Van Gogh Reborn!

292

Courage (2)

The news report on the corruption scandal of the Korean Art Association through the terrestrial broadcast stirred up public opinion in no time.

Choi Young-soo, the president of the Korean Art Association, also heard the news from his staff while having dinner with his younger brother and his wife.

-We have no choice but to follow. Otherwise, we can’t hold the competition. We have to make a living too.

When the news criticizing the Korean Art Association came on during the dinner, the secretary and the maid looked nervous as if sparks would fly.

Choi Young-soo took a spoonful of soup and opened his mouth.

“The northern country is good today.”

The maid smiled awkwardly and Choi Young-soo’s younger brother, Choi Man-soo, asked anxiously.

“What do you mean?”

“What do you mean? You have to do something. Find out who said that.”

Choi Young-soo did not answer back and took another spoonful of soup. Then he gave a glance to the maid.

“The last kimchi was good.”

“Oh, yes. I’ll bring it out.”

Choi Man-soo frowned.

The association had already predetermined the winners of several competitions, and the news was reporting on it, but the president was calmly looking for kimchi. He was frustrated.

“Are you going to eat now? Even if you make a counter-statement right away, it won’t be enough.”

“Man-soo.”

Choi Young-soo looked at his brother.

He felt sorry for his brother who was still immature even after his sixties.

“You have to be calm to do big things. You can’t do anything if you waver over small things.”

“Is this a small thing?”

“It’s a trivial and common thing.”

Choi Young-soo wiped his mouth.

“The lower ones get tired too. They have a hard time, so they have to vent like that.”

Choi Young-soo thought that they had to complain.

They were human too, so they would have complaints someday. They didn’t say anything because they had some leeway, but he thought it was a matter of time.

“You have to squeeze out the pus when it forms. That’s how you prevent a serious illness.”

“What are you talking about?”

“It means you have to let them rant a little so they don’t rebel.”

Oppression was not the only solution.

Sometimes, he had to give them some breathing room to avoid trouble.

What Choi Young-soo feared the most was that the accumulated complaints would lose their way and swell up.

If they burst, he couldn’t handle it.

He had to trust the numbers of these people who would unite before he could appease them properly.

“Just wait and see.”

People would curse the association when the news came out.

They would lament the world and their powerlessness and use it as a snack for drinking. And they would live as slaves again.

It would be solved well because it was on the news.

Someone would step up.

They thought so and devoted themselves to their own lives.

They had no choice.

The world was not easy to focus on things that had nothing to do with them. The rulers did not leave the slaves alone to think differently.

In the past, there were several news reports criticizing the association for the competition-related issues, but nothing changed much.

He could cover it up in time, and there were always new news that attracted attention.

The companies that complained that the winners were predetermined could not go any further if they wanted to receive the support money.

“Secretary Kim.”

“Yes.”

“Deal with it as usual.”

“Yes. I understand.”

“Let’s eat.”

The next day.

Choi Young-soo, who got up late, unfolded the newspaper as usual.

He subscribed to both of the two major daily newspapers in Korea, Seonghan Ilbo and Daehan Ilbo, and he nodded his head after reading Seonghan Ilbo.

There was nothing to be found about the Korean Art Association.

Instead, there was an article pointing out that each competition committee had been operating indiscriminately for the purpose of support money.

He enjoyed the sunshine while drinking a cup of tea and picked up Daehan Ilbo.

His forehead twitched.

[Choi Young-soo, the president of the association, in controversy for investing personal real estate with operating expenses]

[Korean Artists Union, accuses Choi Young-soo, the president of the association, of embezzling public funds]

On the 20th, Seo In-ho, a master of the art world, filed a criminal complaint against Choi Young-soo, the president of the Korean Art Association, on charges of misappropriating public funds.

Seo In-ho, the representative of the Korean Artists Union, said that Choi Young-soo had used the association’s funds for personal purposes and gained unfair benefits.

Seo In-ho said, “For the past 20 years, the Korean Art Association has demanded excessive fees from artists and discriminated against them in domestic competitions and exhibitions if they did not comply. I hope that the corruption of President Choi Young-soo and the association will be clearly revealed.”

