I Became A Renowned Genius At My Arts High School - Chapter 222



Only Noblemtl

Episode 222. Struggle (1)

“Genius! You’re really crazy. Haha! You’re really out of your mind!”

AtoM Gallery in Soho.

Maria, who was known to have successfully completed several exhibitions since opening last summer, laughed heartily and shook her body.

“I like these new artists. Artists who are lively, energetic, and unpredictable. Especially young artists who exude this crazy energy like crazy? Haha!”

Maria bursts into laughter and even sheds tears.

Although he showed off a leisurely and generous appearance, the inside story was different.

For the past few years, she has been known as the lifeline of new talent and has been actively discovering and nurturing talented new talent in New York, but one mistake has ruined her reputation.

The Big Wave Art Fair was seen as a golden opportunity for Jacqueline of J-House to overcome a wall that had been insurmountable for a long time.

I had the humiliation of having my past shortcomings exposed one by one after getting hit by a new Asian writer who I approached thinking he would be my hidden card.

Of course, the training went well.

Because this is a world where most things can be solved with money.

We looked for various ways to block the article and silence it.

Those who thirst for gossip also moved on to other topics of conversation as spring passed, and fortunately, they stopped talking about themselves.

Maria prepared to rise again quietly.

To create a decent gallery in Soho. To establish it as the best gallery in Soho. To eventually become a giant that shakes up the New York art world.

Because he couldn’t give up his long-held dream over something like this.

In preparation for the gallery opening, efforts were also made to clean up the image.

Notable donations and meaningful exhibition planning. We supported several artists with clear concepts and borrowed their images, and through great effort, we were able to invite several famous artists and hold exhibitions.

The problem was cost.

She had never really worried about money, but this job cost too much.

In addition to the marketing costs for promoting the exhibition, we had to separately pay the price of the artwork and a commission to the collectors we had recruited behind the scenes to show off the sell-out, and the gallery maintenance costs, the cost of the artist-in-residence support program, and sales costs were all exceeding the originally planned budget.

Of course, it was her own fault that things turned out this way, but Maria didn’t think that way.

Jacqueline and new Asian writer Han Su-hyeon.

The appearance of those two was a huge blow to him, and he was gritting his teeth as he suffered such a huge financial loss.

Anyway, to get out of trouble quickly, I needed a big one.

Maria was biting her fingernails, thinking that if she just had one star writer, everything would be solved.

An opportunity presented itself before her.

A person with the clear potential to become a star has just fallen into the hands of others.

“Korea? That’s strange.”

Maria said elegantly, her smile fading slightly.

“Why?”

The man across from me tilts his head.

“Actually, a new Korean writer appeared in New York a while ago. It became quite a hot topic.”

“ah.”

The man nodded with a meaningful smile.

“I think so. To be successful as a writer, you need talent, but you also need luck and timing.”

Sigh. Maria leaned forward and raised the corners of her lips.

“That writer was amazing at meeting those two conditions. Every project he worked on became a hot topic. He had not even been in New York for a year, but he had already made quite a name for himself. But if we just nodded here, we would be nothing more than a loser.”

Maria shook her head slowly.

“Jacqueline is an old fox. She was in the best position to actively interact with modern artists in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. She skillfully uses what she learned in the process and controls the board.”

“Are you saying that the fact that the writer became a topic of conversation was all just a coincidence?”

“I am 100% sure.”

Maria nodded.

“A city of immigrants, a land of opportunity. It may seem like it’s fair to everyone, but that’s not the reality of New York. A writer from a remote country where even smart people only think about the Seoul Olympics? Sorry, but they don’t care. People here.”

Maria looked at her opponent with an arrogant expression.

“I’m angry, but I was also used by them. Jacqueline and Han Soo-hyun. Those two caught my attention by framing me, and that momentum led me to where I am now.”

“Oh, that happened.”

“But, that’s strange. Another Korean writer.”

As Jacqueline tilted her head, the man opened his mouth.

“It’s not surprising.”

“Why?”

“That kid and I are friends.”

“Huh? Friend?”

Maria asked with surprised eyes.

“I’ve known Soo-hyun since high school. We studied in the same college and department. Last year, I went to Paris and she went to New York, so we hadn’t seen each other for a while.”

“Were you close friends?”

Maria’s eyes glowed with venom.

“No. I would say I wanted to become close with you, but I never had the chance.”

The man who was asked the question, Kim Min-jun, raised his eyebrows and answered.

“I think there’s something seriously wrong with me.”

“Misunderstand.”

“It’s a deep misunderstanding.”

“for a moment.”

Maria interrupted Kim Min-jun as if she remembered something.

“Surely not, then, is the list of challenges sent to galleries also including artist Han Su-hyeon?”

Kim Min-jun smiled at Maria’s question.

“The story got too long so I couldn’t finish explaining it. Actually, I sent it to Soohyun first.”

“Oh my god. So I thought it was something that was going to happen soon, but you’ve already started?”

Maria’s mouth opened wide again.

As always, she was looking for a new writer with potential to become a star writer, and a letter of recommendation arrived a while ago.

An Asian male writer who has achieved considerable success in Paris.

The portfolio was great.

There were some ups and downs, but there were a few works that became topics of conversation if you just touched them up a little.

Since it got a good response in Europe, starting with Paris, I figured if I did well, I could have fun in New York too.

So I met it, and it was something great.

An Asian man in his early 20s.

He didn’t have the arrogant attitude that came from being raised in small waters, nor did he look timid and irritable.

