The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

The number one art museum in all of North America, with a collection of more than 3 million works of art. It was built in 1870 by John Morgan, the heir to the famous Morgan consortium.

Since its birth, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, has been the museum with the highest cultural status in all of New York.

Even if you look at the United States and even the entire North American region, it is difficult to say that it is an opponent.

The Louvre Abu Dhabi has a strategic partnership with Mars Gallery, although it sounds like the Louvre.

In fact, the calculation is only a secondary pavilion of OEM co-branding.

Otherwise, Mars Gallery will definitely not be qualified to engage in art alliances with others.

The alliance between the UAE and the Mars Gallery resembles the marriage of rubber plantation owners and railroad tycoons in North America and the ladies of a down-and-out aristocracy in Europe.

Of course, on the other hand, it is the same for the tycoon's daughter to recruit a little earl to "join the rich".

Whoever is the husband comes, and who is the wife.

Doesn't matter.

Anyway, the UAE has money, and the Maas Gallery also has a large shelf of first-line galleries, one responsible for providing funding, and the other responsible for providing cultural influence.

The two sides got together and barely got along to get by.

But the Met's niche in the art industry is completely different from theirs.

They are the top high-ranking lords in good financial condition.

It is equivalent to the former Hohenzollern family, the Hannover family, or the Elena family, which has its own huge industry, money, and fame.

It is not an exaggeration to compare it to the art princess and cultural hub of the whole of North America.

Even though the old Europeans still think that the United States is a stupid bun, they always smile arrogantly when they talk about American culture.

But the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York is an exception.

The arrogant Europeans living in the dreams of the old days will admit that it is a good thing when they see the grandeur of the Met's neo-Gothic pavilion.

They had to pinch their noses to say that the descendants of the cowboys who crossed the ocean on the Mayflower were still a little more civilized...... Although most of the collections in it are not their own.

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is also probably one of the most generous museums in the world to sponsor exhibitions of painters.

From the moment it was born, the museum's board members were bubbling up one by one.

Spending money on art is a means for them to show their personal taste.

Last year alone,

The museum spends $420 million, 60 percent of which is spent on 17 art exhibitions on a variety of different themes held throughout the year.

On average, the museum spends around $15 million on curatorial costs for every exhibition held here.

This is already the configuration of the most top-of-the-line and luxurious super art exhibition.

Therefore.

Even among the so-called three major museums in the world, the Metropolitan Museum is not as good as the British Museum and the Louvre, and has a cultural heritage in the eyes of Europeans.

It doesn't even have a special religious status like the Vatican Museums or the National Gallery of Florence.

But to be able to hold a solo exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum of Art is still the highest honor that a painter can touch in his lifetime in the entire Western art world.

For the Americans, there is not even one.

Alex Williams, the former of American Art, once told reporters, "If you want to win the American market, you must first conquer the Metropolitan Museum." ”

The U.S. market is the craziest, hottest, most frothy and hottest art market in the world.

Almost three-quarters of Europe is the largest in terms of transaction volume.

I want to push a painter to work on it every year at the Metropolitan Museum.

Don't say Mars Gallery is trying to Peach.

This qualification is something that even Gagosin desires but can't reach.

Compared to the ultimate lure of getting a painter to have a solo exhibition at the Met, the record-breaking $2 million prize money pales in little way.

Probably only the size of another behemoth in the art market, Oil Painting, and the deep network of contacts left by the magazine in the field of high art for decades.

This is the result of a powerful alliance between the leading boss of art criticism magazines and the leading boss of art museums.

Even so.

The willingness of "Oil Painting" to pay such a huge amount of resources to redeem and enhance its authority really surprised Gu Weijing.

But the face of Lord Brown opened his face and threw it on the ground.

Real money, the Kruger Brothers Bank also paid for it.

Such a quick response, such a return for showmanship: the entire first phase of the "New Era Art Project" has been preserved without breaking the bones.

Even the current public opinion environment in the newspapers feels that Sir Brown's tone of expression of the problem is somewhat extreme.

But who is not an artist who is not crazy and not alive?

Even if Chairman Brown is a scholar and has such a good attitude of admitting mistakes, it will be boring to hold on to it.