The Korean Artists Union submitted evidence and circumstances of Choi Young-soo’s abuse of authority and embezzlement of public funds to the Songpa Police Station.

‘Seo In-ho?’

As Choi Young-soo crumpled the newspaper, his secretary came in.

“Mr. President.”

He looked relieved, as if he had come to report on the complaint.

“What’s going on?”

“It seems that Seo In-ho has caused trouble. I don’t know the exact details yet. Ouch!”

The secretary groaned in pain as Choi Young-soo kicked his shin.

“Yet? What have you been doing until now!”

Choi Young-soo shouted.

It was outrageous that he had only found out about what happened yesterday today, let alone that he had not grasped the situation yet.

“Well, that. It was a private matter. I’m sorry.”

“That doesn’t make sense!”

Complaints with political motives were usually made public. They had to gather as many reporters as possible and submit the complaint to make an impact.

It was to inform the public of the reason for the complaint and sway public opinion.

But he said that the article came out a day later, which was incomprehensible.

“Then how did you find out about these!”

Choi Young-soo narrowed his eyes as he shook the Daehan Ilbo newspaper.

‘Could it be that these…’

If the Daehan Ilbo had reported the facts exclusively, it meant that the Artists Union had provided the source.

Choi Young-soo sensed a bad atmosphere and pushed away the secretary who was groaning.

“Call Jung Kyung-il. Right now!”

“Yes, yes!”

The corruption of the Korean Art Association was reported for two days in a row.

The first day, the suspicion of trading money for winning works, and the second day, the content that the Daehan Ilbo posted on the front page was shocking.

It was thanks to Seo In-ho, who represented Korea along with Go Soo-yeol, who stepped forward and filed a complaint against the association.

└It’s not just anyone, but Seo In-ho. How bad is it?

└The association’s support fund is 4 billion won a year.

└I don’t understand. Does that mean they ate 40 billion won for 20 years?

└Even if it’s not that much, it’s probably similar. All the associations in this country should be abolished.

└The association is needed to protect the rights of artists.

└Abolishing it is not the only solution, but the problem is that there is no check and balance. The art world can’t live without looking at the Korean Art Association, so they do whatever they want.

└Why doesn’t this bastard Choi Young-soo get fired? He keeps making news every time I forget.

└That’s why everyone goes abroad.

Kim Ji-woo nodded as she checked the internet reaction.

The public seemed to be angry as much as she, Baek Seol-ki, and many artists were.

‘We have to do more.’

Kim Ji-woo hoped that the public would pay more attention to this issue.

It was not easy to solve it, as many people from the media and political circles were involved.

The only solution was to keep this issue in the spotlight until it became unavoidable.

That’s why she planned to do things step by step, so that the fire wouldn’t go out, even though she had a lot of problems to raise.

Kim Ji-woo checked the clock.

1 p.m.

Paris was about to greet the morning.

‘I have to do it.’

It was the first day of her serialization in the famous art magazine Bozar.

She had gained some attention for filing a complaint against Damien Carter, but she didn’t know if she could sway public opinion by publishing it in a big magazine.

She didn’t know how many people would care about the Korean Pavilion issue.

She was anxious because there was a high possibility of being ignored.

‘I need to let them know. At least to the committee members.’

Kim Ji-woo sighed softly as she repeated putting on and taking off her nails.

‘I’ll probably get a lot of hate.’

She dealt with the problem of the Korean Pavilion at the Venice Biennale abroad.

Depending on the person, they might curse her for exposing such a shameful thing.

Kim Ji-woo also hesitated several times to bring this issue abroad and deal with it, but she pushed ahead because it was not just a problem of the Korean Pavilion.

“…Sigh.”

Kim Ji-woo tried to suppress his nervousness as he prepared his next article.

Meanwhile, Ralph Lupus, who had woken up early in the morning, brewed some coffee and looked at the water of Venice, which was still dark.

He was tired from preparing for the Venice Biennale, which was half a year away, but his passion grew by the day.

