The Versatile Master Artist

Gu Weijing twirled the pencil on his desk with his fingers, ignoring the whispers filled with malice around him.

As a young painter about to hold an exhibition at the Louvre Abu Dhabi,

he certainly had the confidence to treat all the peers mocking him as jokers and ignore them.

Alright,

strictly speaking, it’s not so much that Ma Shi Gallery wants to spend heavily on his solo exhibition, but rather that this promise of exhibition is a Faustian bait for him to sign away his soul.

But the two sides of the coin tossed by Hanks aren’t exactly Hell and Heaven.

It’s just an extremely lucrative contract and another one that’s a bit insanely unprecedented in the industry.

Ma Shi III, this "Devil," was indeed too generous.

So generous that,

Gu Weijing knew he might have signed a contract selling his soul encompassing the golden years of his career, yet he didn’t feel bothered, only excited and thrilled.

"Is this the magic power of Mr. Cao Xuan?"

Even thinking with his toes, he’d know that without Mr. Cao wielding some influence within, the unbelievable option of exhibiting at the Louvre Abu Dhabi would never appear on the negotiation table.

Even a genius couldn’t change that.

Tokyo Gallery also collaborates with top museums, yet they’ve never promised to hold a solo exhibition for Koizumi Katsuko in any museum.

Perhaps in the future, such a scenario will occur.

But not now,

not next year,

not when Miss Shengzi is 19 years old.

It’s not that Tokyo Gallery doesn’t value Koizumi Katsuko, it’s just that there’s never been such a precedent in the industry.

Galleries have their own mature nurturing gradients.

New artists typically sign on and first participate in some academic discussions organized by the gallery, collective exhibitions, showing their faces to collectors and the media.

Those who perform well get more exposure resources and are recommended to participate as invited artists in smaller biennials, and then in larger ones like the Lion City Art Exhibition.

Only after achieving excellent results can one consider starting a solo exhibition.

For cost considerations, the initial solo exhibitions are usually small, purely online.

Only when market feedback is good enough can one gradually expand the scale of solo exhibitions, move to bigger stages, and consider opportunities to participate in art fairs...

The reward at the distant end of this lengthy ladder is holding a solo exhibition in a major museum.

Like in motor racing, one must first race European go-karts, then Renault Formula, then win championships in F4, F3, F2. Failing that, they might have to train in other sub-elite races for two or three years before finally sitting in the cockpits of F1 cars, making global audiences cheer for the drivers.

This is the mature commercial nurturing model formed by modern galleries over time.

Because each step upwards costs significantly more, for regular newcomer artists, gaining more exposure requires passing through layers of selection.

It is only after detailed evaluations and studies by the marketing department, when they deem it worthwhile to invest more resources in representing an artist,

and confirming that their investment will yield returns, that they allow an artist to advance to the next tier.

When Mrs. Sakai initially proposed the conditions for a solo exhibition, she judged that even if Ma Shi Gallery agreed, it would probably only be a small, very basic solo exhibition.

Having a physical venue instead of an online exhibition with fewer than ten thousand total views would already be a considerable effort.

Expecting more would be too demanding.

Being 19 years old, too young and too inexperienced.

Giving him such a grand occasion, drawing the eyes of art enthusiasts worldwide, he might not even be able to control it himself.

Promoting a 6-year-old go-kart prodigy into the ultimate F1 cockpit may well lead to crashing at the start of the race.

The massive criticism from public opinion and media might very well sweep away the gallery and their represented artist like a tidal wave.

Think about it,

a nineteen-year-old without any compelling achievements, suddenly getting things many people strive for all their lives but can’t obtain.

All those fellow artists struggling to climb the thorny road of art would feel so jealous and envious of you!

Yet Ma Shi III actually made this unbelievable promise.

It’s hard to tell if it’s fearlessness or insanity.

The gallery completely placed everything on the gambling table, giving everything they could.

With a private friendship with the United Arab Emirates Royal Family, gaining the qualification to hold a joint exhibition at the Abu Dhabi Museum, this is Ma Shi Gallery’s trump card. And it is the fundamental reason why this leading yet gradually withering gallery still calls itself a Tier One gallery in people’s subconscious.

Somehow it still holds sway over an intercontinental gallery like Tokyo Gallery + BTAP.

Even in the eyes of well-known artists, this opportunity is indeed enticing enough.

It’s the strongest promotional resource and Tier 0 level of exposure channel Ma Shi Gallery controls, ranking somewhere mid to low in Tier One honors throughout art history.

This stage is slightly inferior to those in super museums, on par with the prestige of holding an exhibition in many European national museums.

It’s almost like the allure of holding an exhibition at the State Hermitage Museum, or the Uffizi Gallery in Italy Florence, these venerable old museums with histories spanning three to four hundred years.