Van Gogh Reborn! - Chapter 119
After dinner, I sat on the workbench again.
Even if it is not Edouard Manet’s [A Bar at the Folies-Bergère], the point of view is a concern for all artists.
What to show the audience…
What aspects of things will be revealed.
What I want to talk about.
All intentions are determined by how the point of view is taken.
But what I’m trying to draw right now is the concept art of the movie.
I must fully show the tragedy of Ray’s sacrifice of giving her life to save her lover
I must also express the emotions of Lupin, Ray, Isidore, and Sholmes.
If this were my own work, I would have drawn it from the point of view of Lupin embracing Ray.
Lupin’s view of Ray looking up at him with eyes filled with love and tears.
But that doesn’t reveal the emotions of Isidore and Sholmes.
Let’s think.
How can I draw a satisfactory picture while accepting the demands of the film crew?
I picked up the pencil.
There will be no progress just by thinking.
The reason why I am afraid of the canvas is because of its vagueness.
You must not stop the flow of thought and hands.
A single sketch is better than shredding hundreds of images in your head.
Let’s draw.
The easiest way to do it is to turn the angle slightly.
It is easier to show facial expressions than to draw from the side, and the person can be placed relatively freely.
“No.”
This can convey the situation, but it is not effective.
The painting should be dramatically expressed while clearly showing the characteristics of several characters, such as Rembrandt’s [Night Watch].
It is also not easy as it is the most effective method for a scene with multiple portraits.
But Rembrandt and Manet couldn’t have painted such a painting overnight.
The work can only be completed by repeating thinking, drawing, erasing, and redrawing.
I’m not a genius.
There is no reason to be impatient, as it has been like that from the beginning.
This time, Lupin, who was surprised when his lover was shot by a bullet, and Ray, who was in pain, should be placed in front of him.
Isidore and Sholmes should be on the opposite side, which forces me to draw only their faces.
It’s not unacceptable, but it’s very unnatural.
This composition cannot move people’s hearts.
Should I turn it on a bit more?
Let’s guide the view from the bottom left to the top right.
It looks more dynamic if I draw a large Isidore and Sholmes on the left and place Lupin and Ray at the vanishing point.
The situation can be conveyed well by fully revealing the expression and posture of the astonished Isidore and Sholmes.
This composition is worth a trim.
It’s still not satisfactory.
There might be a way to express it more dramatically.
If I think about displaying this, it would be okay to frame it and then break the glass part of the frame close to Ray’s chest.
Like a bullet passed by.
But it’s concept art.
It should be expressed only by pictures.
⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩
As the time neared midnight Ko Sooyeol was worried about his grandson, so he wandered around the studio.
He remembered the figure of his grandson when he prepared for [Mask], which is now exhibited at the Whitney Biennale.
He was worried about Ko Hun, who once immersed in something, didn’t care about what was going on around him.
He could fully understand what he was going through as an artist, but as a grandfather of an 11-year-old, he felt like his grandson was overdoing it.
Ko Sooyeol hesitatingly opened the door.
Inside he could see his grandson picking out about five or six pieces of drawing paper.
It was like organizing the studio.
“You didn’t sleep, grandpa?” asked Ko Hun.
“Yes. I’m going to bed now?”
“Okay. That’s all, I’m also done for today.”
It was late, but Ko Sooyeol felt it was better than working all night.
As Ko Hun tried to do it in moderation on his own, Ko Sooyeol’s worries were somewhat relieved.
“You’ve drawn a lot already,”
Ko Sooyeol said while looking at Ko Hun’s sketch.
It was only about five hours after dinner, but there were six sketches.
“I’m drawing whatever comes to mind. I don’t like anything.”
Ko Sooyeol nodded happily.
No matter how good an artist is, he couldn’t make good work every time he drew it.
The attitude of completing the work at the 100th time while repeating 99 failures is the virtue that Ko Sooyeol thought an Artist should have.
Ko Sooyeol wondered whether his grandson had this attitude because of his young age or was it because of his fearlessness.
Ko Hun was not afraid of the process of failing 99 times.
He didn’t give up thinking even if he did have a good idea.
Just as he looked up at Edouard Manet’s work, he tried to create another new work by voluntarily looking for references.
“Okay. Go to bed.”
“Yes, grandpa.”
“Don’t forget to brush and put on lotion.”
“Yes, grandpa.”
As if he was already sleepy, his grandson walked out of the room with droopy eyes and shoulders.
Ko Sooyeol smiled and patted Ko Hun’s head.
After confirming that his grandson entered the bathroom, Ko Sooyeol turned off the light in the studio.
⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩ ⏩
Ko Sooyeol sighed as he entered the study.
He felt like sorting the things of his daughter and his son-in-law, in Burbank, California, cannot be postponed anymore.
“Should I take Hun with me?”