As he skimmed through the major newspapers while having a simple breakfast of bread and butter, he saw Kim Ji-woo’s column.

[Venice Biennale: National Pavilions Fail to Live Up to Their Reputation]

It was a title that criticized the operation of the national pavilions at the Venice Biennale.

Although he was not in charge of the pavilions, as the director of the main exhibition, Ralph Lupus could not help but be interested.

He started to read the column and narrowed his eyes.

The national pavilions of the Venice Biennale, the festival of the world’s art lovers, boast a long history as well as their fame.

Especially, the 2030 Venice Biennale, which is approaching next year, is attracting a lot of attention as many artists are participating.

Among them, the joint exhibition of France and Korea, featuring Go Soo-yeol, Jang Mi-rae, Ko Hun, and Henri Marso, was the most talked-about.

Go Soo-yeol, who resumed his activities in South Korea last year, proved that he was still loved by achieving a record-breaking success in his European and North American tours.

Jang Mi-rae, who also planned a simultaneous exhibition around the world at the end of last year, was no different.

Ko Hun and Henri Marso, who have shown an unusual friendship and led the big and small events of the art world for the past three years, were also curious about what kind of harmony they would show in the Münster Sculpture Project and the Venice Biennale.

As a writer, I was investigating the reason why they set up a separate joint exhibition instead of using the Korean and French pavilions, and I learned why they had no choice but to do so.

As a lover of art, I could not just sit and watch.

“Hmm.”

Ralph Lupus reached for his glasses at the paragraph that said the Korean pavilion had been run according to the taste of the association chairman.

It was a statement that the chairman of the Korean Art Association had given the positions of the commissioner, the artistic director, and the artist of the Korean pavilion at the Venice Biennale in exchange for money.

What’s more, the chairman’s daughter and son-in-law took all the roles of the commissioner, the artistic director, and the artist in this biennale. Ralph Lupus could not believe it.

The Korean pavilion at the Venice Biennale was a historic space that the late painter Baek Dong-joon had obtained after a struggle.

The late Baek Dong-joon lamented, “I feel sad because there is no pavilion of my country,” and requested the establishment of the Korean pavilion every time the biennale was held.

After winning the Golden Lion Award in 1993, he thought he had gained some influence and asked the Venice Biennale Organizing Committee to “make a Korean pavilion, even if it’s a bathroom in the back,” but was rejected.

Baek Dong-joon did not give up and kept sending sketches and works of the Korean pavilion to the officials.

The organizing committee, who could no longer refuse the request of the Golden Lion Award winner, finally recognized the Korean pavilion and established it.

It was the smallest and most remote exhibition hall among the various national pavilions, but it was a precious space for Koreans.

It was unthinkable that the place that the past master had achieved with blood, sweat, and passion had been abused by those who sucked the blood of the artists.1)

Kim Ji-woo’s column was full of resentment.

It was a place for Korean artists that the master of the previous era had obtained after a struggle, even though it was a small and secluded building.

Kim Ji-woo criticized how they had run the Korean pavilion and brought up the incident that happened in 2017.

The Korean pavilion, which was established in 1995, was originally a temporary building that was supposed to be demolished in 1998, but no one knew about it until it was revealed in 2017.

If they did not get a re-permit, the Korean pavilion that the late Baek Dong-joon had established after a struggle might disappear from the Venice Biennale.

Fortunately, the government, the association, and the artists worked hard to protect it, but it was an incident that showed how careless the association had been in handling the matter.

Kim Ji-woo felt ashamed and angry as a Korean for the way the Korean pavilion was run, and demanded that the Korean Art Association wake up.

He also demanded that the organizing committee of the Venice Biennale improve the system, as this was not only the case of the Korean pavilion, but also a practice that had been going on in some other national pavilions.

His heart was sincere and earnest.

‘This can’t go on.’

Ralph Lupus called the chairman of the organizing committee.

1)The process of Baek Nam-joon establishing the Korean pavilion is true.

The fact that the Korean pavilion was unfairly run is fiction, and has nothing to do with reality.