After Grandpa put down the phone, Gu Weijing returned to his bedroom.

Gu's calligraphy and painting shop is the ancestral property of the Gu family, and it certainly has an extraordinary significance for Gu Weijing.

But he has more things to care about now.

Gu Weijing turned on the computer and typed in the entry "Award-winning works of the Singapore Art Biennale".

The computer automatically jumps to the first one, and the first one is the homepage of the Lion City Art Exhibition.

At the top is an introduction to the art exhibition.

The Lion City Art Biennale is a new art exhibition in Asia in recent years, and its history is not too long.

Its first time was held after the turn of the millennium.

In the final years of Mr Lee's rule, Singapore's founding father, who had had a life of ups and downs, set his sights on high-tech industries and tourism culture.

Historically just an ordinary port city, the Lion City became a stopover for boatmen, laborers, and sea gold diggers during the 19th century's voyage to the South Seas, and had no obvious advantages over many of East Asia's historic cities.

Singapore needs to create its own tourism card.

So the Lion City Art Biennale, Asia International Arts Festival, Art Fair, F1 Singapore Grand Prix...... and other international large-scale events have been held here one after another.

Now in its seventh edition, the Biennale of Fine Arts was originally scheduled to be held two years ago, but due to the impact of the epidemic, it has been postponed to the second half of this year.

Each year the Biennale is selected by a committee of curators on a specific theme, around which all the works are to be developed.

This year's Singapore Art Biennale has a total of six curators, one local art connoisseur and one art critic from five continents.

Perhaps because the pandemic has deserted Singapore, the theme chosen by the curators for this exhibition is "Hustle and Bustle", which translates to: "The Hustle and Bustle".

For an art exhibition, this can be said to be a theme of a hundred flowers.

As long as you are inspired, you can basically draw however you want.

This is a good thing for all the painters who want to participate in the exhibition.

Gu Weijing remembers that a few years ago, the theme of a famous European art annual exhibition was chosen as "Female Artists", which caused a certain amount of controversy.

There's nothing wrong with that for the industry as a whole.

Although it is not a few hundred or even decades ago when women were used only as a secondary role for mannequins, vases, tools that inspired male painters to create art.

But it is true that in the oil painting industry, to this day, female painters are still far less likely to have fewer opportunities than male painters.

Therefore, some art critics have even proposed that everyone should use neutral names for art exhibitions or art competitions.

Gu Weijing doesn't feel that this topic is overkill like many people.

But objectively speaking, even if there is no restriction on the submission of works by male painters, the art exhibition of this theme is indeed quite unfriendly to male painters.

After all, even if the curators and the jury don't know what political correctness is, if too many male painters are selected for the exhibition, it is as dark humorous as the greatest literary work ever born in Africa today by a white Danish aristocratic lady, and the title of the book is "Out of Africa".

Fortunately, there is no tendency on this topic, and everyone stands on a unified starting line.

Freelance submissions to the Biennale are open from all over the world.

Gu Weijing had already applied for the registration form two weeks ago.

He moved his mouse to the column of the exhibited works in the past years, and randomly selected a work from the previous 2012 exhibition electronic album with the theme of "Life".

He initiated the identification technique.

[Oil Painting: "Whale Song of the Sea"]

[Sketch Technique: Lv.4 Class: 1st Order (2678/5000)]

[Oil Painting Technique: Lv.3 Semi-Professional (964/1000)]

[Emotion: careless]

……

[Oil Painting: "The Man Who Picks the Flat Burden"]

[Sketch Technique: Lv.4 Class 1st Order (512/5000)]

[Oil Painting Technique: Lv.4 Class: 1st Order (1130/5000)]

[Emotion: careless]

"This painting "The Man Who Carries the Flat Burden" won the third prize in the student group.

Gu Weijing was the first to click into the electronic album of the student (amateur) group, and after he casually threw two skills, he had a rough judgment on the level of these amateur groups.

