Van Gogh Reborn!

Chapter 308:

308

The Final Showdown (13)

After the mayor of Münster gave his speech, the artistic director Leon König stepped up to the microphone.

The citizens and visitors warmly welcomed him, who had planned the Münster Sculpture Project for the fourth time in 40 years.

"Thank you for being here. I’m so happy to see you all again. I see Anke and Peter are here too. And the only person who has participated in this event longer than me is also with us. Mr. Einstein, say hello."1

Leon König held up a small pebble, and the crowd chuckled.

“…?”

But Ko Hun, who was not familiar with the German humor, looked around in confusion.

He couldn’t understand what was so funny or why they were laughing.

“Forty years ago, when I first took charge of this project, not many people came to see it.”

He looked around the artists and citizens who attended the opening ceremony.

“But thanks to you wonderful people, we have some amazing works this year.”

The Münster Sculpture Project was started to bridge the gap between contemporary art and the public.

Leon König slowly turned his head and met the eyes of the participating artists.

“It’s all thanks to you.”

He exchanged a warm smile with Henri Marso at the end.

“I think any child born in Münster, where they love unique works, would be loved. That’s what I thought as I imagined the future of Münster.”

That was the theme of this year’s Münster Sculpture Project.

A Münster where diverse personalities are respected and the members are well cared for to form a good society.

That was Leon König’s wish.

“Please enjoy yourselves.”

Leon König bowed his head and stepped away from the microphone.

The attendees applauded, and the host introduced each artist by name.

“Last but not least, let’s welcome Henri Marso and Ko Hun, who submitted a work of unchanging value.”

It was their turn to give a speech and an interview after each artist.

As the host introduced the two artists, the reporters who had been curious since the start of the interview stepped forward.

“Excuse me. You two seem to be sitting too far apart.”

“Can you sit next to each other?”

Fourteen artists were sitting in a row, but Ko Hun was on the right end and Henri was on the left end, making it hard to capture them in one shot.

They couldn’t understand why Henri Marso, who usually liked to sit in the middle, chose to sit on the left end, or why both of them looked unhappy on this joyful day.

“Would you mind moving your seats if it’s not too much trouble?”

“Yes.”

“Just leave it.”

The host intervened, but Henri Marso refused to move.

Thanks to that, Ko Hun, who had answered cheerfully and got up from his chair, felt embarrassed.

‘Why do you have to make a scene?’

The boy also felt upset and sat back in his chair.

“Haha. Well, let’s take some questions.”

The host tried to break the awkward atmosphere and gave the reporters a chance to ask questions.

The reporters raised their hands eagerly.

They had been waiting since morning to interview the hero of the French art world and the boy painter who spread happiness.

The host pointed to the person sitting in the front.

“I’m Balaf from Die Welt. I have a question for Henri Marso. How was your first collaboration?”

The reporter from the German influential daily Die Welt asked.

Henri Marso’s recent move was a huge interest in the art world, as he had no close or collaborative artists.

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He founded the painter community Chocolatier with Ko Hun, and even worked together, so many people were curious about how he would act in the future.

“Whatever.”

Henri Marso answered coldly as usual.

The reporter was flustered and didn’t know what to do, so the host quickly stepped in to defuse the situation.

“Ahaha. How about you, Ko Hun? It was also your first collaboration, right?”

Ko Hun picked up the microphone.

“It was fun.”

The host sighed in relief at the normal answer.

“The person you worked with pursued perfection. He changed his mind every time we agreed on something, and brought a different plan the next day, so I had a lot to think about. He could have done it alone if he wanted to, but I’m grateful that he gave me a chance.”

Ko Hun smiled and finished his answer, and the opening ceremony hall froze.

Gosuyul just laughed bitterly, and Bang Taeho put his hand on his face and sighed.

They had been anxious since the start of the opening ceremony, and now the trouble had finally erupted.

