Tokyo life starting with painting

Chapter 195 Not only the gold reward but also the reward (4000 words)

Of course, the professors on the judging panel just thought about it this way and did not jump to conclusions too hastily.

After all, Yamauchi Ichiro is considered a relatively high-status oil painting scholar in the venue. Since he can afford it, this painting "Summer is Over" must have something special about it.

Most of the judges gathered around, but only two judges were still discussing in a low voice the works they had not finished discussing - they were Professor Toshiyama from Tokyo University of the Arts and active painter Ji Yong.

The two of them seemed to have discovered a good golden seedling, so they kept discussing it without even hearing what was said on the first floor of the mountain.

Ignoring them, the other judges came to the side of Yamauchi on the first floor.

"It is indeed a painting about humanities."

They took only a cursory glance and saw directly the painting of a woman wearing a suit for a job interview.

Sure enough, it is not a natural landscape painting.

If it were just a pure natural landscape painting, the requirements for painting skills would be too high.

They looked sideways to the lower right corner to see whose work it was.

"Kita Kyijuku private high school?"

High school students?

Many people are somewhat surprised when they see the prefix.

Because those who can make it all the way to the final selection stage of the Art Creation Award are basically college students, and it is impossible for the works of high school students to withstand the pressure under such circumstances.

Even if it wasn't the top five art academies in Tokyo, it was art college students from all over Japan. Why did a high school student suddenly sneak in?

It feels like you want to buy a motorcycle, but unexpectedly find a bicycle among the rows of motorcycles.

But the name Kitajuku Private High School sounds familiar.

They continued to look at the lower row, and then saw the signature of the work - Higashinoji.

Then everyone suddenly realized: "It turns out to be him."

If they were a little surprised before, the judges calmed down after seeing Higashinoji's name.

Higashinoji is indeed a celebrity in Tokyo. After all, he is very young, just a high school student, and has produced a lot of results.

If Musashino Art University had not already appointed Higashino, the other four major art academies in Tokyo might have asked some staff to contact Higashino.

Regardless of whether Higashino Tsukasa's reputation is false or not, and whether his painting skills are as outstanding as those touted by the outside world, it is definitely not wrong to look at his influence among Tokyo's youth.

But one code equals another.

Although sighing, the reviewers present will not relax their standards just because of Higashinoji's name.

They raised their heads, including those on the first floor of Yamauchi, who also cast their gaze on Higashinoji's "Summer is Over".

Jumping, hazy, restless.

This is the first impression of "Summer is Over" on the first floor of Yamauchi.

This is a women's room.

Desktop electric fan, window frame, messy bed quilt and a woman in suit sitting beside the bed in the painting

It can be seen that the woman must have woken up from her sleep state.

She picked up her shoulder bag while half asleep and began to organize it, but she only found something wrong after arranging it for a while, so she lowered her head and realized that she had accidentally spilled all the contents of the shoulder bag.

Her body was half bowed, and she was covering her mouth and half yawning. It seemed that she wanted to pick up something that fell on the ground, but her body only moved halfway before she paused, and then her face showed an extremely complicated and lonely look. expression.

Looking at this woman in a suit, the judges below couldn't help but feel a little doubt in their hearts.

Just picking up a shoulder bag, why do you have complex and lonely psychological feelings?

However, as they continued to look down, they got the answer.

It turns out that a woman in a suit confused the shoulder bag she used as a student with the shoulder bag she currently uses for work.

No. Probably not a mix-up.

Rather than being confused, I might as well say that I subconsciously took the shoulder bag I used when I was a student.

Women in suits who have grown up still think that they are still the students who went to school carrying shoulder bags.

The complicated, sad and lonely expression on her face also illustrates this point.

"This is a very clever design. It only expresses the mood of the character in the painting through the detail of the shoulder bag."

One of the judges below couldn't help but say something.

This is indeed a clever trick.

Compared with the previous painting "Koshien", which directly expresses that youth has gone far away, Higashinoji's painting gives people a sense of loss.

Because everyone has had such an experience.

Inadvertently tidying up the room, and accidentally flipping through objects that were used in the past are also brought back.

This feeling is not only felt by students, but also by many university professors who serve as judges.