He found that in the process of identifying oil paintings, unlike Chinese paintings, he would also jump out of the experience value of the skill level of sketching.

This is not what Gu Weijing expected.

Sketching itself is known as the foundation of all Western modern art schools, no matter what style of oil painting or watercolor painting you have, it is all based on lines and colors.

As long as it is related to lines, it is absolutely inseparable from sketches as a basis.

Any great oil painter, any one, has worked sketching.

Even if it was a Fauvist painter.

Listening to the name of this genre, you will know that the Fauvist painters painted wild enough.

They don't like rigid lines, and are keen to use bright, heavy colors, often using paint squeezed directly from the paint tube, directly with straightforward, rough brushwork, to create a strong picture effect.

But the founder of the family, Matisse, sketched well.

There is also a special exhibition of sketches.

For oil painting, you don't even have a sketching foundation, what do you paint and what is deformed, the girl you paint thinks is a monkey, an apple thinks it is a watermelon, what kind of creativity do you talk about?

It should be an electronic picture album rather than an authentic work, and the idea of painting and the division of lines and colors of these people are far less clear than the actual picture of "Kingfisher Singing Bamboo" that he directly touched.

But it's probably enough to see it.

In all fairness, from a student's point of view, these people drew very well.

They are not a few years older than Gu Weijing, but the proficiency of various techniques has reached the point where it is almost the same as Gu Weijing who has obtained the panel.

Even something stronger than him.

Cao Lao is right, having a first-order skill of a profession can almost be said to be the threshold for participating in a calligraphy and painting exhibition.

If both the sketch and oil painting are at the level of a professional painter, then they should be able to tiptoe enough to win an award.

Gu Weijing has dispelled the idea of continuing to use identification techniques on the paintings of the amateur group.

Because although the level of these people's drawings is really good, they are not so high that they can't understand it, and they have not yet reached the level of excellence that has an impact on him.

It's not worth the cost of identification.

He switched to the master album in the screening column above, which is also his goal in this competition.

The style of the entire page of the e-book suddenly became very different.

First of all, at the 2012 Singapore International Art Biennale, only three-quarters of the works in the master group were selected for the student group, but the number of pages in the album was more than three times that of the student group.

Each album of the master group has a special painter introduction and review, and each painting is a special homepage.

Any of these works can be called excellent, with rigorous brushstrokes and exquisite painting techniques.

[Title: "Flying Birds, Sea Water, Red Sun"]

[Sketch Technique: Lv.5 Class 2nd]

[Watercolor Painting Technique: Lv.5 Class 2nd Order]

[Mood: Simple work]

[Note: Techniques that are a large realm higher than the host's highest skill cannot accurately display the experience bar and will cause mental exhaustion, please use the identification technique with caution]

Gu Weijing just used the identification technique to casually look at a watercolor painting, and between a large number of color separations, he felt a certain amount of mental depression.

This is a side effect of forcibly analyzing works that are higher than your own level.

Fortunately, this uncomfortable feeling is only fleeting.

"Two professions of the second order." Gu Weijing smacked his lips.

Painting appreciation is a very subjective thing,

Even if this kind of art exhibition has a professional committee and art connoisseur selection, it is inevitable that excellent works will be buried, or mediocre works will be shortlisted.

But generally speaking, the painters who are able to participate in the master group are at least above the same horizontal line.

This gouache painting is not good enough to win an award, and if you want to participate in the master group exhibition, you should at least have a similar level.

"It's not an easy thing to get to the second rank of two professions."

Gu Weijing felt the pressure.

He already has two first-order skills, and it doesn't seem to be far from the second-order of the profession.

But the account can't be counted like that.

Each skill upgrade requires a full 5,000 experience points, and two skills are 10,000, which means that he needs to spend at least $100,000 to buy a ticket to the exhibition.

Moreover, in art exhibitions, especially overseas art exhibitions, the requirements for the Chinese paintings that want to be exhibited are much higher.

It may take a third level of professional life, or even higher, to rely solely on the impact of Chinese painting to impress those overseas judges.

