Van Gogh Reborn!

228

Sin and Punishment (4)

The venue for the competition between Demian Carter and Henri Marso was decided to be Rotterdam, a port city in the Netherlands, under the agreement of both sides.

Rotterdam was bustling with cultural tourism, with attractions such as the Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum, the Rotterdam International Film Festival, and modern buildings.

It was also easy to access from neighboring countries, as it had well-developed railways and roads, as well as the largest port and aviation infrastructure in Europe, making it easy to find from across the sea and other continents.

The clash between the two masters that took place at the SNBA Salon Exhibition Awards Ceremony a month ago was enough to attract the attention of art enthusiasts, beyond trivial matters.

Rotterdam was crowded with hundreds of thousands of tourists out of season.

“Oh my.”

Jang Mi-rae was surprised to find Ko Hun at the Parkheuvel Restaurant, their meeting place.

Ko Hun’s cheeks and belly, which had been chubby a few months ago, had noticeably shrunk.

“Why did you lose so much weight?”

Jang Mi-rae wrapped her hands around Ko Hun’s cheeks and asked.

“I was abused.”

“Abused?”

“Child abuse.”

He looked too healthy to have been abused.

His shoulders had been bent from working for a long time since he was young, but his posture had been corrected.

His face, which had looked tired for a young child due to insufficient and irregular sleep, had regained its color and his skin was glowing.

“I started exercising and I’m being a crybaby.”

Go Sooyeol explained with a chuckle.

Jang Mi-rae relieved, gently touched Ko Hun’s head.

“Why. You look good.”

“…”

“You got a new haircut too?”

Ko Hun had cut his side hair short and parted his long top hair to the side.

Ko Hun frowned and showed his displeasure.

He believed that the hair loss he had experienced in his previous life was because he had combed his hair back.

He had kept his hair down as much as possible without cutting it.

As a result, he looked sloppy, unlike a year and a half ago when his mother Lee Soojin had taken care of him.

Go Sooyeol had tried to take him to the hair salon a few times, but Ko Hun had firmly refused and he had not insisted anymore.

He would not have agreed if Henri Marso had not tempted him with black bean noodles.

“My hair will fall out if I do this.”

The adults laughed when the child worried about hair loss.

“Ha ha. It’s okay. Grandpa and dad are not bald, right?”

“You never know.”

“It’s okay. A hair loss treatment that proved its efficacy came out last year. You don’t have to worry about that.”

Bang Taeho ordered food.

The group had a meal and talked about the things they had not been able to share and the stories of Henri Marso and Demian Carter.

“It was really amazing. It was all about Marso and Carter.”

Jang Mi-rae mentioned the articles and videos that had been posted on the news, community sites, forum boards, SNS, YouTube, etc. on the way.

Go Sooyeol and Bang Taeho nodded and Ko Hun described the work of Demian Carter he had seen in the morning.

“I saw it briefly from a distance and it was an amazing pattern.”

“Pattern?”

“Stained glass. I wanted to see it up close, but there were too many people, so I’m going to see it in the afternoon.”

Ko Hun was excited by the majestic image that Demian Carter’s work had conveyed even though he had only glimpsed it from afar.

“Hmm. What about Marso?”

“A self-portrait. You can go inside and see it, but you have to see it for yourself.”

“You can go inside?”

“He painted it on a wall. It’s huge.”

Jang Mi-rae nodded, thinking that she could experience the new technology that Henri Marso had developed.

“By the way, how was the documentary? Was it fun?”

“Yes. It was more comfortable than I thought.”

“It must have been hard.”

“The director told me to do whatever I wanted. I did it like I was broadcasting.”

“By the way, Hoon-ah, how about the content of introducing paintings? It would be convenient to go around if you live in Paris.”

Bang Taeho suggested a video concept to upload to the YouTube channel.

“Isn’t there a lot of them?”

“You have to do it because everyone does. The more search volume, the more interest it means.”

Jang Mi-rae, who had secured more than a million subscribers, backed up Bang Taeho.