After all, everyone comes from a young age.

Taking the graduation photos of the first class of students and receiving gifts from students for the first time are difficult to part with, and the aftertaste will make people feel particularly complicated emotions.

But no matter how you recall or think about the beautiful things that have passed away, they will gradually disappear with time.

This idea is indeed possible, not to mention that there is a theme of "growth" in it.

The corners of the woman's mouth in the suit finally turned up helplessly, obviously she had accepted the reality.

Growth always comes with loss.

I have to say that Higashinoji really nailed the theme of this Art Creation Award, leaving absolutely no room for excuses.

"It's not just about the theme, you can also look at the use of colors." Yamauchi Yifou reminded him, and at the same time he sighed in his heart.

This time Higashikata gave him a big surprise.

If the last "Tokyo" surprised Yamauchi on the first floor, it was the strong contradictory feeling of alternating cold and warm.

So this time "Summer is Over" gives him an ultimate use of paint, whether it is gradient colors or contrast, Higashino did a particularly good job, and it can be clearly seen that he has made progress again.

The background of this painting is very out of the ordinary.

The zinc-white sunlight carries a bit of yellow, making the whole picture appear hazy and fuzzy, making the whole picture seem light and airy.

This light and fluttering color gives people the giddy feeling of just waking up from a nap on a hot summer day.

Dizziness, restlessness, and haziness are supposed to make people irritable.

But Higashinoji's sophisticated skills handled it perfectly. Not only did it not give people any sense of anxiety, it actually made this summer look very refreshing.

It feels like a young man’s summer fantasy.

But under this refreshing color, the whole room looks very realistic, with an indescribable sense of depression.

The application of this realistic painting method suppresses the "light and airy" feeling of the entire picture, and instead creates an indescribable hazy and restless atmosphere.

Higashinoji did not deliberately use large ink and depressing colors to suppress the lightness of the picture, as many people did.

Instead, he did the opposite and drew the decoration of the room in an overly realistic way - damaged the small desktop electric fan that exposed the insulation layer of the blue and red wires, and the dusty and worn window frames.

There are no sparkling fireflies, nor are there any watermelons feasting on in the summer.

The summer fantasies of young people are nothing in this painting.

The contrast of this completely different painting style is like a big evil man named Higashinoji wielding a big stick and hitting you hard on the head, so that you wake up and say another devil's warning in your ear: "Summer is over." , your youth is also over'.

It's really uncomfortable, but it's also reality.

And the judges present finally understood what Higashinoji's title "Summer is over" meant.

‘Summer is over’, but the summer that ends has a moment to come back, but youth is different from this.

As time flies, summer comes to an abrupt end, and young people have to wear bow ties and continue to be busy as hard-working members of society.

Some people fall into the sea of ​​mediocrity and disappear in the blink of an eye. Some people work hard and shine, but no matter what, the things that have passed away will not come back. This is growth, and similarly, it is also youth.

Looking at this painting, some people even want to make a phone call and have a few words with their former classmates who were studying hard in the cold window.

But no matter how you put it, Higashinoji's painting is indeed the seed of the gold reward - and the other party is indeed not just in vain, but has real ability.

Just when someone was about to submit Higashino Tsukasa's painting as a candidate for the gold medal, Noriko Mano, who had been standing behind them silently, suddenly sighed:

"Really an outstanding piece of work."

As the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, she did not understand the theory of painting, and she did not really understand Higashinoji's painting skills. However, the more she looked at Higashinoji's title "Summer is Over", the more she liked it.

This sentence is very flavorful.

It sure tastes good.

There is a culture in Japan called Mono-Ai culture. This is probably due to the influence of Shintoism's belief that "all things have spirits". There is always an indescribable sadness when something beautiful passes away.

The sky is so blue, ugh.

The cherry blossoms are falling, alas.

The stars are so bright, alas.

Wearing a nice kimono would prevent me from committing suicide, ugh.

Some people may think it is exaggerated, but it can be seen from many Japanese movies and TV dramas - when the protagonist sees the railway tracks, he thinks of farewell and lying on the tracks, and when he sees the starry sky, he thinks of childhood memories.

The summer in "Summer is Over" is exactly an expression of "things".

