The Banana Scandal in Art Basel Miami 2019
versus Helenna Jouja‘s „The Material Girl with a Banana.“
What can I say about the banana duck-taped on the wall at the Art Basel Miami 2019 that has fetched $120K and got eaten by a hungry artist?
All I can say is that it sucks, it definitely sucks! Pardon my French, but it’s hilarious and it’s definitely an art!
When somebody saw the banana on the Material Girl I painted, they all were laughing and wondering what was wrong with me, why I painted a banana in between her legs, right exactly on her lap. My answer was “well, she also needs to eat, doesn’t she?” Now, because of the recent banana scandal everybody seems to make fun that a hungry artist ate a $120K banana!
The irony is that I painted the banana first in 2014, but without duct tape over it, and I thought in my young artist mind that the banana I painted was an art. if I painted two bananas, it’s not an art for me. And no, I wouldn’t have thought of duck-taping it at that time. I created a public question then if I should duck-tape it. What do you think should I duct-tape my banana? email me :D
This is my original story about “the Material Girl with a Banana”in 2014:
After my first 3 attempts to paint using acrylic on cardboard, i tried painting on huge canvas. Since I was a beginner, and had avoided drawings for years, I had no idea if I could make it. I ended up painting all the expensive things in the world, Well, the cellphone she‘s holding on her left hand used to be the most expensive cellphone at that time, haha. I had painted here the most expensive bag, pen, crown, accessories, private jet, Bugatti and even the most expensive book written by Leonardo da Vinci that was bought for US30M dollars by Bill Gates at the auction. Then I realized something was missing she also needs to eat. Unfortunately, I only had one banana left at home. So that banana was my first still life painting, lol :D I designed her night gown with fur, and I wanted it to be silk and see-thru. No idea how to make it see-thru, but I solved it on my own, without reference to any painting tricks. Her face is just an imaginary face. I imagined how the most beautiful face should look like and that’s her face for me :D I was thinking that painting serious figure is just common sense. Nowadays, no one should even bother to go to school to learn how to paint. Our time is „just do it!“ For short, i did it all and I identified this painting as „The Material Girl,“ my first acrylic painting on canvas.
You definitely know one. The simple yet fabulously financially well-off guy, who freely puts his arms around the rich and famous back of the neck; the innovators; the self-starters; the big boss; the old guy with young blond Barbie looking chics; and may even have serious connections in the political arena and afford the salaries and presence of famous successful celebrities, starlets and supermodels with their own bodyguards.The affluent one relaxing on top of more capital than the majority of us can ever realize and more than we ourselves will ever be able to spend in a lifetime.
The one with the deep pockets does not necessarily have a dashing good looks, but his middle aged George Clooney's charm in swank suit and the widely publicized lavish living can be so fascinating that we tend to be addicted to follow his daily activities and never mind if we are brutally being mocked for watching him and the reality teleseries of “Keeping Up With The Kardashians.”
If there's such thing as a dirty old man, or DOM for short, he's going to be a well-dressed DOM but his definition is rather a delicious old man, who will spoil and take you to the ball in a golden carriage, if it's available. He'll wear a designer's tuxedo, silk bow-tie, expensive shirt, exquisitely ironed pants, leather belt and tasteful accessories and who knows how expensive the pocket watch he is keeping in his deep pocket is. He's not always in perfectly-in-fashion mode because sometimes this opulent one also has to dress down so not to attract so much attention to the commoners and fashionistas, who frequently shop at the shopping mall he personally built and owned.
The complete combination of qualities of having wealth, intelligence, power, and charisma draws all kinds of women to him, crazily getting in a long line to apply to be his next partner and never mind if he is the type „to love 'em and leave 'em,“ they all take the chance to be the next in limelight with him. He's not even scared to be divorced many times as there'll always be another one to take their place.
