Hinako Fukuhara knew early on that Chen Xing would come to the island country. She was also present when Kintaro Yamazaki invited Chen Xing to the Kyoto Art Festival last year, but she waited and waited but did not see Chen Xing send her a message.
As soon as the phone rings, my heart beats with anticipation.
The longer I wait, the more vivid my memory of my trip to France last year became.
Until she saw Chen Xingfa's news on the Internet and knew that Chen Xing was staying at Kiyomizu Temple in Kyoto, so she rushed there early in the morning, but she didn't expect that it would rain so hard today.
If I had known that I would be like this when I saw Chen Xing again, she might not have come.
But Chen Xing really didn't pay attention to this.
He was really touched just now.
In a short human life, how many girls are willing to come to you in the rain early in the morning?
All in all, I won’t feel lonely anymore during my stay in the island country for the next few days.
No matter where you travel, having a local tour guide will bring great convenience to tourists, especially when it comes to learning the local language... Even if Chen Xing doesn't deliberately learn it, his Japanese level has improved rapidly.
………………
At the end of April, the Kyoto Art Festival held its closing ceremony.
In the Kyoto Museum, Chen Xing's works have been gradually removed, and the original personal exhibition hall has now returned to the museum itself, displaying some modern artworks.
There are no awards in this art festival, but there are many comments about him on the Internet.
A well-known commentator in Tokyo said on INS:
"Mr. Chen Xing's photography style can be described as simple, quiet and restrained. This style is vividly displayed in "The Milkmaid", which is also my favorite work. But what is even more touching is that his
The works are full of oriental aesthetic charm, which comforts the soul. As he once said... Photography is not about capturing objects, but capturing moods."
The Kyoto Times also devoted a large space to introducing Chen Xing on the day when the art festival ended.
The title is very island country style, called: "Legendary Photographer from the Great Eastern Country"
"...In Chen Xing's works, you can hardly tell which are commercial advertisements and which are photo shoots. His works always perfectly integrate light, tone and composition, giving people a unique visual enjoyment
.His works not only make people interested in models, but also a kind of beautiful enjoyment."
Nowadays, the profession of critic is not applicable in many countries. The portability of the Internet has broken through the right to speak that only traditional critics have. Ordinary people can also see other people's comments on a work or a celebrity on the Internet.
A review of a movie.
But in the island country, critics still have a very important position.
It is said that Chinese people like to join in the fun and have a serious herd mentality, but it pales in comparison to the island countries. Even now in 2024, if a certain restaurant is judged to be poor in a certain aspect by the island country's critics, then the restaurant will not last a year.
You have to close your doors.
The art world is similar. Chen Xing's works exhibited in Kyoto in the past half month have been liked by a large number of critics, and his reputation in the island country has also begun to appear in the eyes of ordinary people who are not usually exposed to photography.
These news have made Chen Xing really happy recently. The only pity is that Yamazaki Kintaro, who invited him to participate in this art festival, was not seen during the whole process. His exhibition was in Gion, the famous flower street in Kyoto, and Chen Xing went to see it.
After using it once, the flow rate felt normal.
During such an important period, he didn't quite believe that this person had gone to other places on a temporary business trip and must be sleeping somewhere in Kyoto.
If you don't come to me, are you admitting defeat?
Chen Xing could only think this way.
He had Kintaro Yamazaki's contact number, but calling him now felt like showing off.
Forget it, I'm not very familiar with it anyway.
Judging from the exhibition time of more than half a month, my works are indeed more popular, and they are among the best among all the photographers participating in the art festival.
If this trend continues, I'm afraid we won't be able to fish in the second half of the year.
Artists cannot earn money from ordinary people as a profession. Among the world's richest people, the circle of collecting photography works is relatively small. Most of Chen Xing's income comes from modern museums and photography studios in various countries.
In the past, his works were relatively popular in European museums, but now that his fame has spread back to Asia, the number of works he needs to provide will definitely increase in the future.
Less than a hundred pictures a year may not be enough.
It's all fame and money.
When Chen Xing came to the island country, he came alone, quietly, but there was a lot of excitement before leaving. He heard Kenji Moriyama said that he had many fans in Kyoto, so he held a fan meeting before leaving.
He took a lot of photos and signed autographs, which made him feel like a celebrity.
On May 5, Chen Xing's tourist visa expired and he took a flight back to his country in Tokyo.
In the Kyoto Museum, several recently purchased works have been hung on the walls of the modern art exhibition area. Kintaro Yamazaki, whom he has never seen before, is standing among the tourists.
Chen Xing's guess was correct, he had indeed been hiding before.
I thought that the works that Chen Xing won last year might just be a flash in the pan. After all, who doesn’t eat dumplings during the Chinese New Year? It would be great for a twenty-year-old photographer to come up with a famous work that shocked the world.
But he didn't expect that Chen Xing would soon create a group of works of Dunhuang goddesses. This group of works was even more famous than his award-winning works. At this art festival, many people came specifically to see Chen Xing's works.
group of works.
During this period, almost all critics were praising Chen Xing, but when talking about themselves, they would inevitably say, "It was a pity that I lost to Chen Xing at the Arles Photography Festival in France last year."
When he heard the passing tourists praising Chen Xing's works, Yamazaki Kintaro became hard-fisted.
This time I really lost completely.
I still thought about defeating Chen Xing in an art festival held in my country to avenge last year's attack in Arles, but who knew that I would be humiliated by Chen Xing again? This young man...
I'm afraid that if I see Chen Xing in the future, I will have to go around.
Too embarrassing.
He was still immersed in the emotion of failure when a familiar voice suddenly sounded in his ears...
"Yamazaki-san?"
Hearing this voice, he turned around in surprise.
Kenji Moriyama's expression was as surprised as his, but he immediately smiled and said: "It's really you, Yamazaki-san, where have you been during this time? What a coincidence, Mr. Chen Xing has just left."
"Ah, what a coincidence..." Of course I knew he was gone, otherwise why would I be here?
"Mr. Chen Xing has talked about you many times. He will definitely be very happy if he knows that you have returned to Kyoto." Moriyama Kenji said this with emotion, and then patted Yamazaki Kintaro's arm.
"Thank you very much for inviting Mr. Chen Xing to our country to participate in the exhibition, so that young photographers from island countries can see more of the outstanding photographers from big countries, so that they can put away the idea of sitting in a well and looking at the sky."
Yamazaki Kintaro superficially agreed, but his fingernails almost dug into his flesh.