Didn't you see that even Miss Elena herself was photographed whispering to Larry Gagosian pushing her at the cocktail party organized by "Oil Painting", holding a champagne glass?

When Gu Weijing saw this news.

It's a little emotional.

He still knows too much about the high-level bigwigs.

A lot of times, political struggles are not idealized about me killing you all at once, or you bringing me down all at once.

Adult society is always accompanied by the constant concessions, compromises, and reconciliations between the two sides according to the changes of the current situation.

Until one side completely loses ground.

"Now, for the sake of the scriptures, let me tell you, don't look at it looks like the Yelena family and the management of "Oil Painting" have reached a settlement, and the grievances in the news have been put down, hello, hello, everyone. But if you want me to say, this is ...... Definitely not that easy to finish! ”

Gu Tongxiang touched his chin.

Old man Gu is worthy of being in a chaotic area, witnessing the treacherous political turmoil in Myanmar in the past half century.

Even if he is not like his grandson Gu Weijing, he understands and participates in the layers of this wrestling to a certain extent.

But Old Man Gu still made a judgment firmly.

"Now the New Era Project is holding awards and subsidies there, which is to attract us potential painters! It's called buying people's hearts! You're holding the creation fund of the New Era project every month, and you can still say bad things about it! Look, that's it...... In ancient times, it was called 'Tian's Daiqi', and it was clearly written in our history books! ”

"Can even you get a grant for the creation of the New Era Project?"

Gu Weijing asked in surprise.

"No matter how much the organizing committee thinks about leaning towards a young painter like Ms. K., who persists in creating in the face of creative resistance or family pressure, is determined and works hard. If you want to attract potential stocks, you have nothing to do with the grand prize of the new era. ”

A butterfly in the Amazon rainforest flapps its wings.

Two weeks later.

A tornado was triggered in the US state of Alabama.

Gu Weijing vaguely remembered.

Mr. Sloth told him that in order to save word of mouth, or buy people's hearts, after the opening ceremony of the European Art Festival, the New Era Project published an explanatory statement in the newspaper, and also raised the subsidy and incentive standards for the artists who worked with the project.

He originally thought.

The subsidies are all top-notch, or at least first- and second-tier painters, like Hunter Bull.

Unexpectedly.

Sir Brown even included an old painter like his grandfather.

This butterfly wing is quite powerful.

It rains in the sky, and there can be raindrops hitting a remote old chrysanthemum like grandpa.

In terms of "Oil Painting", it is really good to throw a lot of coins.

"Cut, what do you mean even me. Why can't grandpa get a creative subsidy? Where am I not working hard? Where is the will is not firm, at the age of sixty, can't it be a potential stock that has accumulated steadily! Anything is said. You talk like that, go outside and be careful of being beaten. ”

Old man Gu heard the suspicion of his level in his grandson's tone.

The disgruntled straight there hummed.

"Hmph...... Also, you haven't officially signed with the gallery yet, and when you become the exclusive agent artist of Mars Gallery, the agent should send you an internal announcement. The New Era Project, which is now revised, is based on the past year's awards, transaction prices, recommended star ratings in the Oil Painting Magazine's Buyer's Guide, curatorial achievements, and published papers...... Anyway, a series of data models are very complex, and then you can just look at the documents, and determine a basic coefficient score for each artist. ”

"The subsidy is divided into four major grades: A, B, C, and D. After each painter meets a certain coefficient score, he or she will be able to send an email to the Oil Painting Foundation from low to high to apply for the corresponding creation subsidy. ”

"The highest A grade is basically more than 50,000 dollars per year, and the ten artists with the highest coefficient score in the A grade will be included in the additional S area, that is, the Special special list, to participate in the year-end K award selection. As long as we sign a few large galleries to which New Era belongs, we can directly get D-level subsidies at the beginning. ”

Gu Tongxiang couldn't help but straighten his old waist proudly.

Signaling to his grandson - our grandfathers are upright and upright, and they are also potential stocks recognized by the New Era Project.

So that's it!

Gu Weijing was a little abrupt.

Sir Brown had the confidence to say in the newspaper that the detective cat was treated fairly and impartially.

It's really not just a verbal article that benefits but doesn't cost anything.

People are serious and have set up a subsidy assessment publicity system.

"How much can I get for the D-level subsidy?"

"Fifty dollars."

