1986: My Happy Life in Provence

Chapter 325 Impossible! This is absolutely impossible!!
Andy Goldsworth stayed longer than tourists expected.

Two days have passed, and he has only managed to create an abstract circular shape using twigs and stones, which seems to fall short of expressing the 'chance' of nature.

Experts in the Provençal art world believe that—

"He doesn't want to give up his current popularity and wants to extend the creation time of his works as much as possible."

“He starts working at 10 a.m. and finishes at 3:30 p.m. and goes home. His daily working hours are shorter than those of government officials, and he even has an hour to eat lunch in between. The British aren’t creating anything; they’re just wasting time!”

"Andy Goldsworth certainly doesn't want to end this soon. Every day he creates, the more photos, souvenirs, and postcards from the castle he sells. I heard postcards are selling for 30 francs each. Does he really think the French are fools?"

After the experts finished their sharp complaints, they asked the central exhibition curators present:

Are there any 'hot' works appearing where you are?

At this critical moment, the Provençal art world has become united.

Oil paintings, sculptures, ceramics, and glassware now have only one name—the face of Provence.

All we need is a work that can rival Andy Goldsworth's.

The curators looked at each other:

"There weren't any highly sought-after works; if there were, it was only a small-scale bidding process, and the final transaction price was within the normal range."

More than 90% of the artworks in this exhibition were also for sale. Details such as whether to sell and the commission ratio were discussed between the two parties before the works were submitted for the exhibition.

If a visitor is interested in any of the exhibited artworks, they can contact an art consultant to discuss the details of acquiring one.

Such large-scale events retain the traditional bidding model. If a purchase is confirmed, a deposit of 10% of the starting price of the artwork must be paid to qualify for bidding in any future bidding rounds.

However, to encourage local collectors, those holding a Provençal resident ID card will be exempt from paying the deposit for this series of art events.

If no one bids by the end of the exhibition, the transaction will be automatically completed.

If multiple people are interested in the same artwork, the organizer will notify the collector or the collector's representative to conduct an on-site bidding, with the highest bidder winning.

The pricing principle for the starting price of the artwork is as follows:

The starting price for works by ordinary artists ranges from 1 to 30000 francs, determined jointly by the gallery and the artist, with the gallery having more say than the artist.

For works by renowned artists, the artists provide the exhibition hall with the expected starting price. At the same time, renowned artists also have the right to 'intervene', and can withdraw their works at any time even if they have entered the bidding stage, only needing to pay a penalty of 10% of the starting price.

As of today, none of the well-known artists participating in the event have quoted a high starting price, nor have any works become highly sought-after by collectors. Therefore, the curators have made the above speculations.

Upon hearing this answer, the organizing committee members looked at Mr. Normand again:

"Do any top collectors have a particular favorite piece?"

Mr. Normand was invited by the organizing committee to attend the Provence high-end collectors' gathering, and he was burdened with the important task of 'promoting' the works.

Mr. Normand said in a calm tone:
"Top collectors are generally quite calm and don't feel any particular piece they absolutely have to acquire."

The atmosphere at the scene grew even quieter. Then, the organizing committee members looked towards Marecchall, where the tournament was to be held the following day—perhaps their last hope.

"What about where you are? Is there a possibility of a hit work emerging?"

Mareczer shook his head:

“The asking prices from well-known artists are very reasonable, and my situation should be similar to everyone else’s.”

A member of the organizing committee asked Marecchall:

"What about that new artist you've been so enthusiastically promoting? What do you think of his work?"

Several art centers have close relationships with their organizing committees, and their promotional plans require the committees' permission. Recently, the promotional materials for the Gold Center sculpture exhibition all featured the name of a new artist.

Marechal's voice was calm:

“Promoting Ronan’s work was an attempt to use the uniqueness and distinctiveness of ‘dessert’ to counter Andy Goldsworth’s live creations. The gimmick was more important than the work itself. In fact, Ronan’s role has already been fulfilled.”

Marecchall's aim was to leverage Ronan's popularity to attract more visitors to the central sculpture exhibition.