“Uh… You two must be really close. Hahaha. Next. Next question, please.”

The host hurriedly looked for the next questioner.

Someone raised their hand from the French daily Le Figaro.

“I have a question for Ko Hun, the author. You collaborated with Henri Marso on the Münster Sculpture Project and the Kassel Documenta, and then on the Venice Biennale. Can we expect more from you two in the future?”

Ko Hun hesitated for a moment at the reporter’s question.

He had fought with Henri Marso, but it was true that he was stimulated by working with him.

The collaboration process was not that bad.

Rather, he enjoyed having a comfortable conversation with someone on the same level.

“Yes. I have a lot to learn from him and he’s easy to work with. I couldn’t have created the Unchanging Value without Henri.”

It was a more relaxed answer.

The relieved moderator took the next question.

“Earlier, Ko Hun said that he was able to complete the Unchanging Value thanks to the author. How did you feel about it?”

The reporter who was curious about the collaboration process of the two geniuses asked the first question more specifically.

Henri Marso, who didn’t want to share his work process with Ko Hun, just frowned and didn’t answer.

“He must not like him very much.”

Ko Hun grumbled with hurt feelings.

“What’s wrong?”

Henri Marso turned his head.

“No?”

“Why are you talking nonsense?”

“Then you should have answered like that.”

“What?”

“You want to have all the paintings, you want to do whatever you want with your work. You seem like you can do the interview by yourself, so why don’t you?”

Ko Hun snapped.

He didn’t like him from the start.

He deliberately sat far away, didn’t take the interview for their first work together seriously, and even pushed away his hand when he tried to make up. He couldn’t stand it anymore with the incident in Los Angeles.

“Why are you like this when you usually talk so logically and well?”

“It’s not worth answering! Why are you asking me something useless that’s not even about the work?”

“People can be curious! Don’t you think?”

When Ko Hun asked, the reporter who asked the question was flustered.

“See! You’re surprised! If you’re going to do this, don’t ruin the mood and just go!”

“What?”

“Why? In LA, you just got on a plane by yourself as soon as we fought!”

“You made me angry!”

“So what!”

“You said you wouldn’t sell the painting! I’m not asking for it, I’m telling you to sell it. What’s your stubbornness?”

“Is it all about money? Oh, I guess you can think that way if you’re the kind of person who rents out a cafe because you don’t like being with other people.”

“Don’t bring up the old story and change the subject. There would have been no problem if you had just sold me the painting!”

“I don’t want to sell it to you! Just work and talk with me! Did I say I don’t want to give it to you unconditionally? I gave you 137 years!”

“That was months ago!”

“I’ve been keeping it in mind!”

“What?”

“Have you ever given me a painting?”

Ko Hun shouted.

Unlike himself, who had given him several gifts including , Henri Marso had not given him a single one.

“I did!”

“What!”

“Marceau’s Jewel! Henri Marso 002!”

Ko Hun blinked.

He had completely forgotten the statue that was full of Henri Marso’s narcissism.

“You…”

Henri Marso, who thought he had forgotten the work he had given him, couldn’t continue his words in shock.

“Ah, no. I forgot. No.”

“You son of a bitch! What did you do to my statue!”

“It was about the painting, not the statue! Anyway!”

Ko Hun desperately changed the subject.

“I don’t want to make a trade relationship! Why do you think whatever you want? Why don’t you answer the phone and come here and do this!”

“Don’t change the subject. What did you do to my statue!”

Ko Hun remembered that was sleeping in the basement exhibition hall.

“I’m keeping it well without any dust.”

“How.”

“What?”

“How!”

“…I put clothes on it.”

“Not that damn raincoat, right?”

As Henry Marceau mentioned the sponge cake raincoat, Ko Hun’s eyes trembled violently.

“This bastard!”

[“Give me back what I gave you”]

On the 11th, the opening ceremony of the Munster Sculpture Project showcased the friendship between French artist Henry Marceau and Korean artist Ko Hun.

