Van Gogh Reborn!

253

Playground (5)

I already knew that the contract party would not be Ko Hun, but a new corporation with Ko Hun and Henri Marso as the major shareholders, but the name was unique.

Chocolatier was a profession that made and designed chocolate.

“Chocolatier.”

As Team Leader Piaf uttered the word, Ko Hun smiled.

“It’s a cool name, right?”

“Yes. But.”

Giovanna Piaf, who was very interested in the art world enough to watch Ko Hun closely, knew that it was a word used to mock Ko Hun.

“I made it with the intention of creating sweet happiness like chocolate.”

“Oh.”

As Ko Hun explained why he named it Chocolatier, Team Leader Piaf nodded.

Come to think of it, art history was like a history of mockery.

Now, Baroque, which is known as a classic of classics, was a word derived from a word meaning a distorted pearl.

At that time, critics used it to criticize the deformed, flashy, and decorative artistic trend.

Even Impressionism, which is now loved by the most people, was a word that a critic who saw Monet’s mocked as ‘just a bunch of impressionists’.

The Impressionist painters used it as their own name and gained recognition.

The same was true for the Fauvists, who were led by Henri Matisse, a master who rivaled Pablo Picasso.

The critic said that they used color wrongly and called them beasts.

The common point was that the words that were not recognized and ridiculed at the time were not conveyed in that sense now.

Now, no one took the words impressive or beastly as mockery.

Giovanna Piaf thought that this change of perception proved the victory of the artist.

Maybe the word Chocolatier, which a critic used to mock Ko Hun, could be like that.

‘Come to think of it.’

Giovanna Piaf recalled an article written by Caroline Strick, a renowned art historian, last year.

She visited the ‘Sweet Happiness’ exhibition and named Ko Hun’s work and Chocolatism.

Giovanna Piaf looked at Ko Hun.

There were many artists who announced their names, but few who brought change.

Piaf was sure that Ko Hun was such an artist.

‘If I contract with Ko Hun for up to 4.5 million euros, it’s a bargain.’

She smiled.

“Yes. It’s a really cool name.”

When I turned on the broadcast, 5,000 people came in.

After the Art Nouveau competition, the YouTube subscribers increased greatly by adding English and French subtitles, but the live broadcast was not much increased because it was in Korean.

This was the first time that so many people came in.

└Pingha!

└Hoonha!

└You said you would work hard on the broadcast, but you did it in two weeks ??

└Did you finish your work?

└I want to eat pork belly rice

└Professor, what lecture is today?

└You said you had something to announce?

That person was talking about pork belly rice as soon as he came in.

“Hello. Yes. I turned it on today because I have something to tell you. I was busy with Dallida Square and other things. I’m sorry.”

As I apologized for not being able to broadcast often, the Dallida viewers brought up the story of the square.

“Thanks to you, I did well. People from our country also came. They gave me cheese-fried kimchi fried rice and it was really delicious.”

As I told them about what happened at Dallida Square, time flew by. In the meantime, the viewers also increased to 8,000.

It seemed like everyone who was going to come in came in, so I brought up the main point.

“As you may know from the article, I made a company with Marso. The name is Chocolatier.”

└Chocolatier??

└Isn’t that the nonsense that Ito Hirobumi said?

└Not Ito, but Tanaka ????

└You finally joined with Henri Marso!

└What kind of company is it?

The person who asked what was going on with Marso was particularly happy.

“I liked it. This time, as I gave chocolate and snacks to the kids, I felt that it would be nice if my work could approach them in that way.”

The viewers cheered me on.

“I’m thinking of two things right now. One is to open an exhibition with painters who share my mind. Mainly those who are not noticed for making good works. Now, there are three of us, Marso and Fabre.”

I have a few people in mind, but I need to recruit some more. Yes, the poster I drew last time. I didn’t plan to make it this big, but I heard it’s better to form a corporation if I think about contracts, revenue sharing, taxes, and stuff like that."

I introduced some of my works to the viewers who asked who Fabre was.

“And I’m going to make a play space. On weekends, kids can come with their parents and draw and play. I’m going to run it under the name Playground, and I’ll also work with the kids.”

└Is it like a school?

└I would definitely go if I could learn from Hoon and Henri.

└I want to go too ??

└I want to eat spicy pork rice bowl

└Seriously. If Hoon and Henri teach, people will flock there. Our Hoon is making money!!

└But is he an AI? He comes in every broadcast and chats for 3-4 hours that he wants to eat spicy pork rice bowl.

“I’m not trying to make money. I won’t charge anything. If too many people come, I might have to do a lottery or set some conditions. For now, I want to accept kids who are from poor families or who are not well adapted to France.”

Some viewers expressed their concern.

There were some who said I should take care of my own work instead of volunteering, and some who said I should have some income to maintain it.

There were also some words I couldn’t understand.

“What does it mean, ‘If you keep being kind, you’ll become Dooly’?”

I’ve never heard that before.

└Wow. There’s a generation that doesn’t know this joke.

└You don’t know Dooly?

└?? he doesn’t know

└???????People born in 2022 entered elementary school this year????

