"During the seven-year contract, the contracted artist will provide at least 100 works to the gallery, and the total sales volume of Mars Gallery must be committed to not less than 200,000 US dollars. For the part below $200,000, 75% will be drawn, for $200,000 to $500,000, the commission will be 65%, and the commission for more than $500,000 will be adjusted to be split in half. During the contract period, at least once every two years, you must participate in an academic exhibition or art exhibition curated by Mars Gallery, and the total number of times is not less than four times. If the total sales of the works created in the contract exceed 500,000 US dollars, an additional solo exhibition for the contracted artist is required and a personal album is published. ”

Hanks looked at the stepped data that Mrs. Sakai had written on a piece of paper.

He saw half of it, and his head shook like a rattle.

"It's ridiculous, it's ridiculous!"

"Total sales are guaranteed to be no less than $200,000, and sales are determined by market acceptance and the level of the artist. We can't do this, can he give us a hundred blank sheets of paper, and we have to promise to sell 200,000 dollars! ”

"There's a slang saying in the industry that a bad gallery can sell gold for shit, and a good gallery can sell shit for gold. There may be an element of exaggeration in it. However, as long as Mars Gallery is willing to tilt its sales resources to Xiao Gu, for example, hold a few more large-scale solo exhibitions. Even if you sell a hundred blank sheets of paper for $200,000, it's actually very easy. ”

Mrs. Sakai said lightly.

"Poof."

"How many more large-scale solo exhibitions? Madam, you might as well ask us to buy all his works for 200,000 dollars. ”

Hanks was directly amused.

theoretically

The works of emerging artists are just as much like the myriad of new virtual coins that will be developed on blockchain exchanges over time.

As long as you are willing to tilt resources, there are sufficient media channels to expose you, and you are willing to hype.

Blank paper and air can be easily sold for sky-high prices.

The big deal is nothing more than the bold collectors beating the drum and passing the flowers together, betting that the bubble will not collapse in their own hands.

But the accounts can't be counted like that.

Publicity and marketing itself is also expensive.

For a decent solo exhibition, the cost of the gallery is casually more than 100,000 US dollars.

A hundred thousand dollars is a very small kind of exhibition.

If you really want to scale up, invest a little bit of resources and cooperate with some large museums, and spend a million or two million dollars to play.

Please note that

Spending $2 million on a solo exhibition of a major artist that will attract the attention of a certain amount of public and collector is a very budget-conscious expense. It also has to be like Mars Gallery, which has been in business for half a century and has connections with museums and art galleries, and can hold exhibitions at a friendly price.

Otherwise, the cost will go up.

If you really want to hold the kind of exhibition that attracts the attention of the world, it will be on the scale of what Mrs. Sakai called "selling shit for gold".

I'm sorry

Starting at tens of millions of dollars, there is no cap.

In 2017, Damien Hirst spent ten years preparing for the Golden Lion, the highest honor of the Venice Biennale, in order to challenge his heart, and brought his personal entry "Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable" to the Palazzo Graci in Venice.

It is not a single painting, but a group of 189 works of art that are like solo exhibitions.

For this solo exhibition, the support team behind Hearst did not count the labor costs, the cost of the venue, and the basic cost alone exceeded 50 million pounds.

It's not $50 million, it's £50 million.

In the end, I haven't won the prize yet.

When art makes money, it is really time to burn money, and when it is time to burn money, the listed companies on the New Third Board will not even be able to make a splash.

In contrast,

Mrs. Sakai's request to publish a personal album for Gu Weijing was easy to accept.

Albums or art monographs are published in order to make a name for themselves in the academic field.

Art albums don't sell well, but printing is expensive, and basically the gallery has to publish it entirely at its own expense, and hundreds of thousands of dollars should be indispensable.

"It is impossible for us to agree to such conditions, and no major gallery of the same level will offer such conditions to emerging painters who are not famous."

Hanks scoffed.

"I'm sorry, I respect you, ma'am, but this request is outrageous. You know, he's a newcomer, a newcomer without any fame accumulation! ”

He knocked on the table in a particularly heavy tone, almost shouting.

