(383) The Netherlands Curating Plan fell through

A friend once asked me, “How come whenever you venture into some unfamiliar foreign land, everything seems to go your way? What’s your secret?”  I burst out laughing. “Not at all! It’s not as though everything always goes smoothly. It’s just that whenever something doesn’t go my way, I simply take a detour and shake it off. There is hardly enough time to focus on and savor all the beautiful scenery along the way, so how could I possibly waste a moment mourning over so-called disappointments? I believe that ‘everything happens for a reason.’ So I simply never linger—I keep my head up and walk forward.”  My friend stared at me with wide, astonished eyes. I continued, “You seem determined not to let me off without a real-life example. Fine, then. Let me share this ‘came away empty-handed’ episode in the Netherlands.”

Before heading to Lithuania for our
exhibition, we arrived in the Netherlands a week early to meet with a gallery
and discuss a possible collaboration. I still remember meeting the gallery
owner at the end of July. This entrepreneur was quite interested in our Frost
Flowers global exhibition, so we agreed to meet again at the end of August to
discuss the details of working together.  Naturally, she was also interested in representing Charles’s oil paintings. So, once the Lithuania exhibition was completed, Charles immediately set to work, creating two new paintings specifically for the entrepreneur to consider for representation. Watching him paint so completely absorbed in his work, I was thrilled when the finished pieces turned out beautifully. A selfish little thought suddenly popped into my head: “Do we really have to give them to the entrepreneur?”

Charles, ever the bigger-picture thinker, reassured me, “If this helps build a friendship, of course we should offer our finest work. Besides, curating the Frost Flowers exhibition is the main mission. We have to think of the bigger picture—don’t be so small-minded!”  And so, carrying the two beautiful paintings, we went from shop to shop looking for a place to have them framed. Being strangers in a foreign land, the two of us were like “headless flies,” and it took quite a bit of effort before we finally got everything sorted. 

When the day of our appointment arrived, we proudly showed the beautiful paintings to the entrepreneur. She glanced at them, offered a few words of praise, and then simply set them aside. She instructed her assistant to go through the exhibition and collaboration terms in details.  Then came the shock. Some of the terms sounded rather like “asking for the moon”! Although taken aback, Charles remained completely professional and continued to have a sincere discussion with her. He went on to cite examples of our previous collaborations with organizations in different places, as well as the operating models of other galleries representing his work, for her consideration. 

Unfortunately, her perspective as well as her magnetic field was completely different from ours. I immediately understood: she saw art primarily as a high-end product to be marketed for profit, whereas the purpose behind our Frost Flowers exhibitions was simply not on the same wavelength. Alas, the facts spoke for themselves: we had simply knocked on the wrong door.
Different paths, different purposes.
That was all it was. We politely wrapped things up, retrieved our beautiful
paintings, and slipped away.

Charles looked visibly deflated. After all that work, it was only natural that he felt disappointed. I quickly comforted him: “Business is never easy. She has her own difficulties too. We’ve done our best—that’s good enough. Let’s let it go and go have some fun.”  With that, I took one big step onto the street.  “Wow! When we passed by earlier, there was a whole line of people waiting to get in. What on earth is this place?” I grabbed the still-gloomy Charles and headed straight toward the queue.  The moment we reached the entrance, the security guard looked at me and said, “You seem like a pretty cheerful lady…”  Charles suddenly perked up and happily jumped in: “She’s always like this. This place is…” 

The kindly guard seemed to take an instant liking to us. Smiling, he explained, “This is a church that’s over four hundred years old. It happens to be open to the public for free today. You two are in luck! Just remember to be quiet and respectful.”  I smiled broadly. “Absolutely!”
And in my heart, one thought instantly floated up: There you have it—every cloud has a silver lining…

Wow… Passing through a single doorway from the noisy street outside, it felt as though I had suddenly fallen into a cool, tranquil pool. All my burdens were washed away.  I smiled and said, “Maybe God knew I couldn’t bear to part with those two beautiful paintings, so the collaboration had to fall through. Ha-ha!”  That finally made him laugh.  Still smiling, I said, “How can life always go exactly as we wish? At least stumbling upon this ancient church by chance is a consolation prize from God. Since we’ve been given the chance to come inside and pay a visit to Brother Jesus, we might as well make a sincere wish.”

And the happier I am when I make a wish, the more powerful it must be! On our way back, I received some very happy news: the organizations in Brazil and Thailand that we had contacted earlier had just agreed to our requests… Our exhibitions for 2027 were officially confirmed!

No wonder things didn’t work out in the Netherlands. It really was a case of “a blessing in disguise”—just as the old saying goes: sometimes a Loss turns out to be a Gain!