I am a Big Player
Chapter 348 - 346. Master Level Painting Skills (Third Update) _1

Chapter 348: 346. Master Level Painting Skills (Third Update) _1

Arthur notified Ren He about the time for his interview. It seemed that he had finally convinced the professor. In fact, there weren’t many students in a university who could afford to donate so much money. Universities are always in need of money, and any university with ambition will lack funds.

Investing money in building research labs and academic research is like pouring it into a bottomless pit.

Only with academic status can one speak with sufficient confidence and have a more significant presence internationally. Otherwise, when it comes to achievements, everyone talks about Harvard, Yale, and Stanford, poaching all the good students, leaving them only able to weakly pick from the remaining students.

The next afternoon, Ren He arrived punctually at Columbia University. Arthur led him to the building of the School of the Arts, and they stopped outside the office at the very back, where Ren He saw the words "Dean’s Office" on the door.

Arthur knocked and then entered, with Ren He following behind, looking around the cluttered office. There were traces of oil paint everywhere, and the room was filled with a strong smell of paint, with scattered canvases on the floor...

Was this an office or a studio? Ren He knew it was quite normal for some artists to be disorganized, but he still felt a bit uncomfortable in such a chaotic place.

He picked up some clothes scattered on the floor and hung them on an easel, tidying up the canvases as well, until an old man with disheveled hair emerged from the inner room.

When the old man saw that his office seemed tidier, instead of thanking Ren He, he lost his temper. "You paid 1.2 million US dollars to learn painting, not to clean up for me!" The old man walked over and threw the clothes back onto the floor from the easel. "How can you hang dirty clothes on an easel?!"

Ren He suddenly realized that the old man had emphasized the word "dirty" in his speech. He looked at the easel again; it wasn’t particularly clean either...

However, he suddenly found the old man quite interesting. If he were still a child, he might feel like saying, "Old man, what makes you so arrogant?" But Ren He wasn’t a 16-year-old kid anymore; he had learned to respect art.

Before coming here, he had also searched online about the School of the Arts at Columbia University. Its ranking was not very high, but it had a highly respected old painter whose painting once sold for 12.96 million US dollars. It was a work he had given to his ex-wife, ranking him among the top ten "world’s most expensive living artists," and he was also the Dean and a doctoral supervisor at Columbia University’s School of the Arts.

Ren He greatly admired such people, so he wouldn’t take petty comments to heart.

There’s an interesting phenomenon in the art world; the paintings of artists only seem to become valuable after they’ve died...

For an artist like Richard, who is still alive, to have his works fetching such high prices is no small feat.

Of course, China also has several artists of this caliber. In a previous life, in 2015, Chinese painter Cui Ruzhuo’s "Elegant Snow Jiangnan" sold for 236 million Hong Kong dollars, setting a new personal record for an artist at auction.

Richard pulled out a sheet of drawing paper and a pencil from the clutter behind him and handed them to Ren He. "Draw, let me see what makes you think you want to learn painting," he said.

Arthur frowned, wondering if Dean Richard intended to drive Ren He away with harsh words. But if he really did drive him away, Arthur wouldn’t be able to do anything about it. The verbal agreement between the two was that as long as Ren He had even a little foundation in drawing, Richard would keep him; otherwise, he should roll off to some other college.

Arthur thought that might work as well. If Ren He couldn’t pass on his own, it would be good for him to realize the difficulty and retreat to another college, like economics or finance? The professors there are less picky...

Ren He took the pencil and paper and confidently sat down in front of the easel to start drawing. The Dean watched him begin without hesitation and raised his eyebrows slightly. He had thought Ren He was just a rich second-generation whiling away time, but now he seemed to have some foundation. However, everything was still uncertain; he had to wait until Ren He finished his work.

Looking at Ren He handling the brush professionally on the drawing paper, at first, the Dean thought Ren He resembled an actual artist, but after a while, he had no idea what was being drawn!

Now, all that could be seen was that Ren He’s basic skills were very solid. In sketching, the most important foundation is the line, which is the most critical element. The simpler it is, the more it demonstrates one’s skill. Common mistakes students make usually include being too messy, top-heavy, too rigid, or applying too much pressure, but none of these could be seen in Ren He’s work.

Even the Dean thought his own lines would probably look like that.

But his basic skills are so good, yet there’s no structure to speak of, and the entire painting is still a chaotic mess that’s aggravating, as if there’s something stifling inside that must be released, disgustingly so.

Is this a provocation? The Dean just looked on calmly, could it be because he underestimated the young man at first, so the latter is intentionally disgusting him?

There’s no need for that, painting is for oneself; it’s another window to the human soul, a form of emotional expression. Sacrificing one’s artistic cultivation to upset someone else is a loss not worth the cost. While some artists and geniuses have explosive temperaments, Dean Richard does not approve of Ren He’s approach because he is ruining a painting!

However, gradually, before Arthur could notice anything, Dean Richard had already caught on to some clues...

When Ren He began to rework the lines, he suddenly realized that the messy scene in the painting somewhat resembled... his own office?

This gradually enlightening style of painting was not unfamiliar to him, but it was still the first time he’d seen such a sloppy layout from which the details of each object could be so clearly discerned, which demonstrated a solid foundation indeed!

And in the painting, those several pieces of dirty clothes were still on the ground as before, suggesting that Ren He was using his powerful memory to recreate exactly what he had seen at first glance upon entering, identical in every way!

Many students, even those with good skills, still require reference objects when drawing sketches, such as models who pose for an entire day, which is quite arduous.

But Ren He seemed to need no reference at all; his memory alone was enough to remember everything...

Dean Richard also noticed this, and from this perspective, Ren He was indeed a rare talent in drawing!

Yet, this painting was not just about simply replicating the scene; Arthur couldn’t understand, but Dean Richard saw it with crystal clarity. The young man used the most complex strokes for so long just for one reason—to make this painting look disgusting!

Indeed, visual elements can convey an uncomfortable feeling that unsettles the viewer, like a very simple example with trypophobia.

This painting, at a glance, Dean Richard could recognize his own office, the unruffled space he had comfortably occupied for six or seven years. He had never thought there was anything amiss with the disorder in the room, it was quite cozy!

But now, after seeing this painting, even he was starting to feel bothered by the chaotic scene...

God damn it, he couldn’t tell if this technique was due to natural talent or a completely perverse sense of humor. Dean Richard wished he could go and tidy up his office right now!

Ren He was amused; this was Master-Level painting skills indeed, able to delight the eye and transmit emotions that made one feel disgusted, these were Master-Level painting skills! It was also quite the moderate joke to play on the old man.

Dean Richard was silent for two seconds, "Get out!"

What did he mean by ’get out’? Arthur wondered if this meant Ren He was going to be reassigned to another school, but then he heard Dean Richard add, "Starting tomorrow, you’ll paint with me, no need to attend anyone else’s classes."

Although this painting was now lodged in his heart disgustingly enough, the level of skill required to achieve this was crystal clear to the Dean; this was a genius!

...

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