"This condition may be enough for second-tier galleries to poach middle-level and high-level painters who have become famous. This condition is simply unthinkable. ”

"Xiao Gu is just a newcomer who is still not famous, and he will not be anymore soon. Gu Weijing is going to participate in this year's Lion City Art Exhibition, and the painting you see is the idea of the entry he prepared for the exhibition. You also have your own judgment on how the picture will look. ”

"The Lion City Art Exhibition, Oh, No Wonder ......"

Hearing the word,

Hanks was slightly stunned.

He recalled the painting "Orphanage in the Sun" and immediately found that this painting was really suitable for participating in this year's "Hustle and Bustle of the World: Biennale Art Exhibition" in the Lion City.

If Gu Weijing can really participate in the Singapore Art Exhibition. Even if you win an award, your value will naturally rise significantly.

And this painting,

Although Hanks thinks that the brush and ink are a little young, in a situation like Singapore, choosing the right painting method may be more important than the artist's own technique.

It may not be that there is really no possibility for this kid to pick up a small award.

"Not only that, Mr. Cao Xuan's oldest disciple at present, Mr. Lin Taolin of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, also admires Gu Weijing very much and wants to accept him as a disciple."

"Lin Tao, who ranked 43rd on the Hurun Artist Rich List last year, really? Are you sure it's a disciple? ”

The agent's ability to pull connections for Gu Weijing is no longer just a shock that can be described in two words.

Cao Lao's apprentice grandson and Uncle Sakai's possible son-in-law?

He calculated a little in his heart, and he couldn't help but lick the corners of his mouth.

"Finally, Gu Weijing and my daughter are co-writing a paper on dark impressionism. I am confident that this paper will be published in a top AHCI journal like Asian Art. ”

This is not the time to show the virtue of humility.

If you have some ability, you have to show some ability.

Mrs. Sakai showed the advantages of Gu Weijing in front of Hanks' eyes one by one.

Even the dissertation is not spared.

"He has not only painting potential, but also academic potential. Over the past half century, intellectual painters who have the ability to follow the academic route have become more and more popular. These advantages are something that you can't do at all as you call 'any famous middle and high-level painter'. ”

Hanks began to fall silent.

He realized that he hadn't done enough background checks before he came, and that he might have underestimated the young painter's potential.

If Gu Weijing can really win an award at the art exhibition, then add other information.

The price that Mrs. Sakai wrote on the contract still seems very high, but it is already worth considering.

"What's the inside scoop? At this year's Lion City Biennale, does he have a special invitation to participate in the competition? ”

Hanks thought for a moment.

He didn't dare to underestimate Gu Weijing's network channels now.

"I don't think it's necessary, relying on my own strength to participate is the most valuable result."

Mrs. Sakai raised her eyebrows, looking disdainful of these petty tricks.

This kind of high-sounding rhetoric, Hanks just listened to it, and he didn't believe it.

"Hmm...... The competition in this year's Lion City Art Exhibition is indeed very fierce, and the off-site channels are more difficult to organize. ”

After thinking about it, he shook his head.

"With Gu Weijing's current level of this painting, without help from outside the field, I don't think it's easy to say whether he can participate in the competition of the master group in the main exhibition area."

"He still has a few months to improve his work, and the probability of making it to the Masters Group is at least 70 percent."

Mrs. Sakai said.

"The probability of winning the award is no more than 30%." Hanks shrugged, "Ma'am, you're a blank check. ”

"There is a 30% chance that you will earn it, and a 70% chance that you will not lose."

Mrs. Sakai gently put her two calves together and held the initiative of the words in her hands, "If your gallery is willing to use its network resources to help Gu Weijing strive for higher exposure during the competition, I think the chances of winning the award are far more than 30%. If not, why don't we wait until after the exhibition to sell for a post? ”

The Biennale is not just a battle between different artists.

The high-end exhibition is also a competition between different galleries and a fight between publicity resources.

Many people may have seen professional PR teams lobbying for the Oscars or the Venice Film Festival in the tabloids.

In fact, the famous Venice Film Festival is one of the sub-units of the Venice Biennale.

In a traditional serious painting exhibition, the logic is similar.

The art exhibition of painting is relatively pure compared to the exhibition of film.

Naked monetary transactions rarely happen, but there is much more to influencing the organizing committee than just financial bribery.

