The Artist Formerly Known as Ruo Gu
Some things you run into in Shanghai are just hard to figure out. A few weeks ago an elderly gentleman approached me on the sidewalk in front of the building where I work and handed me a bilingual business card. In halting English he said he was an artist and wanted to talk to me. Assuming he wanted to show me to a gallery or an "exhibition" of his works, I begged off and escaped.
This morning, the same man approached me again in front of the same building and went through the same routine - only this time the name on his card was different! My memory for names is not usually so good but coincidentally I had been looking up the Chinese characters on the first card he gave me and I remembered that first name. This morning, when I said, "but I thought your name was Ruo Gu, not Chin Sha!", he immediately turned on his heels and disappeared. What's behind this I do not know.
Some things you run into in Shanghai are just hard to figure out. A few weeks ago an elderly gentleman approached me on the sidewalk in front of the building where I work and handed me a bilingual business card. In halting English he said he was an artist and wanted to talk to me. Assuming he wanted to show me to a gallery or an "exhibition" of his works, I begged off and escaped.
This morning, the same man approached me again in front of the same building and went through the same routine - only this time the name on his card was different! My memory for names is not usually so good but coincidentally I had been looking up the Chinese characters on the first card he gave me and I remembered that first name. This morning, when I said, "but I thought your name was Ruo Gu, not Chin Sha!", he immediately turned on his heels and disappeared. What's behind this I do not know.
posted by Kevcham at 1:37 AM
2 Comments:
You can pretty much be sure he was up to no good.
I just came across this post. I was in Shanghai in July 2007, just after you. I was approached by the same guy, but waited to hear his sales pitch. Long story short, I bought 5 watercolors from him for (I think) about 20 bucks. I framed them all, and still admire them. I just found his card tonight and was googling him, hoping he is now a famous master and I'm sitting on a fortune...guess not...tom k, NJ tpkinsl@yahoo.com
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