So much about a millionaire may have been told for years, but for now I figured you are interested how this sale of The Biggest Ball painting has been realized, bought by the super hot and famous Austrian millionaire, Herr Richard Lugner, that has fallen in love with my painting the first time he ever saw it. But first let me tell you what has led me to paint „The Biggest Ball.“
It was sometime in January or February 2019, when Vienna hi-society was all so excited to attend the most glamorous Opera Ball in Vienna, Austria on February 28, 2019. And I, as a commoner, just like any other commoners, could only dream of attending this prestigious ball, where you could see very expensive gowns, as expensive as nearly half a million US dollars and worn by famous successful women.
Of course, my art gallerist, Hubert Thurnhofer, was also aware of the event and suggested me to paint the forthcoming ball before it's over. He even suggested me to paint Herr Richard Lugner, and illustrated in pen and paper how his prominent guests have so humongous breasts that even the carriage could not carry. And so I was laughing about the idea, but still could not figure out how I could illustrate it in my own way. But I know that Herr Lugner suffered from cancer and I don't want him to die so I decided to immortalize him in a canvas, and I said, “oh, there's really no one like him in Vienna. He is like the legend of the Opera Ball. So why not. I will paint him!” I didn't even care if the chance of selling this painting is zero because I am sure Herr Lugner does not buy a painting but paintings are all free for him as gifts of artists, but I went on to start painting it just to immortalize a history of the Legend of the Opera Ball.
I started painting Herr Lugner's face on the canvas, and it should not look so big at all to fit the other important characters, but I could draw his face bigger like a caricature. I intentionally painted his face maybe as small as 3 cm, with a smaller body that's not in proportion with the size of his face. I added Cinderella, Snow White and the Seven Drawfs in the background to illustrate that there is a ball going on at the Vienna Opera House. Of course, all the 5 women in the paintings are just imaginary guests, as I don't want any of the guests of Herr Lugner be jealous that they were not painted. They could be any of the painted girls, it doesn't matter who they are but have a wild guess, Pamela or Dolly Buster, an animal lover, a master Nagger (one who is expert in nagging)? And to fit the title, “The Biggest Ball,” I have painted just the side view of one of the girls with humongous breast, one breast not two, because if I have painted two breasts, the title would be the Biggest Balls, and that won't fit the intended humour of the “Ball.” When I have almost done painting it, I created a video about it to promote it on facebook, but it was not approved for promotion on Facebook, just like a lot of my other painting videos. So watch it now while it’s still online. It has reached only a few viewers and I doubt if Herr Lugner himself has seen the video about him.
A few months after the Opera Ball, in August 2019, I had to deal with my fears that my most awaited art exhibit at the Gallery Steiner Vienna would have no guests at all. I had been putting it off for a while, changing the exhibit to a later date to give me time to re-socialize to my old contacts, as I have been introvert for a long time till now. I decided I don’t wanna have a solo exhibit, so I invited more artists to join me. The first one I invited was Jemilly Velasco, my international artist bestfrien, whom will be my forever exhibit partner. I invited also Rudy Perey, a graduate of Fine Art who later cancelled his participation as he‘s busy. Anyway, I am so happy that at least my other international artist group ( Jemilly Velasco, Roswitha Schaublauer and Gerry de Guzman) was able to bring in some guests and of course there were also guests of the Gallery Steiner‘s.
Finally, my group‘s Vernissage at the Gallery Steiner was over and I was able to breathe for at last the night was over, and I have just to wait for the day to take my paintings back to my studio.
I was unaware of the fate of the “Biggest Ball” painting when Herr Richard Lugner was in the vicinity of the gallery to have lunch somewhere, and my beautiful blond art gallerist, Corinna Steiner, spotted him and invited him to come in the gallery to surprise him with something. Who could resist an invitation of a gallerist who looks like a living blonde Barbie doll, and so Herr Lugner accepted the invitation and was surprised to find himself immortalized in a canvas with his prominent Opera Ball guests. To make the story short, now the Biggest Ball is on display at the millionaire's office as he is now the new owner of it.