First of all, during the duration of the exhibition, the vast gallery can hire art critics to write articles through the Internet and traditional print media to build momentum for their own artists.

Many collectors and art lovers pay to subscribe to well-known art newspapers, such as Art Fair, Art review, and Oil Painting.

These big media outlets push columns to their paying readers every day or weekly.

For example,

Even though Gu Weijing's small book gallery is just a small grocery store like a grass platform, they still subscribe to the members of Oil Painting magazine on time, just like a graphic design company subscribes to Adobe Family Bucket.

It is similar to the necessities of eating.

Gu Tongxiang pays a monthly membership fee of 75 euros, in addition to the corresponding information in the buyer's guide section.

The editorial department of Oil Painting magazine will also push an email news message to Mr. Gu's registered email account every Wednesday.

In this email, the magazine's senior editors will select and write some important art industry news and professional art analysis, including corresponding investment recommendations and new evaluations of some noteworthy painters.

The impact of these review articles is enormous.

The long-established "Oil Painting" magazine is not bad for money, and as the big brother of this industry, in addition to the membership payment system, it does not accept cooperative advertorials.

Most of these art mediums are accepted.

In particular, the free electronic media relies on business cooperation to make money.

Gu Weijing wants to participate in the Lion City Art Exhibition, if he has sufficient resources behind him.

It is possible to publish a commendatory article in a media such as "The Lion City Art Observer", which has a large readership in Singapore, to exert external influence on the organizing committee.

This is a cross-section of an email newsletter with a price tag of 50,000 Singapore dollars, about 35,000 US dollars.

If you are willing to spend money, the mainstream mass current affairs news print media has no special position to advertise 5~60,000 US dollars per issue, and if you are willing to spend 100,000 US dollars, you can buy a two-page large section on the "Daily News Weekly" to promote it.

There are also more high-end gameplay.

A large gallery like Mars would rent a castle or a blue water garden in a high-end hotel every day, and invite famous art critics, collectors, and industry authorities to hold a "reception".

The usual standard of hospitality is more than $3,000 per person, and a night of 100 people is $300,000.

If you throw this money down, you may not be able to win a prize.

If you don't spend this money, you don't necessarily get a prize.

But the probability of winning the award is really not on the same order of magnitude.

The operating rules of the gallery industry have always been jokingly called by the public opinion circles - Money can talk.

Galleries use the sea of money to make their representatives popular, and collectors use the money in their hands to hunt down famous painters, and then let the gallerists make a profit.

Everything,

As long as you are willing to spend money on "lubrication", there are few that you can't get.

The Venice Biennale, the most important exhibition in the history of fine arts, may be able to keep its head high in the face of money and replace it with a new art exhibition like the Singapore Biennale.

To put it mildly,

If there is an artist and his gallery, he is willing to spend tens of millions of dollars to participate in the exhibition.

Regardless of whether the work itself is good or bad, with this investment, no gold medal will be awarded.

The organizing committee is embarrassed.

After Mrs. Sakai learned that Gu Weijing wanted to participate in the Singapore Art Exhibition, she set her sights on the publicity channel of Mars Gallery.

Anyway, for an international gallery, important branches on all continents have special public relations costs every year, which are astronomical.

Leaders such as Gagosian, Lisson, and PACE have budgets in tens of millions of euros.

These budgets are not spent in vain, they can be spent on other painters, why can't they give Xiao Gu a small award or something?

Eat more than one fish,

Mrs. Sakai thinks she's just a plan!

When Mrs. Sakai and Hanks discussed the details of the contract, Gu Weijing did not speak.

He knew that Miss Katsuko's mother knew more than he did.

It is also more useful for others to speak than for themselves.

Gu Weijing quietly held the copy of the contract that Hanks had just given and was reading, and he was concentrating on the pages of "Artist Authorization and Obligations".

When a middle- and lower-class painter signs a contract, he usually gets the first contract that doesn't bind him too much.

A painter of this level needs to do everything possible to solve the problem of survival.

In fact, after signing a gallery in the industry, the little painters who secretly sell paintings to earn extra money in various circles on the Internet have really gone to the sea.

With this kind of small money, the gallery also belongs to the category of opening one eye and closing one eye.

But Gu Weijing didn't want to play with this kind of fire.

(End of chapter)