However, it is not easy to improve your painting skills.

But painting has never been just a rigid job that simply tests technique.

And emotions.

Gu Weijing only found a particularly interesting painting among the shortlisted works in the master group this year.

It was a gloomy oil painting.

The title of this painting is "The Fisherman", and it uses the pointillism technique to color with small dots arranged next to each other.

Pointillism is a more complex oil painting technique.

It requires that the color dots on the whole painting are closely arranged, but there must be no overlap, which is similar to the principle of light color mixing on the display screen.

The author of the painting clearly did not do a good enough job at this point.

With Gu Weijing's current vision, without activating the skill, he can easily see that the other party has a lot of color spots stained together.

The painter's painting skills are average in the amateur group, and can only be called terrible in the master group.

What really attracts Gu Weijing's attention is that even if it is an electronic album, this painting obviously has a different vitality than other works.

Gu Weijing launched the calligraphy and painting appraisal technique.

Twisted waters, boiling waves, fishermen wrestling with the sea......

The sound of the wind, the rain, the sound of the sea, and the groans of the fishermen all blended into a sigh that passed in Gu Weijing's ears.

[Oil Painting: "The Fisherman"]

[Sketch Technique: Lv3 Semi-Professional (813/1000)]

[Oil Painting Technique: Lv4 Class: 1st Order (1220/5000)]

[Emotion: Feeling in the heart]

"No wonder it gives people a different feeling, the mood of this painting has reached [heart feeling]!"

This is the first time Gu Weijing has seen a work whose emotional evaluation has reached more than [simple work].

With the emotion panel, he knows how difficult it can be to stay in a state of full concentration throughout the painting process, let alone the evaluation of the "heart feeling" at a higher stage.

[Painter: Tomás Santisima (Venezuela), Researcher, National Museum of Fine Arts of Venezuela]

【2012 "Life" Singapore International Art Biennale, Finalist of the Master Group】

Gu Weijing saw a short line at the link below, which seemed to be the evaluation given to the painting by the curatorial organizing committee that year.

[The artist's line expression is not precise enough, and the oil painting technique is still immature.] But the painter shows the spirit of fighting with the sea, the vitality of the fisherman's tenacious struggle. The artist depicts the tough guy spirit of battling the ocean from the perspective of an onlooker, and the whole painting gives the judges a unique perspective on the ocean. 】

[Therefore, the shortlisted master group exhibition is specially selected.] 】

"Either it's painting skills, or it's eye-catching emotions, at least the two must account for the same."

Gu Weijing nodded.

Painting skills can be improved by experience points, while emotions can only rely on life experience, and having a good emotional expression has always been the only way for a great painter.

Emotions are even more important than simple techniques, and the third step of the career task on his system panel is also related to emotions.

[Serial Mission: First Glimpse - The Way of Career (Final Mission)]

[Current Task: Complete a work of any subject with a length of 8 inches or more, and achieve an Emotion Rating - Feeling and above.] 】

[Ultimate reward for chain quests: one random legendary skill]

"Legendary skills?"

When Gu Weijing just saw the description of this skill, if he said that he was not impressed, then it must be fake.

Although I don't know the specific content of the reward, the word "legendary" alone shows the preciousness of this skill.

Menzel's drawing experience, which made him popular in the illustration world, was only perfect, and it was difficult for him to imagine what kind of skills could be named legendary by the system.

But as the ultimate reward for this chain of quests, it is also much more difficult to complete than the first two.

The first two are tangible requirements for improving your skills to reach the first level of your career, or meeting the number of orders you receive on Fiverr.

8 inches is not a lot of length, but it is not a few minutes to draw, how to maintain a warm mood for a long time...... Gu Weijing had just found some doorways in the orphanage.

"If only the system could give itself a few more tasks."

Thinking of this,

He reopened the panel and stared at a line of skill details under [Calligraphy and Painting Appraisal Technique].

