female critic did not use the word "coward," but bluntly pointed out that her behavior was very "spoiled."

As the art director of the magazine "Oil Painting", she has many, many staff members serving her. If she does not believe in the power of art, then she should not have accepted the position, instead of throwing the spatula aside after finding the food unpalatable.

All our efforts were like the Italian sauce that had boiled dry in a pot, suffering greatly.

This behavior is extremely selfish.

"I hope her academic journey is enjoyable and successful."

This is the series of farces that Sarah points out in her article regarding the past within the magazine "Painting".

She first slapped Sir Brown, and then, as if disciplining an unruly little girl, gave Miss Anna Elena a long scolding in a cold and impatient manner.

Gu Weijing flipped back to the first page of the magazine and saw the publication date.

The release date was last Tuesday.

"What did you see after reading this article?" Viktor asked, fiddling with his large, bony fingers as he posed a reading comprehension question to his classmate across the table.

"Is Ms. Sarah dissatisfied with the current state of the magazine?"

"Sigh, why can't we learn it? What does it matter to us whether the art director, the French academician, and the tenured professor at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris are satisfied!" Victor snorted. "I see an opportunity!"

"Based on my understanding of Anna Elena's personality, I guess she must be quite unhappy!"

"Based on your... understanding?"

Gu Weijing raised an eyebrow.

"Here." Victor took out his phone and shared an internal campus network link with Gu Weijing. Gu Weijing clicked on it and saw that it was a BBS discussion group for a campus photography workshop.

"There are regular updates about Miss Elena's campus activities here. Last Friday, I took a peek from afar, and judging from what I saw, she had a cold expression and seemed to be in a bad mood."

"I believe."

“This is our chance. Go over there and tell her loudly to ignore the article in the ‘Oil Painting’ magazine. As classmates, we’ll always stand with you, senior.” Viktor snapped his fingers: “Bingo, this is how you make an impression. If we make a few more appearances, even if we don’t mention being friends, we can just ask her for a recommendation letter. Surely she’ll give it to us? She wouldn’t be so heartless, would she?”

"That's called making a good first impression, okay? You're still someone she knows, so seize the opportunity. Fill out the form, and you'll be in the support group. We can write a greeting card later, or maybe just send flowers. But no, no, sending flowers might cause misunderstandings. Our goal is clear: we want a letter of recommendation."

Gu Weijing imagined that scene.

"Never mind. Based on my understanding of Miss Elena, she most likely won't be interested in responding to these matters."

For a whole week, Anna hadn't answered his calls. He believed he was really up to something, and this time Anna might not be able to stay at school and ignore him.

Not good.

She could throw a greeting card that's been handed to her in the face.

-

In the afternoon.

Gu Weijing, carrying his suitcase, took a taxi to a community near the school. For the past year, apart from discussing the art exhibition at the farm, completing class assignments and commissioned articles related to Detective Cat, Gu Weijing had done everything at school.

The art academy not only has individual studios for each department, but also a public creative space for students from all departments to use.

In accordance with campus policy.

With the teacher's permission, you can apply to use a spare classroom. Now that it's summer vacation, the staff are gradually going on holiday, making the small art studio less convenient to use.

Gu Weijing decided to rent a room by himself.

"A three-month deposit is required, and the rent is only for heating, which is 1500 euros per month. The heating rent includes water, electricity, internet, property maintenance, and winter heating costs, but does not include satellite TV..."

The landlady was a woman in her fifties who claimed to be a lawyer. She could speak English and her logic was very clear.

The room was on the top floor of the apartment building; it was a minimalist designer apartment, fully furnished. Even by German standards, the rent was expensive. Including the deposit, the rent was more than the price of his beat-up Polo, and he had to bundle all expenses together and pay the rent in a lump sum.

It would be a waste to use it only as a private art studio and not use it regularly.

Gu Weijing valued the good lighting here, its proximity to the school, and the fact that it was only a five or six-minute walk away without a car.

So we didn't haggle too much and just rented it.

After seeing the landlord off.

Gu Weijing opened the briefcase beside him and took out his painting tools one by one, the last of which was an exquisite ornament.

It was a crystal ball containing a cat reading a book. By winding up the crystal ball, the book would close, and the cat would wag its tail continuously.

so cute.

Below are also exquisite brand-name items.

"The Detective Cat: Artist Toy from the 'World Zoo' Series"

He was disappointed in the competition but successful in the business world.

Some artists have never won any well-known awards, but they have been very successful in commercialization.

While Detective Cat didn't achieve much success at the Singapore Biennale, his art and toy company, which he co-founded with Jane Arnold and Kazunari Sakai, was a resounding success.

The first batch of art IPs under the company were only created six months ago.

The market response, however, was quite positive.

The cat in this crystal ball is one of the representative IPs.

(End of this chapter)