It means that if you keep being kind, people will take it for granted and become arrogant.

That must happen sometimes.

Not everyone who is poor and weak is good.

“If that happens, Mr. Taeho will step in. And Marso is not the kind of person who would let that happen.”

People asked me about the company again.

There were a lot of questions, probably because they were curious about me and Henri Marso starting a company together.

“Yes. Marso and I invested half and half. The management will be handled by Mr. Taeho of Sunflower, the management company I’m currently contracted with.”

└You don’t know what ‘If you keep being kind, you’ll become Dooly’ means, but you know words like investment, management, and shares.

└??????Early education

└So are you living with Henri Marso now?

└But if you don’t have any income, you’ll only spend money.

“It’s not like that. I got a job with the Bugrenelli shopping mall. Thanks to what I did at Dallida Square. I’m going to paint a mural with the kids, and there will be an article about it.”

There were quite a few articles in the French press, but when I looked it up in Korea, only Daehan Ilbo and Yehwa gave it to me.

It seems like it hasn’t been known for long.

I showed the article on the screen.

└Up to 4.5 million euros???

└You said you were going to earn tuition, but you made 6 billion won?????

└Our Hoon has a plan!

└Spicy pork rice bowl is 1 million bowls…

└Hoon, do you copy money? Can you teach me too?

└What is this??????? You also made the Giamseong art book, how much are you making this year????

“That’s right. You don’t have to worry about my money. I make a lot of money.”

It’s not an empty word. I could really build a building like Marso Gallery in downtown Paris right now.

“There’s a condition attached to it. Do you know what the Grand Art Tour is?”

Quite a few people know.

“That’s right. It’s the year when you can see the Venice Biennale, the Kassel Documenta, the Munster Sculpture Project, and the Art Basel together. It’s next year. I have to win all of them. This seems a bit difficult.”

└?

└Mr. Bugrenelli, what are you talking about?

└He’s upset because he doesn’t want to pay less.

└Why is it hard? Do it.

└No?????? What is this???? How can you do that????

└No. The condition is a bit weird, isn’t it? There are events without any entry criteria.

└Right? Except for the others, the Kassel Documenta is a bit of a stretch, isn’t it? I heard that they usually talk and work two years in advance. And if the director doesn’t call Hoon, it’s over.

└The Munster Sculpture Project doesn’t make sense either ????? Hoon is a painter, not a sculptor???

└What’s the standard for Art Basel? Isn’t it just a place where galleries gather and sell?

└I don’t know much, but looking at the chat, I can tell how ridiculous this condition is.

└???????It’s funny that you all assume that he’ll win the Venice Biennale????

└Right???? Venice Biennale is nothing to Hoon??

└Really??? It’s one of the three major biennales in the world.

The viewers think the same as me.

It’s an absurd condition.

I don’t really care if I fail, since I can still get 3 million euros. But I wonder what Ban Tae-ho was thinking when he gave me such a condition.

“So, next month, I’m going to paint a mural on the basement floor of the Bugrenelli shopping mall. And then, I think I’ll be busy preparing for next year’s competition.”

I have about a year to do it.

I used to paint one piece a day, but I don’t know if I can prepare four pieces that suit each event.

“That’s all I have to tell you.”

Question marks kept popping up in the chat window. They meant to ask if I was ending the broadcast already.

I checked the clock and it was only 8 o’clock.

I hadn’t done a broadcast for two weeks, so I wanted to catch up with them, but I felt like I had to do something more.

“Then, let’s talk about art for a change. Whose story would you like to hear?”

Many people were mentioned.

Grandpa, Marso, Hockney, Basquiat, Bresson, Picasso, Matisse, Pollock, Warhol, Kirchner, and so on. I had no idea who to choose, so I made up my mind.

“There are too many people you mentioned, so I don’t know who to pick. So, today, I’ll talk a little bit about contemporary art.”

I had some feelings that I wanted to sort out, and I also wanted to hear what the viewers thought.

“How do you feel when you hear the word contemporary art?”

A dot, a line.

Art that I don’t understand.

Their own league.

There were a lot of comments saying that it was like a rigged game of Go-Stop, and some wrote seriously about the merits of contemporary art.

“Before I say anything, I want to make it clear that this is just my opinion. Whatever you think, it’s your freedom and your appreciation, so there’s no right or wrong.”

└Yes, professor

└Hurry up and take notes

└?????Don’t do that??

My viewers liked to joke around, whether it was just them or everywhere else.

“First of all, I think the contemporary artists and critics would agree to some extent that they don’t understand it. They don’t know either.”

That’s what I felt from the people I met at the Art Nouveau competition.

“But, um. This might sound a bit strange, but I think art is more about approaching it emotionally than understanding it. Of course, what you mean by understanding is not that. Actually, because of that feeling, nowadays, there are not many works that are completely incomprehensible. Like the ones you mentioned, with just one dot on them.”

The people raised question marks again.

“What I want to say is that you don’t need to understand it. You can still approach it, even if you can’t understand it.”

I searched the internet and showed them Mark Rothko’s works.