Chapter 98: Young Painter

Although it seemed that absorbing the inner energy of calligraphy and painting had no curative effect on his terminal illness, the changes it brought to his body and mind were real.

Therefore, after weighing the pros and cons in his mind, Chen Feng decided to continue searching for calligraphy, paintings, or other artworks that could bring about gratifying changes to his body and mind.

In the past few days, he had not only visited those few calligraphers and painters but also several sculptors and carvers. These all fell under the category of fine arts, but unfortunately, none of them had produced any works that surprised Chen Feng.

There were quite a few of these artists living in the urban area of Xiuzhou, largely because they were not short of money now, and coupled with the many conveniences of living in a big city, they naturally chose to live in the city.

The next day, Chen Feng pulled himself together and continued to visit several artists in the city. Their fame was much less than the ones he had visited before.

The youngest among them was not even thirty years old and his fame was not yet apparent, but to be included in the list sent to Chen Feng by Director Huang naturally showed his own strength.

Chen Feng had also learned some tricks of the art collection trade online these past few days. He knew that many collectors liked to collect the works of young artists, hoping to bet on one whose future artworks would appreciate significantly.

If the bet was right, they would really make a fortune.

As long as the initial purchase price was not too high, there was basically no possibility of losing money.

Because the current art collection market has always been quite hot.

Just like the saying goes, “Gold in troubled times, antiques in prosperous times.”

Now was a prosperous time, and the antique craze had been hot for more than twenty years, driving up the prices of other artworks as well.

Although there was no lack of suspicion of speculation, this was a trend.

As long as these artists already had some fame, buying their works at a relatively low price now would be a very good store of value in the future, at least able to offset the losses caused by inflation.

Of course, the water was also quite deep. If a layman entered with the purpose of investment, they would definitely be ripped off a few times.

And although Chen Feng was a layman, his purpose was not for investment, but for his own body.

It was just that there were not many artworks that met his conditions.

After three more fruitless visits, it was already noon.

Chen Feng casually found a restaurant on the street to eat, then pulled himself together and went to the next one.

This time, according to the route plan, he went to the youngest artist, who was only twenty-eight years old this year, named Xi Jun. He was even younger than Chen Feng, but he was already somewhat famous in the domestic painting circle. He specialized in figure painting, and his figure paintings were very realistic, as if they were taken from a photograph.

Therefore, some people were very fond of him, saying that he had elevated the skill of painting to an infinitely high level, but others felt that this was not painting at all, let alone art. In professional terms, his works were “commercial paintings.”

The so-called “commercial painting” was a very insulting term in the painting world, referring to paintings produced with the lowest cost and the least amount of time to be sold easily. Commercial paintings were made for faster economic gain.

Such a controversial young painter, he had a high opinion of himself and would not sell his works at a low price, and therefore had a lot of stock at home.

Chen Feng had called him about an hour in advance, saying that he was a collector introduced by Director Huang of the art gallery and wanted to see his paintings at his home.

Director Huang’s face was still quite useful, after all, he was in charge of the art gallery’s exhibition work.

Besides, which artist would not welcome a patron to their door? In the real world, there were basically no artists who would not bow down for five pecks of rice. Unless, his family owned a mine and was not short of money.

It took Chen Feng about half an hour to drive there. The place was a courtyard near the outskirts of the city, with a wall and surveillance cameras.

After a phone call, the one who came to open the door was an auntie in her fifties.

Then, in the main hall, he met Xi Jun, who was wearing glasses, had medium-length hair in an old-fashioned style, and had a melancholic and focused look in his eyes. It had to be said, he really had the air of an artist.

He was not unsociable. On the contrary, he seemed very talkative. He took the initiative to ask about Chen Feng’s background, and Chen Feng only said that he was a private collector.

Xi Jun was a little disappointed at first after hearing Chen Feng’s introduction, but when Chen Feng later said that he had previously acquired Master Wang Yi’s “Orchid Pavilion Preface” for 5 million, he immediately became excited again. He couldn’t be bothered with pleasantries and directly took Chen Feng to see his works.

He had quite a lot of works, filling an entire room of at least fifty square meters. There were about a dozen shelves inside, all filled or piled with paintings.

The piled ones were works he didn’t care much about. The ones displayed individually were the works he considered presentable.