According to data provided by partner organizations, since Ronan was used as a promotional gimmick, the discussion surrounding the center's sculpture exhibition at Gold has skyrocketed. They are expected to become the second event in the Gold series of art exhibitions to achieve more than 10,000 visitors in a single day, with the first being Rodrigo's art exhibition.

This move undoubtedly diluted Andy Goldsworth's popularity, and it succeeded.

Mr. Normand thought for a moment, then asked Mareccher:
"The starting price of works by emerging artists is more limited. I don't think the starting price of Ronan's work will be too high, right?"

Ronan doesn't belong to the ranks of true artists now; he's an emerging artist, and in such large-scale events, emerging artists probably have no pricing power whatsoever.

Marechar nodded:

"The starting price is 7000 francs. If we only consider Ronan's qualifications, this figure is only 2000-3000 francs. He doesn't have a particularly impressive artistic resume. The 7000 franc estimate is based on his recent popularity, the uniqueness of the work, and the technical difficulty. The internal assessment is that the final transaction price of the work will be around 50000 francs. With his current popularity, there will definitely be many people interested."

The starting price is an estimate that takes into account both the artwork and the artist, and the fair also has corresponding expectations for the final price of each work.

Normand smiled, clearly in a good mood, a stark contrast to his colleagues around him who all looked bitter and resentful.

Marechar set a starting price for Ronan's new work, indicating its potential for widespread appeal.
Good lad, you've really solved the corrosion problem!
Normand had decided long ago that, as long as Ronan's next dessert creation wasn't too bad and could be preserved, he would use the museum's collection fund to acquire it and expand the museum's collection.

Marechal set a starting price of 7000 francs, suggesting that the artistic value of the work could completely compensate for the lack of a biographical background of the artist, and it might even be quite exquisite.

The estimated transaction price of 5 francs is also well within an acceptable range.

For the Grané Museum, 5 francs is too 'cheap' to acquire a work.

It might not even cost as much as the starting price of a work of art by a famous artist.

The topic of Ronan wasn't the focus of today's meeting; that topic quickly came to an end. After a brief exchange of whispers among the committee members, new orders were issued to the most influential figures in the Provençal art world:

"Regardless of whether popular works appear, we need to reduce the hype surrounding Andy Goldsworth as much as possible and attract more attention. All auctions of artworks in the central exhibition will be moved to the next week, instead of waiting until after the exhibition ends. Everyone should go back and make arrangements as soon as possible."

After the meeting adjourned, Mareczal was the first to leave his seat.

His workload was immense, having to prepare for the auction even before the central sculpture exhibition had begun. Every day ahead would be as hectic as a battle.

But after taking only two steps, he was stopped.

Marechal said helplessly to Normand:

"I don't have time to talk to you about anything else right now. Do you know how busy I'm going to be next week?"

Normand smiled and said to Marechal:

"What a coincidence, I'm here to help you relieve work stress."

Marechar frowned and asked:
"What kind of work pressure can you help me relieve? Can you urge collectors to 'buy and sell' as soon as possible?"

Normand said seriously:
“I’m here to make an offer for Ronan’s work; the Granet Museum wants to acquire this dessert.”

“Normand really likes Ronan. He not only helped him contact us and give him a chance, but also accepted the starting price without even seeing the work. It’s amazing.” Simmons put down his pen, rubbed his sore eyes, and said to Marecchall across from him in a casual tone.

As soon as Marechal returned to his office, he assigned a lot of work, instructing everyone to start today to inform buyers with whom they had good relationships about the upcoming auction, so as to avoid situations where some works were sold before they even came to see them.

“Normand cherishes talent,” Marechal said without looking up. “He is more open to new artists than many others.”

Simmons remarked with considerable emotion:
"Ronan has finally met a 'mentor' who appreciates him."

He continued with a smile:

"I never expected that our center's sculpture exhibition would bring together so many well-known artists from Provence, but the first offer we received was for the new artist Ronan, and it was received before the exhibition even started. It seems that popularity is just as important in the art world, and it's not something that only the entertainment industry should pay attention to."

