Van Gogh Reborn!

Chapter 183: Awakening (1)

Chapter 183 Awakening (1)

November 24, 2028.

The art world was buzzing with excitement as it faced the largest competition in history.

The total prize money was 2.5 million euros.

The top ten winners were guaranteed a special exhibition at the Louvre Museum, making the Art Nouveau Competition the dream stage for every artist.

The cultural program ‘Let’s Talk’ that delivered the news of the global art scene featured the Art Nouveau Competition that was a week away.

-Good day, viewers.

The host Woojin greeted them.

-It starts next Thursday. From today, we will bring you the news related to the Art Nouveau Competition for three weeks. Let me introduce the two guests who will join us.

Woojin turned his head to the right and saw a young man with no hair.

-Alex, who runs an art-focused YouTube channel, please say hello to the viewers.

-Hi, I’m Alex from Alex Factory.

-You look quite different from your YouTube videos.

-Oh, can I do it as usual?

-The viewers will expect you to do so.

Alex tilted his head and asked again, and Woojin and the PD nodded.

-Nerds, are you watching? No one believed me, right? But look. I! Finally! Appeared on CBS!

Woojin watched Alex’s greeting and paused for a moment before opening his mouth.

-And we have Anya Strejeman from the New York Times. Nice to meet you, Strejeman.

-Hello.

A woman with attractive long black wavy hair smiled leisurely.

-Please say hello to the viewers.

-I’m Anya Strejeman, a reporter for the New York Times.1

-What kind of work do you usually do?

-I cover the most noteworthy events of the week. This week and next week, it will be the Art Nouveau Competition.

-Thank you both for your valuable time, and let’s get started. Strejeman?

-Yes.

-Artists from not only Europe but all over the world are cheering. What is the Art Nouveau Competition?

Anya Strejeman answered in a calm and clear voice.

-It is an international competition organized by the French National Art Association. Starting this year, all participants will exhibit their works anonymously, and the feature is that all visitors will judge them.

-Starting this year. Why did they change the way they run it?

-In the art market, the value of a work of art depends on who made it. They want to break that and find the intrinsic value of the work of art.

-I see. Alex, you recently compiled a list of people who are participating in the Art Nouveau Competition, right?

-It was something I couldn’t do in my right mind. It was crazy.

-Not everyone has expressed their intention to participate, but there are some famous names.

-Of course. Peter, Lucas, Shara, and so on. Too many to mention.

-And there was someone who caused a stir.

-Go Hoon, Francis Bacon, and Damien Carter. I can’t leave them out.

-Damien Carter? You mean the Damien Carter from the UK?

Woojin opened his eyes wide and asked.

He couldn’t easily believe the news that Damien Carter, the master who was known to be the most commercially successful in the 21st century, had participated.

-That’s right. The Damien Carter who won the Turner Prize.

-That’s amazing. Why would such a person participate in the Art Nouveau Competition?

Alex blinked and asked.

-Should I do it for the broadcast? Or for real?

Woojin chuckled and said.

-We have to deliver accurate information. Please tell us comfortably.

-He probably wants to make some money since he hasn’t had any deals lately. Actually, he’s past his prime, even if he’s a master. Now it’s Henri Marso’s era.

-…Wow.

Anya Strejeman, who was facing him, reacted faintly to Alex’s blunt remark.

Woojin, who had expected him to keep a certain line, froze for a moment and then looked at the front camera with a professional spirit.

-We would like to clarify that Alex’s remark just now has nothing to do with the production team of Let’s Talk.

Henri Marso, who was watching TV, bit his tongue.

He felt sorry for the host who drew a line to the person who spoke the truth.

Henri Marso sipped his kale juice and logged on to YouTube.

Go Hoon’s YouTube channel Pingoo had no activity since the video posted a week ago, and the last live streaming was a month ago.

‘What is he doing?’

Henri Marso, who had wasted his Korean studies, gritted his teeth.

Then, Michelle Platini, who was exhausted from preparing for the Art Nouveau Competition, came in, dragging her slippers.

She found the bed and threw herself on it.

Henri Marso frowned and looked at his lover who collapsed as if dead.

“Take a shower.”

“Grumble.”

“What?”

Michelle only turned her head to the side.

“I don’t have the strength to do that.”

He couldn’t sleep with someone who didn’t wash, so Henri Marso tried to get up and move to another room.

But Michelle wrapped her waist and he had to sit still.

“What?”

“Can we just stay like this for a while?”

“It’s uncomfortable. Move.”

“Can you shut up for a minute?”

Henri Marso licked his lips and checked the clock on the bedside table.

59 seconds, 58 seconds, 57 seconds.

When he counted 40 seconds, Michelle put some strength in her arm.