He had a clear idea of ​​himself.

He said that he had also thought about how to sell himself.

The first method was to put out a request to buy the work from famous galleries in New York’s SoHo, with the condition that the payment would be made in the form of his own work.

“Crazy.”

At first I shook my head, but then I thought about it again and it was a crazy idea.

“Genius! Aren’t you a real genius?”

Just submitting a request like this to numerous galleries would have been enough to create a buzz. A newcomer who suddenly appeared in the New York art world. Why did he say he wanted to exchange his work for another artist’s work?

It was an action worthy of attention.

and.

‘It doesn’t matter whether you take this offer or not.’

What I liked most was that there was no risk.

If not everyone responds to this request, the act itself can be presented as an experiment aimed at the New York art world that is rushing towards commercialism, and if anyone steps forward to exchange one, it will become a topic of conversation in its own right.

‘You’re a smart guy. You seem ambitious, too.’

Like-minded people recognize like-minded people.

Maria read parts of herself in Kim Min-jun. And she began to become greedy.

“Okay. So you’ve already made this offer to Han Soo-hyun at Jacqueline’s J-House?”

“Yes. It’s been a few days.”

“No reaction, no. It doesn’t matter if you ask. There was no reaction, I guess.”

“yes.”

“This is interesting. This will be fun.”

Maria laughed heartily.

The next step was already planned out in her head.

“Let’s write up a contract. First, let me know the conditions of the T-shirt brand that you collaborated with in Europe. There are fashion brands in the US that have similar conditions. If we use them, we can come up with interesting works.”

Maria’s eyes sparkled.

Perhaps, a hope was born that the writer Kim Min-jun could be used to lead the long-delayed revenge match to victory.

“Wow, I think I came to the right place. I was thinking about using a fashion brand too.”

Kim Min-jun clapped his hands as he read Maria’s expression.

The two of them met eyes for a moment and laughed loudly, anticipating the coming victory.

***

Two weeks later.

“Atom? Or is it A to M?”

“It’s an ambiguous expression. It’s a word from Greek philosophy, it means atoms, and it’s also said to be an abbreviation for ‘ART TO MIND.’ But there’s a lot of talk about it, and it’s not so much about art from mind as it is about art from Maria. In other words, many people make the reasonable assumption that the gallery was planted with the meaning of art leading to Maria.”

“I see.”

Suhyun’s studio.

As always, Humphrey, Steve, Henry, and Su-hyeon were sitting together chatting.

“Anyway, you said that you had a few successful exhibitions and that your status rose quickly?”

When Steve asked about Maria’s gallery AtoM’s current status, Henry, the source, answered without hesitation.

“They say that it looks bad on the outside but is actually bad on the inside.”

“Why? I heard that three exhibitions in a row were successful? All the works were sold.”

“That’s because people who had planted it in advance pretended to be collectors and bought it.”

“her.”

“Three, my goodness.”

“really?”

Steve, Humphrey, and Soo-hyun looked shocked at Henry’s calm answer and asked back.

“It’s that desperate, but it’s only a stopgap measure. We can’t go on like that forever, so we need a breakthrough.”

“So the breakthrough you found is some kind of joke?”

Steve frowned and tapped the papers on the table.

Two weeks ago, Soo-hyun received a list of people who wanted to buy her artwork from Jacqueline. Among them was Kim Min-jun’s document.

“Isn’t it okay if I just ignore it…? There’s no reason for Su… Su-hyeon to react to each and every one of them.”

Humphrey gave a rare fever, and Steve nodded as well.

“Well, Jacqueline said something similar. So at first I tried to ignore it.”

Su-hyeon swiveled her chair around to face the computer monitor.

Things have been going really well for the past two weeks. Not only Soo-hyun, but also several famous writers have been making strange inquiries about purchasing their works, and they were all requests for work exchanges sent by Kim Min-jun.

The writers naturally ignored the request. Then malicious rumors began to spread, and it turned out that Maria was behind them.

Knock knock.

Su-hyeon opened the Internet window and went to the main screen of the portal site.

“This is the article that was published this morning.”

Su-hyeon pushed the chair away so that everyone could see the screen.

There, what Maria had planned happened.

– A bold newcomer who has taken the New York art world by storm. Why did he challenge the galleries in Soho?

There were a few headlines on the main page that were intended to arouse curiosity.

“Oh. I saw that article. It was full of nonsense, like some artist with great convictions was doing some kind of groundbreaking project.”

Steve frowned.

“But there are also many people who look at it favorably. The comments are also good. Anyway, it looks pretty fun on the outside.”

Henry faced the reality coldly.

and.

“It’s good marketing.”

Su-hyeon nodded.

The subjects that Kim Min-jun used in his works were all villain characters.

In other words, we designed the villains in animations, movies, and advertising images as villains and conceived a new story.

“The character he uses in his work and the current uproar fit quite well. As a mischievous character, he reveals the dark side of the New York art world and exposes it to the public. It also gives a rather refreshing feeling.”

People love heroes, but they also fall for villains because they bring a different kind of enjoyment.

Kim Min-jun and Maria were taking advantage of the public’s temperament quite well.

At the same time, they were creating public opinion as if they were responsible for the cause.

“But you know, there’s one thing this girl and Maria don’t know.”

But Soo-hyeon did not waver.

“No matter how much you bring in things like narrative and legitimacy, if it turns out that the villain is truly evil, everyone will turn away. Lies are bound to come to light someday.”

Soo-hyeon spoke coolly and smiled faintly.