The Versatile Master Artist

You can just register directly for the Biennale.

If you can make it through the committee’s preliminary selection, you can participate in the exhibition even without a penny.

There’s no preliminary selection for art fairs; everyone can participate, and basically, if you do, you’re likely to sell your paintings. For a small artist, attending once and having the average price of their works double or triple is quite common.

Everything is great, except... booths cost money.

With naked, clear price tags.

A lot of money, an enormous amount.

The Ota Art Gallery where Professor Yakai Ichiro works attended the San Diego Art Show in the United States the year before last, which is one of the more popular art fairs in the world.

Several large galleries in North America participate almost every year.

The quote that Ota Art Gallery received at that time — for renting a tiny booth on the perimeter where few artists’ works could be displayed, was $600,000.

A bit more towards the center, the price was $800,000 to $1 million, and further in, it would directly double, with large central booths even auctioned for bidding.

No less than $3.5 million per week, equivalent to those artworks on display at the booth costing thousands of dollars every minute they are shown to the audience during the exhibition.

How many art students have painted their entire lives and still can’t sell a piece for a thousand dollars!

High-end art has always been a crazy money-burning game.

The ridiculously high exhibition costs at art fairs almost totally eliminate scattered independent artists from entering.

Large art fairs often only allocate booths to national teams of sovereign states and large galleries or to medium and small galleries ready to risk it all in the money-drenched Land of Magic of the art fairs by renting official booths.

Every artist who can be taken to participate in an art fair by a gallery is the gallery owner’s favorite.

They are the gallery’s most crucial, high-quality assets.

No kidding,

If they took the works of some unknown small artists, they’d make money, but the gallery couldn’t even recover the booth fee, losing their pants in the process.

"The booth for the 2019 Swiss Summer Art Expo? The spring art expo here refers to Art Basel, right?"

Mrs. Sakai couldn’t help but want to confirm.

Art Basel was listed as the art fair with the most significant increase in visits and total transaction prices since 2015 in the magazine evaluation report.

It is held annually at Dongxia Xiangjiang Victoria Harbor, Swiss Headquarters Basel City, Miami Beach, USA, and the Paris Seine Riverfront in spring, summer, autumn, and winter, to facilitate tourists from Europe, Dongxia, and the United States, markets with the most collectors and billionaires worldwide.

The scale and size are no less than the San Diego Art Show that Ota Art Gallery participated in.

"Oh, of course, what else could Art Basel refer to?" Hanks asked in a puzzled tone.

"In that case, please write the exact name of the art expo in the contract. If convenient, also write about guaranteeing more than three pieces of artwork for Gu Weijing’s booth."

Mrs. Sakai feared the other party might be misrepresenting something with a similar name.

Halfway through the sentence,

she realized it was unnecessary.

Cheap and low-class art expos pretending to be something they’re not do exist within the industry.

But attending such an expo would bring shame to Ma Shi Gallery.

"Okay, no problem, I’ll change it quickly and reprint it. I will indicate Mr. Gu’s exhibition quota for more than three artworks."

Hanks didn’t want to get hung up on such trivial matters.

During the early morning conference call, he was fully authorized for contract signing.

There’s no need to consult the superiors for such minor issues.

Ma Shi III, the big boss, seemed eager to fly directly from Southern France at the mere mention over the phone, so there was no way he’d act the villain.

The benefits saved for the gallery don’t end up in Hanks’ pocket.

"Do you see any other issues, Mrs. Cruz?" Hanks yawned again, with an air of being thoroughly squeezable by Mrs. Sakai.

"I have no problem, it’s indeed full of sincerity."

Mrs. Sakai found she had nothing more to say.

It was already overly sincere.

Today was a school day, so Koizumi Katsuko didn’t come along. The Blond Auntie glanced at Gu Weijing, who was quietly sitting next to her, looking at the contract.

"Is this kid really that good?"

In her heart, Mrs. Sakai kept humming.

Afraid the son-in-law would live poorly, yet afraid he’d drive a Land Rover.

This description wasn’t accurate but quite fit Mrs. Sakai’s complex feelings at the moment.

She was here as an intermediary to negotiate a contract for Gu Weijing, hoping for the best terms possible, but when the terms were this good, even Mrs. Sakai felt a bit sour.

Her husband first attended an art expo with Ota Art Gallery after being affiliated for a long time, and by then, their eldest daughter Koizumi Katsuko could already run around on the ground.

And it was because the booth space was not enough.

One painting was pulled down at the last moment, with only a 30-foot oil painting placed at a corner of the booth rented by Ota Art Gallery.

That painting was bought by a Lebanese businessman for 270,000 pounds.

That year’s Art Expo was also the first time Uncle Sakai’s work sold for over thirty thousand dollars, marking the beginning of a rapid increase in average prices for his works.

This precious opportunity for which they struggled so many years, the Ma Shi Gallery offered just after signing Gu Weijing.

Mrs. Sakai recalled her and her husband’s history of hard work and struggle.

Suddenly, life felt unfair as hell.

"A sales target of $200,000. If luck favors them, it might be reached in one art expo." Mrs. Sakai pouted.