“Even if you say the same thing, it doesn’t mean anything, but not everyone sees it with the same eyes.”

“Professor Mi-rae is right. Even if it’s the same material, you can easily secure views if you show differentiation. You keep looking for the areas you’re interested in.”

Ko Hun nodded at Jang Mi-rae and Bang Taeho’s persuasion.

I thought it would be a good opportunity to study art and also less stressful than filming the documentary .

“Sure. How did the exhibition go, Auntie?”

“Of course. I’m the best, right? Right, Teacher?”

“Haha. Good job.”

Jang Mi-rae, who had pulled off a huge feat of a simultaneous global exhibition, was one of the most successful artists of 2028.

She didn’t get much attention in Europe, but in Asia, North America, and South America, she was as popular as Fernando Gonzalez.

Ko Hun was happy for Jang Mi-rae’s big success and asked her.

“Why didn’t you do it in Paris?”

He was curious why Jang Mi-rae didn’t hold an exhibition in Paris, the city of art.

“The SNBA Salon was too competitive, so the timing overlapped. Actually, I turned down the Salon because of the exhibition. I felt like I was being watched.”

“Oh.”

“Is it also a market issue?”

“Well, I can’t deny that. It’s not just me doing this.”

Ko Hun was puzzled by Bang Taeho’s question and Jang Mi-rae’s answer.

He understood that a big exhibition like the SNBA Salon would attract less interest if it coincided with another one, but Paris was the capital of art.

People who had visited the Art Nouveau Competition and the SNBA Salon were raving about the Whitney Biennale, the best art festival.

He couldn’t accept the market issue.

“People flock there, don’t they?”

“That doesn’t necessarily mean more profit.”

Jang Mi-rae said as she ate the beet salad and the goose liver dish that came with it.

“The Whitney Biennale is the biggest art festival because it has the most transactions. The visitors are not that many, actually.”

“Ah.”

Bang Taeho showed Ko Hun a chart that showed the size of the art market.

The US had 45%, China had 26%, and the UK had 20%, and the three countries accounted for 91% of the total art market.

France had 6%, the highest among the EU countries, but it was inferior to the US, the UK, and China.1)

Germany, Switzerland, and Spain had 2.9%, and the other countries had only 0.1% combined.

“Why is there such a difference?”

“It’s because of the capital difference. Taxes also affect it.”

Ko Hun, who had heard a lot of stories about the art market from Henri Marso, was puzzled.

“I heard that the UK was hard to trade with because of the tariffs. But they’re much more than France.”

“At first, everyone thought so, but the EU regulations were stricter than expected. The higher the transaction, the more taxes they take. Europe is not that good for trading art.”

“Are the US or China better?”

“Relatively, yes. But for exhibitions, Europe is better. The unit of visitors is different.”

The visitors were ahead in Europe.

But in terms of art transactions, the US, China, and the UK were ahead.

“How did the UK get so big?”

He thought that there shouldn’t be much difference between France and the UK if it was a tariff issue.

“Maybe it’s because there are a lot of people who sell high-priced works like Damien Carter? He’s so popular that people want to buy his works even if they have to pay the tariffs.”

Jang Mi-rae, who didn’t know what had happened between Damien Carter, Jay Jopling, and the British Sotheby’s, didn’t pay much attention to it.

But for Ko Hun and Bang Taeho, who knew the whole story of the incident, there was nothing more serious than this.

The UK, which accounted for 20% of the global art market, was expected to go downhill after Brexit, according to Jang Mi-rae’s explanation.

But after nearly 10 years, the UK’s art market share was the same as in 2020, and the transactions had even jumped up.

They thought that it was a collusion between Damien Carter, Jay Jopling, and the British Sotheby’s.

They couldn’t imagine how much money they had laundered.

“Teacher.”

“Hmm.”

Jang Mi-rae looked at Ko Hun and Bang Taeho alternately and noticed something strange.

“What? Is something wrong?”

Ko Hun looked at Ko Hun.

He had been pretending not to know, worrying that he would be shocked, but he had decided to disclose the incident after the bidding results today, so he couldn’t hide it anymore.