Ko Sooyeol looked at the paper box.
It was a collection of items from the accident vehicle of his daughter and son-in-law.
After thinking for a while, he opened the box.
He thought there would be no more tears to pour out, but when he saw the traces of his daughter, he was overwhelmed with emotion.
Ko Sooyeol calmed his rising emotions and took out his daughter’s notebook.
It was quite a large notebook as it was also used for sketching.
It was full of sketches, diaries, family photos, and paintings Ko Hun presented to his parents.
Ko Sooyeol, who suddenly started raising his grandson, had several times checked his daughter’s records to see what Ko Hun liked when he grew up and if he had any diseases.
Hun is starting to talk in French.
Today, I talked to Mr. Bardo next door about what Hun learned in French.
Is it because he learned it from someone who’s older, he uses words I never heard of in between.
When I asked Mr. Bardo, he said he never taught him such words.
Did he learn it from TV?
The only show he watches is SpongeBob.
Did he learn from SpongeBob?
“……….”
Among several symptoms of memory loss, Ko Sooyeol heard that even if they lose their memory, there are cases where their language ability is not greatly affected.
The strange thing is that it was only three years ago when his daughter recorded this.
Upon waking up a year ago, Ko Hun who had only learned French for three years spoke French like a native.
No matter how fast he learned it, it is too much to say that a child who stuttered and started speaking three years ago became so proficient in the language.
One more thing that felt strange was Ko Hun, who liked the animation SpongeBob since he was young, seems to have not much interest in it now.
Ko Sooyeol often showed SpongeBob to Ko Hun because he thought it would help him regain his memory since it was something he enjoyed, but Ko Hun doesn’t seem to have much attachment to it.
‘Does a person’s taste change if they lose their memory?’
Ko Sooyeol flips through the page.
This time, it was a record he read once before.
It was two years ago.
I met Hun’s teacher.
She said Hun seems to have a mental problem because he asks a lot of questions in class.
I should have ripped off the crazy b*tch’s hair.
Sometimes Hun does say weird things in English, French, or German, but I know he is more warm-hearted than anyone else.
Hun hasn’t eaten much lately, maybe it’s because of the stress he gets at school.
Why didn’t I notice it until now?
If even the teacher came forward and treated Hun like a weird child, I don’t know how the classmates would have treated him?
It breaks my heart to think that the tender child suffered alone without being able to speak.
Ko Sooyeol flipped the pages of his daughter’s notebook.
I went to school to see how Hun was doing, and they were giving him a piece of potato pizza and a glass of coke for lunch.
I threw the plate on the nutritionist’s face.
The diet consisted of pizza and coke for a whole week.
When I asked Hun, he said he didn’t eat it because it wasn’t delicious.
Why didn’t they give an alternative food to the child who eats so small?
I complained to the principal and decided to sue the school.
I can’t send Hun to that school anymore.
I should stay with Hun even if I should take a break from work for a while.
It was like that when Ko Sooyeol lived in America.
He knew very well that the food service environment in the United States was not that good, but he couldn’t help but resent the fact that the target was his grandson.
His daughter was considering returning to Korea because his grandson seemed to be suffering too much in an environment that considered him as a mentally challenged child just because he asked a lot of questions.
After seeing his daughter’s record, Ko Sooyeol decided to give the best environment for his grandson.
However, when Ko Sooyeol looked at it again, he noticed something strange.
Potato pizza is one of Ko Hun’s favorite foods, but previously he didn’t eat it because it wasn’t delicious.
It may not have tasted good because it might not have cooked properly, but Ko Sooyeol wondered whether Ko Hun was really a child who eats less.
At first, the amount of food he ate was small, but at least he did not hesitate to eat.
The strange things were not only potato pizza, appetite, SpongeBob, and language proficiency.
The picture Ko Hun drew for his mom and dad could not be said to be well-drawn from an Artist’s point of view.
Although Ko Hae kept it thinking of it as precious since it was a picture given by her beloved son.
The constant suspicion of Ko Hun’s behavior made Ko Sooyeol’s mind complicated.
At first, things that he thought were just because of memory loss became more suspicious as he looked at his daughter’s records.
His drawing skills, which he understood as a result of inheriting his talent and receiving a good education from his parents, were also questionable.
The strangest things don’t end there.
The strangest thing was Ko Hun never said a word about wanting to see his parents and it never felt like he missed his parents.
When he went to Europe, he discovered the secrets surrounding Vincent van Gogh’s death.
‘Is it really because of memory loss?’
‘No.’
‘Is it really possible if you don’t remember?’
“Uh-huh…”
Ko Sooyeol no longer denied the suspicion that he had built up half a year ago.
He admitted that something had happened to his grandson since the accident, even though he could not explain it exactly.
Ko Sooyeol was convinced that the grandson before the accident and the present grandson were different.