The two, who had recently quarreled, ended up shouting at each other to return the works they had gifted to each other.

But the art lovers reacted that they could see how close they were.

Laurent Gobert, an auctioneer from Christie’s, the world’s largest auction house, who attended the event, said that the value of the works they mentioned would start at least $20 million if they were to be auctioned, and described them as “works that show how the two geniuses who heated up the 21st century influenced each other.”

Meanwhile, , a joint work by Henry Marceau and Ko Hun, has been receiving a lot of love from the first day of the event.

While Ko Hun and Henry Marceau were having a harmonious conversation.

Their was warming the hearts of the citizens of Munster.

“Isn’t that Mr. Becker?”

“Yeah. The kid with him must be his son. Does he want to be a firefighter?”

“He’s cute.”

The visitors were mesmerized by the sculpture of young Julian Becker and Pippi Becker holding a fire hose and putting out a fire.

They could feel how much the son admired his father.

And how much the father loved his son.

“Ha ha ha! How can they look so alike? Hey, Arthur. Come here and take a look.”

“What is it?”

“That’s Julian.”

“Ha ha! He looks exactly like he did when he was young.”

“He’s with his son, right?”

“That guy used to sing that he wanted to be a firefighter when he was young. His son must be the same, huh?”

The people who knew Julian and Pippi lingered around and shared their memories.

“Wow. There’s another fire station here?”

“How did they make it look so identical? I guess you can go inside.”

“Let’s go in.”

The large structure modeled after the Munster fire station contained many stories.

It showed not only the respect for the firefighters who had protected Munster over the years.

But also the trust and love between the family members who wanted to follow their father’s footsteps as firefighters.

When they entered the fire station, they could see the interior of the fire station changing according to the time order, and they could see how the firefighters had lived and how the fire station had evolved.

, which artistically depicted the cross-section of the lives of the Munster citizens, was a perfect decoration for the Munster Sculpture Project, which started with the aim of bridging the gap between the citizens and contemporary art.

“My goodness. I can’t believe it. Did they really make this together?”

“They said they drew it in virtual reality with a wall-breaking device and printed it out as it was.”

The experts also marveled at the interior of the fire station made by Ko Hun and Henry.

Gondo Masuda, a Japanese art critic who looked at them with displeasure, asked Tanaka Hirobumi, who was recognized as an authority in his country.

“Isn’t this childish?”

Tanaka Hirobumi, who only highly praised abstract works that contained profound philosophy, thought that would not look like a proper work in his eyes.

“…”

Tanaka Hirobumi did not answer and slowly looked around .

“Wow. Look at this. Honey, do you remember this?”

“The old fire station?”

“This isn’t a fire station, is it?”

“It was like this before Lisa was born.”

“When I was young, I used to get fire education here. Did Lisa get fire education?”

“Yeah.”

The couple who reminisced with their daughter.

“Brother, you’re here.”

“You were younger than us now.”

“Yeah. I didn’t know because I only saw the pictures, but you had a great body.”

The brothers who paid tribute to the young firefighter in black and white.

“Grandpa! Grandpa was a firefighter too, right?”

“Heh heh. Yeah. Yeah.”

“Then are you here too?”

“No way. How could I be?”

“Dad, here.”

“Wow! Is this grandpa?”

The grandson who was happy to see his grandfather’s appearance when he was on active duty and the old man who was immersed in his old self.

Tanaka Hirobumi thought that maybe this space was the place that connected contemporary art and the public.

He had never seen any museum or gallery like this.

It was the first time he saw non-expert audiences communicate directly with the works.

“Teacher?”

“…No. Go ahead.”

He had gone to Munster to criticize Henri Marso and Kohun.

Tanaka Hirobumi was confused.

ein stein (Ger: a stone)

Einstein (Ger: physicist Einstein)

A wordplay using the same pronunciation.