"What do you mean?"

"That guy painted a piece, and I think it’s quite interesting."

Uncle Sakai showed some interest. His wife’s taste had always been discerning, and for her to say a painting was interesting was no small feat.

"Look at our daughter’s INS."

Uncle Sakai opened INS and logged into a smaller account.

The official INS and Twitter accounts of his "Ishikawa Ichiro Studio" are currently operated by Ota Art Gallery.

High-end artists often go to extremes.

Either they completely steer clear of social media, having their accounts managed by agents, or like Verlaine, don’t use modern network devices at all.

Or they embrace the social media stream, becoming extremely keen on self-media marketing, eager to post dozens of tweets and various lifestyle photos a day.

Uncle Sakai found it bothersome, so he left it all to an agent.

Ota Art Gallery has a team dedicated to internet marketing for Uncle Sakai, responding to fan messages and whatnot.

Having dedicated management also has an obvious benefit,

artists won’t end up like the actor playing Captain America, who in a moment of lapse ended up uploading nude photos, bed photos, or embarrassing private images, and waking up to the whole world talking about his package.

It also prevents fans from discovering that the painter randomly commented on and liked sensitive topics that might involve political correctness.

These might sound trivial, but they’re lessons learned from predecessors’ bloody experiences.

"That guy."

Uncle Sakai saw the tag "My Lover" in daughter Shengzi’s notes, and hummed with a slightly complicated mood.

He liked Gu Weijing, but still felt a bit jealous of his daughter’s bold display of affection.

Soon,

his expression turned serious.

"Young people nowadays, their ambition is growing ever larger." Uncle Sakai licked his lips. "This one’s trying to be the next Wu Guanzhong."

"Mr. Wu Guanzhong?"

Upon hearing this name, Hank, who had been somewhat disheartened, suddenly perked up like a seal catching the scent of salmon while napping on ice, eagerly stretching his neck and pricking up his ears.

Professor Yajima mainly conversed with his wife in Japanese.

Hank’s Japanese vocabulary was limited to simple phrases like ordering food in a restaurant, making it hard for him to understand their conversation.

Yet he keenly picked up on the syllables sounding like "Wu Guanzhong."

"Professor Yajima, are you referring to Master Wu?"

Hank blinked a couple of times.

Putting aside those antique and renowned paintings flowing abroad, speaking strictly of modern Chinese painting artworks.

In international art markets, works by notable artists like Zhang Daqian and Huang Binhong sell for high prices, but mostly purchased by overseas Chinese communities.

On the global stage,

The most internationally sought-after pure Chinese painting master might be Qi Baishi. Mainly because Mr. Qi’s fans are very supportive.

Picasso has always loved Qi Baishi’s works.

It’s rumored that Picasso once said—"Eastern artists need not come to Paris for guidance, seek out Qi Baishi. He’s a master whose works I can never replicate."

This statement was one of the strongest ads of the century, ever since no critic dared question Old Master Bai Shi’s caliber.

Even if you don’t fully understand Chinese painting or lack cultural cultivation for appreciating Eastern Art, collectors must trust Picasso’s taste, so they greatly pursued Qi Baishi’s paintings.

Mr. Cao Xuan’s works, as the last living master of the same era of Chinese painting, began to show an upward trend in trading prices.

In terms of transaction price, one foot is already stepping into the threshold of the world’s top-tier painter’s Holy Hall.

Market estimates suggest that when the old master passes away, his works might truly enter the ultra-high-class realm.

But trends are just trends.

The art market isn’t definite; whether something only shines for the moment or can prosper for fifty years, a century, or even several centuries, only time can provide the answer.

Speaking of price alone,

Wu Guanzhong’s paintings are slightly below Elder Cao’s by half a tier, but far outstrip second-generation disciples of Elder Cao like Lin Tao and Tang Ning, with several pieces having sold for billions in Dongxia Xiangjiang.

Additionally, even rarer is his painting style first gaining popularity in the French market, stirring a frenzy among collectors in the traditional heart of European art before returning to Dongxia.

According to international convention, to give collectors a direct impression, foreign art critics often like to nickname great Eastern painters as "the Eastern + famous European artist" to address the painter.

For instance, Uncle Sakai was called the Eastern Ingres, Koshiba Tarou’s father Koshiba Kentaro dubbed the Eastern Klimt, and Wu Guanzhong has always been referred to as the Eastern Van Gogh.

The oil painting style features ethereal brushstrokes and radiant colors.

If not for the arduous path of fusion painting style with few successors and a lack of sufficient inheritors and unified art faction, it almost could have founded a sect.

Founding a sect... it’s the ultimate pursuit and dream of many artists and galleries.

As long as the painting industry exists, your name remains immortal.

If Hank’s behavior before Uncle Sakai was simply sycophantic, any hunter agent before a master likely to found a sect would only be left with rushing over to grovel.

Even if this master has been deceased for over ten years.

When speaking, Hank respectfully added MASTER (master) to the surname of this great artist who received the highest honor awarded by the French Government in the field of art, the "French Legion of Honor."