[Special Effect 2 (Soul Induction): In the process of appreciating the master's paintings, there is a chance to trigger a limited task. Note: Appreciating works that are too high in advance of your current aesthetic attainments may cause additional mental burden to the host, please use skills with caution.

"In the process of appreciating the master's paintings, there is a chance to trigger a limited task?"

Gu Weijing suddenly realized one thing, he now seemed to be able to take the initiative to trigger the task.

It's just what kind of work you want to be considered a master's work.

Gu Weijing thought for a moment, and he found the "Hundred Flowers Picture" of Professor Lin Tao's little sister Tang Ning from his mobile phone

He activated the skill.

This time, the impact on the spirit was much greater than when I first admired the watercolor paintings.

He felt a tingling in his brain, a feeling of overpower, his head hurt and heavily, his head was groggy, and even a slight hallucination, feeling that there were countless flowers on his body blooming and withering.

[Title: "Hundred Flowers"]

[Chinese Painting Technique: Lv.7 Master 1st Order]

[Mood: Simple work]

"The first order of the master, that is, the third order of the lv.6 professional painter and above, is the first order of the master, but what about my task?"

Gu Weijing closed his eyes for a few minutes, and waited until the tingling sensation on the top of his head subsided slightly, and then looked at the panel in front of him.

The painter Downing's painting itself is a work with showmanship, and it is not surprising that the emotional value has only been evaluated as a "simple work".

As Gu Weijing speculated, this Chinese painting was the most skillful work he had ever seen, reaching Lv. 7.

But no new tasks appear on the panel.

"Either it's a matter of probability, or it's just a beginner's level, and it's not enough to trigger the task."

Gu Weijing did not give up, and released the art of calligraphy and painting appraisal on a simple commissioned work on Fiverr painted by himself with the blessing of Master Menzel's skills.

It should be because of my own work, but this time there is no mental impact.

However, the picture does not show the structure of lines that are broken down in the mind like other works.

Only a dry panel emerged.

[Title: "Unnamed Web Illustration"]

[Sketch Technique: Lv.9 Master 3rd Order (Limited Experience)]

[Mood: Simple work]

"Not yet, is the content not complex enough, or is it because Menzel's skills have drawn without his own soul?"

Gu Weijing licked his lips.

He didn't want to give up just like that, and a very bold thought appeared in his heart.

Gu Weijing still couldn't suppress his curiosity.

He now wanted not only to trigger the task of the system, but also because he wanted to know how far the greatest painters in human history could go in the evaluation of the system.

Gu Weijing had several options in mind.

Otherwise, now take a taxi to the site of the mural restoration and take a look at the "Buddha Protector Map" restored by Cao Lao.

This is the true work of the top painters that he can now get his hands on.

If it is an online digital album, he is more inclined to his favorite impressionist works.

Although well-known works such as the Mona Lisa or the Night Watch have become part of popular culture.

But if it comes to personal hobbies, Gu Weijing prefers the impressionist painting style.

Traditional Chinese culture influenced RB painting, Dongying painting influenced Impressionism, East and West merged, and the world's art trends were mixed with each other on a small piece of oil painting paper.

In particular, the representative painter of Impressionism, Ray Arnaud.

In his early years, the painter was trained to paint oriental porcelain and traditional screens, and his works embody the effect of cotton wool flying like porcelain paintings.

Warm, warm and bright.

It satisfies his imagination of the beauty of all oil paintings.

Choose one of the two,

Gu Weijing knew that if he wanted to appreciate the works of a painter of this level, he would definitely bring a great mental burden to himself.

I can only choose one, and even a painter may not be able to parse it.

After much hesitation, he chose Reano's masterpiece.

For no other reason, curiosity kills cats. After all, Cao Lao is a living painter, and he is likely to become Cao Lao's disciple, and he has time to listen to Cao Lao's own painting experience.

He just wanted to take advantage of the convenience of the system to experience the pinnacle of Impressionism across a hundred years.

"The Ball at the Pancake Mill, Reano."

Gu Weijing entered the entry.