"Every day? Not a lot. ”

"Uh...... per month. The announcement said that it was 600 dollars a year. ”

Gu Tongxiang paused and corrected.

"It's just the money to add a sweet orange to the end of every meal. Isn't "Oil Painting" very rich? ”

Gu Weijing was stunned.

"But there are many people who can get it, not only artists, but also museum exhibition hall employees, students who are among the top students in the departments of well-known art universities, and there may be tens of thousands of people in the D-level subsidy list! The higher the level of subsidy, the more money there is, ranging from thousands to tens of thousands. Besides, the money to eat an orange every day is also money. Besides, the meaning of eating this orange is different! ”

Gu Tongxiang didn't get the imaginary grandson's sincere reverence after learning that he had actually participated in the New Era project.

Very dissatisfied.

"This is the orange that Oil Painting magazine sent me! Rounding it up, it's the equivalent of an orange that Sir Brown peeled for me with his own hands! It's the same as the oranges you bought at the supermarket. ”

Old man Gu patted his chest, his eyes radiant.

It wasn't like an orange, but a panacea that would make him ten years younger and grow hair back on his bald head.

"I have never had the opportunity to see the general trend of the times of Cubism in my life, and I have only longed for the vigorous new art tide in books and stories, and the myth of wealth creation brought by pop art is just a shadow that cannot be seen and touched for your grandfather and me."

He said in a deep tone: "But this time, I am personally involved in the New Era movement. If the artistic revolution led by Oil Painting really becomes the most important artistic tsunami in the next 80 years of the 21st century. Then I will be a splash in the first ripple of this tsunami. ”

"It's a story that can be told to future generations. When my great-grandson is born, I will tell him that your grandfather and I will be part of this great art project. ”

"Understood."

Gu Weijing nodded.

He stared at his grandfather's radiant expression for two seconds, and his mind turned, and he finally understood Sir Brown's full plan.

What is the most lacking thing for a young painter?

Short of money?

Of course there is a lack of money.

But even Oil Painting magazine and Kruger Bank can't afford to feed tens of thousands of people for nothing.

Even if you raise it, you can't raise it.

Then they are not capitalists, and when people mobilize teachers to make such a big scene, they will really become a charity hall and a destitute painter's almshouse.

But they can't give a lot of money, but they can give another thing that young painters also lack—a sense of participation and respect.

Most of the art tides that swept the West in the history of art had nothing to do with low-level painters.

This refers to the "universal" low-level painters.

Perhaps the rise of a new school of painting can make several young painters become dignitaries in the painting world, become multimillionaires, and there are examples of billionaires.

But for most ordinary painters, it's still just a mythical story that happened around them.

In summary.

They are still just low-level painters who have been called at and out of.

However, the New Era Project decided to scatter coins.

Even if it's just fifty dollars a month, it's the money for a student at the Academy of Fine Arts to go to a fancy restaurant with his girlfriend for a candlelit dinner after the exam, or for Gu Tongxiang to buy an orange for his family at the dinner table.

But the meaning is very different.

From the day they received the grant from the Oil Painting Foundation, they were clearly linked to this top-level art activity.

They get a great sense of engagement.

At one end is the little painter, the other is Sir Brown, and in the middle is the emotional bond formed by fifty dollars.

And if your status is higher enough and your achievements are greater, then you will naturally be able to hold more.

The three grades of A, B, and C are the big cakes that are really distributed to a few people.

The A-grade starts at $50,000 per year, which may not be enough for a master of Downing's magnitude.

But for those at the bottom of the art rich list, or for tenured professors in general art academies like Professor Boggs, it is still quite an attractive amount.

You're not the only one in the Elena family who can claim to be on the side of a little painter like the detective cat.

You do.

Why can't "Oil Painting" be done?

Plainly.

Ordinary artists may not care if there is one of the top art museums in the world, whether you call it the "Detective Cat Art Museum" or the "Elena Family Art Center." ”

Miss Elena donated $5 billion, but that was still just a newspaper number.

And Sir Brown paid fifty dollars to the tens of thousands of people who formed the cornerstone of the art industry, and the total cost may not be more than 18 million.

But it was really taken into the palm of his hand.

You could say Sir Brown is bad, but he's quite skillful.

(End of chapter)

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