“The ones here are my most proud works from the past few years, about a dozen of them in total. Take a look, the price is negotiable.”

Xi Jun led Chen Feng directly to a row of shelves against the innermost wall, which were covered with a dust cloth. He went forward, pulled off the dust cloth, and revealed the individually displayed paintings on the shelves.

Chen Feng glanced at them. Most of them were portraits of real people, with only a few other types of paintings.

Chen Feng didn’t say much. He went forward and looked at them one by one seriously. Then, he suddenly stared at one of the landscape paintings, unable to move his eyes away.

It was a beach painting, with a patch of blue sky and ocean, as well as a beach with seven or eight people on it.

This painting was not completely realistic; it still had a strong oil painting style.

And it brought Chen Feng a surprise.

“Do you like my beach painting?” Seeing Chen Feng staring at the painting, Xi Jun began to introduce it. “I painted this two years ago when I was traveling on St. Louis Beach. I was originally on vacation, but as I lay on a beach chair, looking at this beautiful beach, I suddenly got a burst of creative inspiration. So, I immediately had my assistant bring me a drawing board, and I stood on this beach and painted for more than three hours to complete this painting.”

“Not bad. I quite like this painting. If the price is right, I can buy it for my collection.”

Chen Feng didn’t hide it or play mysterious. He was here to buy paintings, so there was no need.

Xi Jun was very happy to hear Chen Feng’s words and quickly said, “These dozen or so paintings are the ones I love the most and am most proud of in my life, the culmination of my heart’s blood. If you really want to buy it, I’ll sell it to you for 3 million.”

Chen Feng just shook his head at this price. “Your price is a bit too high. To be frank, your fame is not that great right now, at least not comparable to Master Wang Yi. I’m willing to pay 1 million to buy it. 3 million is really too high.”

Xi Jun was a little angry at Chen Feng’s words, but he held it in and said in a louder voice, “3 million is already a bargain. If I weren’t in urgent need of funds for turnover, I wouldn’t be selling these dozen or so works now. Because I know they will appreciate greatly in the future.”

Chen Feng shook his head again. “I don’t care about the future. I’m not buying in the future, I’m buying now. How about this, I’ll add another 500,000, 1.5 million for this painting.”

“Impossible!” Xi Jun seemed to have been insulted and said again in a louder voice, “3 million is already the lowest psychological price I can accept. Don’t you think it’s too much to cut it in half?”

“No one will buy at your price. 3 million for a landscape painting of yours, and it’s not even your best realist painting, so it lacks a lot of gimmicks and controversy. In that case, even if you become famous in the future, the appreciation of this painting will be limited. You don’t object to that, do you? The reason you have some fame in the domestic painting circle is mainly because of your realist paintings, which look more like photos than photos, and then attracted a certain range of controversy.”

What Chen Feng said was the truth, and Xi Jun was suddenly speechless.

His best skill was indeed realist painting, not landscape painting.

And for this painting, he had not used the technique he was good at on a whim, but had used a more traditional oil painting method.

To be honest, among these dozen or so works, he didn’t value this painting very much. He had almost not put it here in the first place.

The reason he placed this painting on this shelf was mainly to make up the numbers, otherwise this row of shelves would not be full.

Seeing him fall silent, Chen Feng pressed on, “1.5 million is really very sincere. Besides, this is just our first business deal. If there are other works I like in the future, I can still buy them. The first time is unfamiliar, the second time is familiar.”

Only then did Xi Jun speak, “Then why don’t you look at the other works? If there are any others you like, I can give you a discount on them together.”

“Okay.”

Chen Feng didn’t refuse, nodded in agreement, and continued to look at the other works.

Unfortunately, after looking at them one by one, until he had finished all dozen of his proud works, there were no more surprises.

However, Chen Feng didn’t give up so easily. He turned to Xi Jun and asked, “Can I take a look at the other works as well?”

Xi Jun was stunned and quickly asked back, “Out of these dozen or so paintings, besides this ‘Beach,’ you didn’t like any of the others?”

Chen Feng nodded very directly. “Yes. Can you show me the works on your other shelves?”

Xi Jun, unwilling to give up, pointed to a painting in the middle of the second shelf. “What about this one? You didn’t like it either? Someone offered 3 million for it three years ago, and I didn’t agree. A year later, he raised it to 5 million, and I still didn’t agree. This is the proudest work of my life. If you want it now, I can sell it to you for 6 million. I guarantee that the value of this painting will double in the future.”

