Lin Yuan silently waited for his personal art exhibition to be held at the Central State Art Museum.
Jin Mu wore a serious expression:
"With the official opening of the personal exhibition at the Central State Art Museum, the Painting Soul series will be publicly unveiled for the first time, and Shadow’s ranking will soar to the top, potentially claiming the number one spot in the Blue Star painting rankings!"
This time, Jin Mu had no doubts.
Jin Mu had personally seen the Painting Soul series, and the shock he felt was something he hadn’t experienced with any other top artist on Blue Star!
When the exhibition officially starts,
this outcome is destined.
Because there are only five contemporary masters on Blue Star with master-level painting skills, Lin Yuan included.
As for how Lin Yuan knew?
Lin Yuan’s perspective and vision were greatly enhanced with his master-level painting skills, prompting him to appreciate many top works by artists on Blue Star.
After repeated comparisons and studies,
Lin Yuan drew this conclusion.
When the artist rankings came out, the four recognized masters with master-level painting skills were indeed justifiably ranked in the top four.
This also indirectly proved:
The Blue Star Literature and Art Association’s ranking is quite fair.
At his Central State Art Museum exhibition, if the Painting Soul series were not featured, Lin Yuan felt that Shadow might be able to make it into the top five of the painting rankings.
Because he is the fifth painting master on Blue Star.
As to precisely which position in the top five Lin Yuan would hold, he wasn’t sure; at the master level, differences might be decided by the style’s audience rather than skill itself. However, this speculation is meaningless, based on the assumption Lin Yuan doesn’t present Painting Soul.
Without Painting Soul, Lin Yuan could enter the top five;
With Painting Soul, Shadow could claim the first spot!
Lin Yuan was very confident about this outcome!
Unless the group with the power to set the rankings at the Literature and Art Association were immune to the effects of Painting Soul, but clearly, that’s impossible.
If several masters played a game, and one secretly cheated, the result would certainly be chaos.
Perhaps even a random formidable player, given powerful aids, could overpower a master during early matches.
Just Lin Yuan didn’t expect:
Among his three personas, Shadow was established last, Xian Yu and Chu Kuang achieved countless successes with blazing speed.
Shadow, caught between them, seemed transparent.
Yet in the end, it’s Shadow who would ascend first.
"Perhaps our harvest this year will be quite impressive; Shadow should become the top contemporary artist, Chu Kuang is also very close to the top ten, the year-end update might allow him into the top ten smoothly, and as for Xian Yu, no need to say much, the music chart may take a while to establish, but no one doubts Xian Yu will make it into the top ten in the end. The only concern is at which specific position Xian Yu will end up."
Jin Mu expressed his sentiments.
This is just the first year of Blue Star’s merging, Lin Yuan’s three personas have achieved such success, what about the coming years?
These results are predetermined.
Whether Shadow can truly climb to the top of Blue Star’s art world by the end of the year, depends on the exhibition’s effect. Jin Mu likewise remained expectant.
In the midst of this anticipation.
Days passed one by one.
Meanwhile, discussions online about Shadow’s exhibition grew, the idea of a manga artist holding a personal Chinese painting exhibition was itself very intriguing!
"Shadow’s exhibition is starting soon."
"As someone who loves Chinese painting, I am conflicted; living in the Wei Continent, it’s not too far from Zhong Continent, considering visiting the exhibition but unsure of Shadow’s Chinese painting skill, if poorly done, it might waste my time and energy."
"Reputedly, it’s okay."
"I certainly know Shadow’s Chinese painting skill isn’t too bad; a poor skill couldn’t allow such a high painting rank, but I want to know exactly how good it is, if just ordinarily excellent, it’s not worth my trip."
"This is really hard to say."
"I do not quite believe a manga artist, Shadow’s Chinese painting skill can stand alongside those traditional professional painters."
"But his rank is high!"
"Eighteenth on the painting list!"
"I attended the exhibition of the nineteenth-ranked Mumu teacher, really extremely shocking, Shadow ranks even higher, does it mean Shadow’s Chinese painting is better?"
"Shadow’s high rank mainly comes from his manga and cartoons, they occupy the largest proportion of his stats, and Chinese painting likely holds very low weight."
"Mumu entered the ranking solely through Chinese painting, without other professions, unlike Shadow who dabbles in everything, if excluding Shadow’s manga and animation achievements, only considering Chinese painting skill, I estimate Shadow’s rank would be quite low."
"Have you not seen Shadow’s ’Galloping Horse’? I found that painting very impressive, industry professionals rated it very highly!"
"Haven’t heard of it."
A manga artist holding a Chinese painting exhibition.
Such a matter naturally evokes debates.
The online impact of Shadow’s previous ’Galloping Horse’ was limited; he still left the impression of a manga artist.
Even those supporting Shadow didn’t truly know his Chinese painting level.
After all, traditional Chinese painting masters ranked similarly to Shadow are very focused.
Unlike Shadow suddenly having a Chinese painting exhibition, giving the sense of casually showcasing all-around talent.
In the online uproar, December 20th before year’s end finally arrived.
A dense crowd waited at the entrance.
About half of them are Shadow’s fans, primarily manga enthusiasts.
The other half are people who heard the news online and became interested in Shadow’s personal Chinese painting exhibition. Most came purely out of their love for Chinese painting and wanted to see and connect with its excellent works.
No matter how many people felt "a manga artist doing Chinese painting" wasn’t reliable, under the surviving bias, silence falls upon the majority.
When the exhibition day truly arrived, it was evident how many people had an interest in Shadow’s exhibition!
If not for the Central State Art Exhibition Hall being large enough, allowing phased and time-scheduled visits, many people wouldn’t even have a chance to get in!
At the front of the crowd.
Numerous media outlets from various continents excitedly gathered here, cameras pointed at the crowd, filming scenes before entrants.
"Even if our Blue Star’s top three traditional Chinese painting masters held an exhibition, the impact would be no greater than this, yet Shadow’s ranking is only eighteenth, but so many are interested in his exhibition!"
"The key is, it’s still early!"
"More people will definitely come, but Shadow attracting so many people is probably due to his personal fame, since he’s the King of Comics on Blue Star; his foundational audience is larger than for Chinese painting."
"Reporters all came well prepared."
"Whether it’s Chinese painting or not, celebrities like Shadow hosting any event will bring out most reporters in full force."
"But this really doesn’t compare, you haven’t seen Xian Yu’s last movie conference; that was truly a sea of people, combining the top ten composers on Blue Star wouldn’t attract as many fans!"
"Compared to Xian Yu’s movie conference, Shadow’s exhibition is lacking; not discussing the number of fans, do you know how many top figures Xian Yu invited as VIPs?"
"That guest lineup was invincible."
"In contrast, Shadow doesn’t have any notable guest lineup here; so far no top figures have shown, although Xian Yu as Shadow’s friend might attend to show support..."
In the midst of talking.
The reporter looked up, then his voice stopped abruptly, and his mouth opened wide, uttered a coarse word:
"See for yourselves!"
Other reporters at his words looked up and their faces turned suddenly red, as if witnessing the eighth wonder of the world!
"How is it possible!"
"And together at that!"
"Usually they don’t see each other, even premier painting award ceremonies couldn’t gather them together!"
"Top ten ranked figures of the Blue Star painting list, today not a single one is missing..."
ps: Really going all out for the monthly ticket, everyone see if there are any tickets to vote for Polluted White, should have known not to set a 50,000 vote goal, this is an adrenaline challenge.