But you know what the big secret on this sale was? While the famous millioniare was falling in love with my painting “The Biggest Ball” displayed at the Gallery Steiner, I was at the operating room, where surgeons were happily stabbing my tummy. Perhaps, if I was not able to survive the operation I would have not known that my painting was sold to the now immortalized milionaire, just like most famous dead artists whose paintings became so famous and sold for millions without them knowing it because they were long dead. I am very happy that the same old fate of dead artists did not happen to me, and I am still alive to know that at least a millionaire has bought my painting. Could I have not survived the operation maybe my art gallerist would have regretted it to have sold it for the price I have originally asked for because dead artist’s paintings cost a lot more! But in the end, after all, I am the most expensive living female artist in Austria in 2019, only because most expensive paintings were sold by living male artists.
The painting of Helenna Jouja, your Filipina Canadian international artist in Europe, “The Biggest Ball with Richard Lugner, 150x100cm” is featured in ArtEdition 2020 Zeitgenössische Kunst Contemporary Art by ArtInnovation Innsbruck/Berlin, on page 128/296 of this book (29cmx29cm). Thank you so much for the sponsor, moral philosopher Hubert Thurnhofer, my world famous art gallerist in Vienna, Austria.
As written in the book In German:
Helenna Jouja
geboren auf den Philippinen, lebt seit 20 Jahren in Österreich. Sie beschäftigt sich mit Mode, Design und Kunst, schreibt und malt. Ihre Bilder erzählen unterhaltsame Geschichten, in denen bekannte Persönlichkeiten aus der Vergangenheit und Gegenwart auf unbekannte Figuren treffen, denen wir täglich auf der Straße begegnen, ohne sie zu bemerken. Es brauch nämlich eine Brise Ironie, viel Humor und eine große Portion Lebenslust um sie zu sehen. In einzigartiger Weise verarbeitet die Künstlerin ihre narrativen Gemälde zu Kurzvideos. Auf einem eigenen youtube-channel und natürlich auf ihrer Website finden diese Bildgeschichten den Weg zu ihrem international Fanclub www.helennajouja.com
In English:
Helenna Jouja
born in the Philippines, has been living in Austria for 20 years. She deals with fashion, design and art, writes and paints. Her pictures tell entertaining stories in which famous personalities from the past and present meet unknown characters whom we encounter on the street every day without noticing them. It takes a breeze of irony, a lot of humor and a great deal of zest for life to see her. In a unique way, the artist processes her narrative paintings into short videos. On their own youtube channel and of course on their website, these picture stories find their way to their international fan club www.helennajouja.com
Art Curator of Mads Milano Vanessa Viti’s Critical Commentary
The work, “The Thieves of Renoir,” tells an episode that actually happened in November 2018 The Dorotheum Auction House in Vienna suffered the theft of the work of Renoir. The artist Helenna reinterprets that episode placing her work on the podium that celebrates history painting, much acclaimed throughout the ages. The work, in fact, sets itself the high goal of telling a historical event, penetrating the meandera of a real, and important fact is the characteristic that brought the painting of history to a higher level than the rest of the genres. This ambition is recognized in Helenna’s work, so her work is pigeonholed in this genre, but not only, the artist condenses multiple artistic re-enactment into a single work. The allegory and the symbolic meaning is the central element the artist uses it for example with the figure of the rooster, which in the history of art has a well-defined value, namely that of being a guardian, an allegory used with irreverent irony, since the guardian failed in his role. The composition of the work is of Renaissance origin, like many artists of that era, Helenna divides the space into scenes, each place and group of people, although part of the whole - are performing a very precise action. The artist’s work is a concentration if movement and gestures, which brings to mind the works of great artists of the past, who told one of the famous “thefts” in history or “The Rape of the Sabine Women.” The aforementioned works are similarly chaotic, each space of the canvas is occupied by groups of men, who abduct Sabine women, as is in the case of Helenna’s work. In one of his books, the Austrian writer, Thomas Bernhard, wrote, “Life was a tragedy, and we at best could turn it into a comedy,” is what happened in Helenna’s work that at first sight seems to tell a moment of celebration or of joy. It is only by looking carefully and knowing what happened in Vienna that we recognize the tragic nature of the event.