It was a realist painting of a beautiful girl sitting quietly, in her twenties. The whole painting looked like a large-sized color photograph. Very realistic.

Chen Feng didn’t doubt his words, but this painting gave him no special feeling at all.

So, Chen Feng shook his head very decisively. “Sorry. This painting is very good, but it doesn’t catch my eye. When I collect art, the main thing I look for is that connection.”

Xi Jun was speechless and annoyed upon hearing this, and couldn’t help but think that this person, Chen Feng, completely didn’t understand art.

But since he was a patron, coming to buy his paintings with real money, he could only endure his anger.

“Alright then. I’ll take you to see the works on the other shelves.”

First, they looked at the individually displayed paintings. Chen Feng looked at them one by one, but there were no more surprises, and he was somewhat disappointed.

“You didn’t like any of these?” Xi Jun was also very disappointed. He really needed a sum of money recently to turn over a business project he had invested in. He was very eager to raise 5 million.

Chen Feng shook his head. Xi Jun was a little discouraged by this.

“Can I look at the ones that are piled up together?”

Xi Jun didn’t have much hope anymore and waved his hand. “You can look at those as you please.”

Chen Feng really went to look. Since he was already here, of course he wanted to find another useful painting to take back.

There were quite a lot of paintings piled up randomly, at least three or four hundred of them.

Fortunately, Chen Feng was patient enough and looked at them one by one.

In the end, Xi Jun was almost getting impatient. Chen Feng’s efforts finally paid off, and he found another work.

It was also a very realistic landscape painting of a meadow and a tree, with a blue sky and the sun.

“I’ll take this one too,” Chen Feng said casually, taking out the painting and placing it next to the shelf.

When Xi Jun saw that it was another landscape painting, and an old work of his from several years ago, he was truly speechless. If Chen Feng hadn’t dug it out, he would have completely forgotten about it.

He felt a little insulted. The other party didn’t like his truly proud realist figure paintings, but instead picked the landscape paintings that he himself didn’t even think much of. Wasn’t this deliberately belittling him?

However, he immediately thought that he was short of money now, and that a painting he didn’t care much about could be sold for several million. It could be considered recycling waste, so there was nothing wrong with it.

After finding the second painting, Chen Feng was full of energy and continued to rummage through Xi Jun’s other works.

But it was a pity that he had carefully looked at all the paintings in this room and found no more that were qualified.

Chen Feng had to say to Xi Jun with some helplessness, “Just these two then. 2 million, I’ll buy them together.”

Xi Jun quickly shook his head. “The lowest is 3 million. Otherwise, I won’t sell.”

“You’re being unreasonable. If I hadn’t dug out this painting, you might have just treated it as scrap in the future. It’s already very good of me to add another 500,000.”

Xi Jun was a little embarrassed, but he still shook his head. “No. 3 million is really the lowest price. I’m not good at haggling. 3 million for these two paintings. If you buy, you buy. If you don’t, there’s nothing I can do.”

Chen Feng stared at him for a while. To be honest, 3 million for two paintings, he wouldn’t be losing out.

But if he could save a little, why not?
So, Chen Feng could only shake his head with feigned regret. “Then I can only say I’m sorry. 2 million is the highest price I can offer. If you don’t sell, I can only express my regret. I hope I’ll have a chance to buy your paintings next time.”

After saying that, Chen Feng walked towards the door.

Seeing that Chen Feng didn’t seem to be faking it, Xi Jun couldn’t hold back. After all, he was not a qualified businessman, and he was in urgent need of money, so he immediately lowered the price. “2.8 million, for two paintings, it’s really very cheap.”

Chen Feng just shook his head and continued to walk out.

This time, Xi Jun didn’t take the initiative to lower the price again immediately. When Chen Feng reached the door, he gritted his teeth and said, “2.5 million!”

Chen Feng stopped, turned his head, and before he could be happy, he said with feigned displeasure, “Two hundred and fifty, who are you insulting?”

After saying that, Chen Feng quickened his pace and walked out the door.

Seeing this, Xi Jun quickly ran over and shouted at Chen Feng’s back from the doorway, “2.3 million!”

“Deal!”

“…”