Marechar said without much fluctuation:
"Let's leave the summary and lessons learned until the end; now is not the time to summarize the experiences and lessons learned."

Suddenly, there was a rapid knocking at the door.

"Come in," Simmons called out.

A young girl poked her head in and said to Mareccher:

"When the art consultant informed the collector that the auction time had been moved up, they received an offer of interest."

Simmons clapped his hands happily:

"Another collector has made a bid before the exhibition even opened! Which piece did they bid on?"

The girl looked at the form in her hand and said:

"It's a work by Ronan."

"This is the first time I've seen an auction so close together. Gold is going to be a lively place in the coming week."

That evening, Cotillard called Ronan, Zoe, and Batty to her art shop and told them about the several phone calls she had received that day.

Without exception, these phone calls were notifications from the organizers to Zoe and Batty, informing them to reserve a time on a certain day and time to participate in an auction of their works at a certain venue in Gold.

Zoe received the most calls; all three of her works had received offers from multiple collectors and were to be auctioned.

Bati also received an auction notification for one of her knitted pieces.

Ronan knew absolutely nothing about auctions and art exhibitions; he was still learning. Curious, he asked:
"The exhibition hasn't ended yet, but the auction has already started?"

Codia patiently explained to him:

“It is uncommon for auctions to be held midway through an exhibition, but it has happened before. In cases where major buyers have limited time but want to participate in the bidding in person, or when the organizers want to take advantage of the exhibition’s popularity to raise prices, the auction time will be adjusted.”

Barty was overjoyed; his work had actually received bids, and from more than one person!
Upon receiving the news, he excitedly ran out, saying he would inform his lovely female friends and strengthen their confidence in knitting.

Zoe, on the other hand, was much calmer and noticed something unusual:
"The events that Barty and I participated in spanned about half a month and were of different kinds, but they all happened to be held in the same period of time. It felt really strange."

Ronan raised an eyebrow:

"Perhaps it's to steal the spotlight from Andy Goldsworth? With auctions being held so frequently, serious collectors are all busy bidding on artworks; they don't have time to watch live creations."

“That is indeed a possibility.” Codia nodded thoughtfully.

Then she smiled and said to Zoe:

"But none of this concerns us. On the contrary, you really made me proud! Six clients are interested in one of your works, and the organizers have set a starting price of 2 francs for it. With so many people vying for it, the final price might exceed 10 francs, which is almost the same price as works by famous artists!"

Although Zoe is not yet a well-known artist, her artistic resume and reputation are among the best of emerging artists. Moreover, her previous works have sold for tens of thousands of francs, so the starting price for her works in the exhibition is not low.

Zoe's confidence had finally returned. She put her arms around Ronan's neck and said without any modesty:

"Of course! This work is the culmination of Ronan's and my efforts. The combined value of us is certainly greater than my value alone! Especially since Ronan is so talented!"

The plaster mold for this popular piece was successfully 'experimented' with Ronan's help.

Although Zoe sculpted the final plaster mold herself, Ronan's knife skills helped her solve a very complex technical problem.

Gotia rolled her eyes, left the area of ​​dog food attack, picked up a broom, and started sweeping the floor.
"Okay, okay, your Ronan is the best."

Zoe, like a child, happily clung to Ronan's neck:

"If this artwork can really sell for a high price, our renovation budget will be greatly upgraded!"

"I'll definitely design it well!" Ronan hugged Zoe back.

The young couple were envisioning their future home renovation plans when the art shop's phone rang.

Upon hearing only the beginning, Codia was so shocked that he raised his broom and swung it rapidly through the air as if he were about to fly.

Ronan watched her finish the phone call as if she were a 'lunatic,' then asked with disdain:
"The mental hospital called you to come for a follow-up appointment, right?"

Codia let out two strange cries, raised his broom, and pointed it at Ronan:
"I've never seen anything like this! This phone call is to invite you to an auction! My God, who can believe it? Your work hasn't even been exhibited yet and it's already in the bidding process!!"

(End of this chapter)