Henri decided to throw away her makeup-stained pajamas and toss her into the bathtub 40 seconds later.

“I just want to stay like this a little longer.”

“…How long?”

“10 minutes? No, an hour?”

Henri Marso’s eyebrows twitched as he counted the seconds.

“Tell me exactly.”

Michelle was silent and then lifted her head.

“Until I’m fully charged.”

Michelle opened her eyes wide and looked up.

She was exhausted physically and mentally for the past two months preparing for the Art Nouveau Competition, and she wanted to find comfort in Henri for today.

“I wonder if I did it right. I said I would do it, but there might be some works that are left out.”

“…”

Henri Marso got up and Michelle sighed.

She shouldn’t have expected him to indulge her in such a childish act, who had no romance at all.

“Ah!”

Michelle was startled when her body was suddenly lifted. She looked at Henri Marso, who had lifted her by her waist and hips, and couldn’t calm her surprised heart.

“What are you doing?”

Henri Marso looked down at her with an indifferent expression. Then he walked to the bathroom attached to the living room on the second floor and opened his mouth.

“Get ready for a bath.”

-The water temperature is set to 40 degrees. Preparing for a bath.

The water started to fill the bathtub quickly.

“Hey, wait. Put me down. I’ll wash myself. I said I’ll wash, okay? Hey!”

As Michelle entered the bathtub filled with water, she looked up in dismay. Henri Marso took off his pajamas and left the bathroom.

“…”

Michelle looked down at her wet clothes and shouted at the bathroom door.

“Hey, you crazy bastard!”

*josei

A little later.

Quack quack-

Surrounded by a flock of rubber ducks that Henri Marso had brought, Michelle enjoyed the bath in a half-given-up state.

Her body was quickly tired from the 16-hour march that had been going on for more than a day.

She turned her head and leaned against the bathtub and saw Henri reading a book.

“What are you reading?”

“Layered manufacturing of PLA structures using fusion deposition modeling.”

“…What?”

“It’s about how to use 3D printers or 3D pens.”

Michelle rested her cheek on her arm on the edge of the bathtub.

“What are you going to make with a 3D printer?”

“Nothing.”

“Then?”

“I’m seeing if I can draw 3D paintings. If I can do that, I don’t need to sculpt.”

“What’s the difference between a 3D pen and a 3D printer?”

“Imagine painting in the air. The paint doesn’t fall and hardens as it is.”

Michelle opened her mouth.

“Is that possible?”

“I have to make it possible.”

He was serious about doing something that seemed impossible, and that was admirable and proud.

“I hope you can do it.”

“Yeah.”

Henri Marso fell silent again.

For a while, the sound of turning pages, the sound of rubber ducks crying, and the sound of water dripping filled the bathroom.

“It might have been the worst.”

Michelle snickered at Henri’s sudden remark.

“What?”

“The Art Nouveau Competition.”

Michelle’s expression darkened.

She knew the significance of the Art Nouveau Competition better than anyone, and the pressure was great.

“Yeah.”

Michelle answered weakly.

She had used all means possible, but not all works could be in fair conditions.

“You made it the best.”

Henri’s voice rang with the sound of turning pages.

He had decided that it was the right way, even though the failure rate was high because of the unprecedented method and scale.

He wanted art to be a mainstream culture that was enjoyed by many, not determined by a minority elite.

That’s why he went ahead with the difficult task, and entrusted the role to the person he trusted the most.

“There’s no better way than that for now.”

“How do you know?”

“Because you did it.”

The man who looked crazy sometimes made her flutter with his absurd words.

“It’s burdensome, you know?”

“What do you do without any burden? Anyone can do easy things.”

Michelle twirled Henri’s curly hair and said.

“Sometimes it’s okay to take a break.”

“What are you talking about?”

“I like your work the best, even though Hoon’s work is cool.”

Michelle knew that Henri Marso was so absorbed in the unrealistic thing called 3D painting.

“…”

Henri Marso closed the book.

He had been in a big shock from Hoon’s <Summer Winter> for the past few weeks.

He felt like the flow of the art world that he led would someday go to Hoon.

It was a kind of fear.

It was something that no artist could avoid, but it was too early for him, who was in his early 30s.

“I’m not Klimt.”

Henri Marso opened his mouth.

“I’m not so weak that I collapse at the talent of a disciple that I don’t have. And I don’t despair at the finiteness and even abandon my own style.”

Unlike Hoon, who highly praised Klimt, who tried to change constantly, Henri Marso did not acknowledge him.

The Gustav Klimt he remembered deeply was up to <The Kiss>.

“I don’t care what the kid does. I just do my work.”

Did they not know that the two people who looked so different were influencing each other’s works?

Michelle laughed as she listened to the story.

****

1)Features Writer