Whether it’s the fireworks shooting up in the sky in the summer, the love letters that haven’t been sent out, the cicadas that I didn’t catch in the summer, or the beautiful memories that have been washed away by the torrent of time before I even remember them.

This sentence makes those who listen to it feel indescribably sad, especially for young people.

At least Noriko Mano recognized this sentence and felt an indescribable literary charm in this sentence.

It's no wonder, considering that in the previous life, this was a golden saying in Japanese culture, a saying that can be compared with "The moonlight is so beautiful".

and

"This painting was painted by Mr. Higashino, the author of Kumamon Bear, right?" Noriko Mano looked around the painting a few times before asking calmly.

"Yes."

The judges present didn't know why Higashinoji's name was suddenly mentioned, but they still answered decisively.

"It is indeed outstanding." Noriko Mano did not answer their questions, but just looked at the painting and nodded with a smile.

Seeing Noriko Mano's smile, the judges here stopped talking.

Because as soon as Mano Noriko opened her mouth, they knew that Higashinoji's gold reward was basically guaranteed.

After all, the Japanese Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology is very fond of his paintings.

This gold bounty is definitely impossible to escape.

But that’s okay, Higashinoji’s work is indeed of Gold Award quality.

They have seen at least twenty or thirty works, and for the time being they can't find any work that can be compared with Higashino Tsui's "Summer is Over".

Whether it's painting techniques, color usage, composition, or trivial details, the handling is so sophisticated that he doesn't look like a high school student.

Especially in terms of intention.

Higashinoji's painting takes into account the themes of "growth" and "regret for the loss of beautiful things" at the same time - this behavior is very risky, but Higashinoji perfectly reproduces it on the canvas.

Some people couldn't help but sigh.

It's really rare.

It feels like he has been painting oil paintings for ten or twenty years.

But this is just a feeling.

You know, Higashinoji is only seventeen or eighteen years old this year. How can he find so much time to practice oil painting for him?

As for Professor Toshiyama of Tokyo University of the Arts and Mr. Yoshida, who were discussing the Golden Prize seedlings with each other at the beginning, their expressions were confused when they learned that the Golden Prize had been selected.

After all, they had been having a heated discussion about a work from a college student in Aichi Prefecture, and they were so noisy that they were blushing and thick-necked.

After the discussion, you told me that the gold reward had been selected?

Um? ? ?

They were confused.

The two of them hurriedly glanced at Higashinoji's work, and then simply shook hands and made peace - well, indeed, the gold-prize seedling couldn't beat this painting.

Many people present began to gradually get to know Higashino Tsukasa, who was born in Kitajuku High School.

As for the other side, the one who feels the most deeply is probably the first floor of the mountain.

The more he came into contact with Higashinoji, the more he felt an indescribable feeling.

No matter it is a large-scale theme like "Tokyo".

Whether it is the themes of "regret for beautiful things" or "growth" in a small format, Higashino handles them very well.

"Has Mr. Okano been so outstanding before?" Yamauchi on the first floor couldn't help but think of Ryoko Okano, who was in charge of the studio management at Kita Yiju High School.

How did she teach such an outstanding student?

If there is a chance, I really want to learn from her and gain some experience from her.

But no matter what, it was a good thing that Higashinoji could successfully get the gold reward. Considering that it was still under review, he suppressed the urge to call Higashinoji to report the good news, and instead wanted to look at other works.

But he just stood up, and before he had time to look at other works, he was stopped by Noriko Mano.

"Hello, Mr. Yamauchi." Noriko Mano smiled and called to the first floor of Yamauchi.

Yamauchi on the first floor didn't expect that the Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology would actually take the initiative to talk to him. He felt weird and asked at the same time: "Ah, Ms. Mano, what can I do for you?"

"It's about this year's Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Award. Mr. Yamauchi should know Mr. Higashino, right?"

Noriko Mano smiled affectionately and said words that made the first floor of Yamauchi confused.

What?

Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Award?

Looking for Higashinoji?

Is it possible that Higashinoji will repeat the last Tokyo Youth Art Prize this time? Another double reward?

No way?

Thanks to Tianyu Tianze and Yi Yonghengyi for their rewards! Thank you so much!