Soul Painter

The bar not far from the city hall has become a check-in place for Gao Fan and Anna to rest after a day's work. Reporters who want to interview Gao Fan sometimes wait for Gao Fan here with their cameras on their shoulders. Many of these reporters Some come from various TV stations, news, newspapers and radio stations in the beautiful country, and occasionally some art reporters from other countries come here to 'capture' Gao Fan.

Reporters can often see a thin black-haired oriental man with a black cat colliding with a group of blond or red-haired local citizens of Bostno for beer glasses, while another calm Jewish girl is like a quiet mural Similarly, while drinking soda, you can occasionally see the artist’s agent in a suit and leather shoes. Here I want to say that the agent seems out of tune with the atmosphere of the bar.

Some reporters were a little confused about the situation. For example, last time a reporter from a tabloid in New York asked Gao Fan some questions about racial discrimination, but Gao Fan, who was drunk, rushed up and wanted to beat him up.

Before Mr. Painter could do anything, several strong men in the bar had already thrown the reporter into the street. The police who came to deal with the matter only asked a little bit, and took the reporter away. Journalists also face allegations of racism.

This is what happened in June.

The creation has lasted for two months, and everyone in Bostno has known the name of GAO, and most Botno citizens regard it as "one of us".

Gao Fan's fame also spread to Anna and Lawrence. Everyone called Anna "Miss Nun" or "AA", and Lawrence "Mr. Broker".

One night at the end of June.

Lawrence pushed open the door of the bar, and saw several people toasting to him: "I salute you, Mr. Greedy Broker."

"Just call me an agent," Lawrence replied.

In the depths of the bar, Lawrence saw Gao Fan talking and laughing loudly with a truck driver, and beside him was a half-aged lady with heavy makeup and a career that was not very serious, laughing loudly. The white on the ground shook like a wave.

Mr. Manager needs to concentrate again to see Annie, who has a very low sense of presence. Although she is sitting at the corner of the round table, she seems to be submerged in Gao Fan's chatting and laughing. After living in Bostno for nearly half a year, Gao Fan Daily communication with the locals is no longer a problem, and I can learn all kinds of slang very quickly.

"Hey, we need to talk." Lawrence said, walking to the wine table.

Ten minutes later, they obtained a quiet area, and no one else in the bar disturbed them.

"Although your creation progress is very happy. From April to now, you have completed more than 30,000 sketches, which is 30% of the scheduled workload, but our funds have also been consumed by half. Close to four million dollars," Lawrence said, "in four months, simply put, we'll be out of money."

"It takes so much..." Gao Fan wondered, "Why?"

"Most of it was unplanned expenses, the bums and scoundrels who repeatedly entered the plaza and became your models, just this month, they took almost a hundred thousand dollars from us, why do people like you so much? Not yet Because of your 'generosity'?" Lawrence said the word 'generosity' with obvious sarcasm.

Of course, there are no tramps and rascals in this bar.

"Judas also sold Jesus for thirty silver coins, but he could only die in the tomb bought by these thirty silver coins." Anna said suddenly.

"I'm a legitimate businessman, you're a painter, we're not gods." Lawrence smiled wryly.

Then God meowed~

"I know you are God, but you can't punish those greedy villains." Lawrence said to God.

Meow. God seems to be saying, that's not necessarily the case.

"In short, this is difficult to solve. If we strictly control the number of people, soon someone will come and hold a sign to protest that we are doing regional discrimination, because we can't strictly define the scope of 'Bostno people', and the city government dare not take it down. Definition, so, we need more funding," Lawrence said.

"Mrs. Gardner's money for the paintings and the New York Museum should be enough, right?" Gao Fan asked.

"Barely make up ten million dollars." Lawrence said, in fact, the price of the two "Mask" paintings sold to the museum was only about one-third of the market price, because it was able to enter the New York Museum, one of the four largest museums in the world, itself It is also a kind of recognition in the art world, which can increase the painter's worth a lot. It is also an industry practice to lower the price.

"Your reputation is still on the rise. The creation of "Bostonian" has brought you worldwide influence. I heard that "Time" magazine is interested in choosing you as a cover character, but the first question It is this painting that can really be completed, not abandoned halfway, so if you choose this time to continue selling other "Mask" themed paintings, it is not worth the loss." Lawrence said.

If Gao Fan's painting is on the cover of "Time" magazine, then Lawrence believes that the price of Gao Fan's work in the next Christie's sale will definitely exceed 100 million. Price, it would be a bit wasteful to sell it, and the loss would be huge.

"Whatever you want." Gao Fan said, "Anyway, you have a way~"

Gao Fan knew that Lawrence must have come with a plan, and he just wanted him to make a decision.

His paintings are money, how could there be no money?

"My idea is to accept the sponsorship of the Forbes family. They have raised the price to 2 million U.S. dollars to buy a right of first refusal, or pay 5 million U.S. dollars directly for a certain pre-harvest. Pay the remainder equal to the market price, which will be determined by the price of your work at the next auction,” Lawrence said.

"You decide." Gao Fan didn't care too much, "But this painting cannot belong to a certain family in Bostno. Anyone who tries to possess it will have no good results, because there will be magical things in this painting." It is a weight that mortals cannot bear."

"A magical thing? What is that?" Lawrence didn't understand what Gao Fan was referring to.

"Soul." Gao Fan smiled mysteriously.

"Soul? What? What is that?" Lawrence was surprised. He didn't understand. It wasn't that he didn't understand what a soul was, but that he didn't understand the relationship between the soul and Gao Fan's paintings.

Gao Fan didn't explain much, he just picked up the beer glass in his hand and toasted Lawrence, "Mr. Agent, I'm in charge of painting, and you are in charge of collecting money. This is our division of labor, so make a decision, I trust you. "

At this moment, Gao Fan was holding a beer glass. Although he was wearing a wine-stained shirt and half-long hair, he looked like a down-and-out wandering artist, but under the dim light of the bar, Lawrence felt that his smile was a little scary. At this moment , Lawrence couldn't help thinking, was Gao Fan really painting? The money he paid...wouldn't be buying the souls of Bostno people?

Chapter Two~