“You’ll find out soon.”

Ko Hun summarized the facts that Henri Marso had revealed and told them to Ko Hun and Jang Mi-rae.

The two were shocked and their eyes widened.

“No. How can that happen?”

Jang Mi-rae couldn’t easily believe what Damien Carter, the most successful artist of the 21st century, had done.

She had seen cases of money laundering with art, but it was absurd that Damien Carter, an idol to many people, had personally manipulated the prices of his works.

“They said they secured the evidence. When the complaint is filed, the investigation will begin and it will be clear then.”

Henri Marso told Go Soo-yeol that he had prepared everything for the UK tax office to start an investigation.

“Why?”

Damien Carter’s behavior at the Arnuvo competition and the SNBA salon exhibition did not please him.

But Ko Hun, who wanted to understand his work, was shocked.

He couldn’t understand why he did such a thing.

He asked.

Go Soo-yeol shook his head.

Bang Tae-ho opened his mouth heavily.

“Maybe he was so miserable in his unknown days that he fell for the temptation.”

“Even so, that’s too much.”

Jang Mi-rae protested the absurdity, then hesitated.

She couldn’t believe that Damien Carter and Jay Jopling had deliberately raised the bid price of , and sold their works to speculators and those who wanted to launder illegal money.

Were Damien Carter’s works, one of the most expensive works of the 21st century, really priced like that?

Then what is the price of art?

She was confused.

“…”

Ko Hun silently put down his fork.

The frustration and despair of the unknown days were incomprehensible to those who had not experienced them.

Ko Hun thought that Damien Carter might have accepted Jay Jopling’s proposal to escape his long unknown days, as Bang Tae-ho said.

He thought that it was too harsh for an ordinary person to endure, and he might have succumbed to the temptation.

But that was not right.

Ko Hun couldn’t forgive him as much as he deeply understood and sympathized with Damien Carter.

Damien Carter smiled as he looked at the news articles and SNS posts about .

Jay Jopling had captured the influential media outlets in the UK, Europe, and North America, and hired well-known critics and influencers to maintain Damien Carter’s reputation.

He had approached more people than usual because he felt a sense of crisis from Henri Marso’s threat.

And that came back as a burden.

Many media and celebrities praised , and he could get more votes, but there could be glitches in management.

If there was a rumor that Damien Carter had captured the media, it could lead to a worse situation than doing nothing.

“Why are you so restless?”

Damien Carter said leisurely.

Jay Jopling was nervous and fidgety.

“You pushed it too hard. If one of them slips their mouth, things could go wrong.”

“You worry too much.”

“Damien. This is not my business. Nor yours. It’s ours.”

Damien just lowered his head.

Jay Jopling didn’t like his calm attitude.

“Don’t you get it yet? You have value when you are the best. You are useless if you are not the best.”

“I see.”

Jay Jopling licked his lips.

He grabbed Damien Carter’s collar and pushed his face.

“You don’t know your place, do you? I picked you up from the gutter. Don’t delude yourself. Do you think you could have gotten to where you are without me?”

Damien Carter laughed at the man who threatened him.

He pushed his hand away and straightened his clothes.

“That’s why I said it.”

“What?”

“The one who made a useless human being the greatest artist of the century. What are you worried about?”

“…”

“Just do as you have done.”

Damien Carter filled his teacup without any worry.

1)The world art market share by country (based on transaction amount) in 2019@.

USA 44%, UK 20%, China 18%, France 7%, Switzerland and Germany 2%, Spain 1%, the rest of the countries 6%.

The world art market size is 64.1 billion dollars.

*The US reduced the art market by imposing tariffs on Asia and Europe due to the trade war.

*The UK reduced the art market by imposing tariffs on EU countries after Brexit.

*France emerged as a country to replace the UK after Brexit, and it was the only country that actually grew in the art market in 2019, but the European Union strengthened regulations and tax systems, which could reduce the entire European market.

Source:

, Park Soo-kang, Art Management 459, 2020.12.10.

, Art Basel + UBS, 36p