Herr Richard Lugner with the Biggest Ball
Hector Pascua from ABS-CBN Austria wrote:
Feature Story: HELENNA JOUJA - A SUCCESSFUL ARTIST WITH FILIPINO ROOTS
An international Pinay Artist based in Vienna made a successful coupe as one of the richest business tycoon in Austria, Richard Lugner purchased one of her paintings.
„I was in the First District in Vienna and passed by Gallery Steiner,“ Lugner told HEUTE, a boulevard newspaper.
„The owner of the Gallery, Corinna Steiner called my attention. She wanted to show me something inside her gallery. I went inside and saw a displayed acryl made painting, where I am portrayed together with my former Opernball Visitors,“ Lugner continued.
Helenna Jouja is currently one of the international painters having an exhibition at the Gallery Steiner.
Lugner bought the masterpiece and now finds a worthy place in his office.
Helenna Jouja is a Filipina-Canadian artist based in Europe. She writes in her personal website: I am multilingual (She speaks English, German, Japanese, Tagalog and Spanish fluently. She is also trying to learn French and Italian) and have undergone some formal studies in pre-medicine, nursing, computer, education, business, painting, beauty and hair culture.
complete Story here: http://www.philippine-press.com/2019/09/feature-story-helenna-jouja-successful-artist-filipino-roots/
Pictures Source: Helenna Jouja
Feature Story: Helenna Jouja, a successful Artist with Filipino roots
Sep 23, 2019 editor General Interest 0
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The painter with an enthusiastic art lover
An international Pinay Artist based in Vienna made a successful coupe as one of the richest business tycoon in Austria, Richard Lugner purchased one of her paintings.
„I was in the First District in Vienna and passed by Gallery Steiner,“ Lugner told HEUTE, a boulevard newspaper.
„The owner of the Gallery, Corinna Steiner called my attention. She wanted to show me something inside her gallery. I went inside and saw a displayed acryl made painting, where I am portrayed together with my former Opernball Visitors,“ Lugner continued.
Helenna Jouja is currently one of the international painters having an exhibition at the Gallery Steiner.
Lugner bought the masterpiece and now finds a worthy place in his office.
Helenna Jouja is a Filipina-Canadian artist based in Europe. She writes in her personal website: I am multilingual (She speaks English, German, Japanese, Tagalog and Spanish fluently. She is also trying to learn French and Italian) and have undergone some formal studies in pre-medicine, nursing, computer, education, business, painting, beauty and hair culture.
The paintings of Helenna Jouja „are not as simple as it seems to be because it has unique stories behind, that have made it more fun and challenging for me. If it was not, I preferred to discontinue working on it because of boredom or if it was an order I refused to make it.“
Business tycoon in Austria, Richard Lugner bought the painting of Helenna.
She writes further „I find painting so challenging because it involves giving solution to the image I want to achieve. What I mean is that, most figures I want to draw are not readily available anywhere around me or online. I simply could not find the right models to complete the image, so most of the time I engage myself in an imaginary solution. I just imagine it and ask myself, “does this make sense, if this is this long or this short?” Having encountered art problems, I thought I should go to school to learn from the masters, but I think they would only transfer to me what they had learned from the others, which would prevent me from discovering how the great artists in the past had discovered their innermost talents themselves. I want to experience the joy of discovering something too, yes, definitely! I know I have to have a need to create something to discover something. Otherwise, I will just be doing what others are doing in terms of art, which I find not worthwhile. I want to find out myself how the things work without having to follow instructions, and that is the way I am in terms of painting. I wanna be free in my thoughts. I want to create. I want to have an independent artistic mind.“
Mother of innocenticism art
Helenna Jouja‘s art genre is for non-art lover a strange one. She called it Innocenticism. She wrote: „Probably because of my attitude towards art, I have made a bride’s daddy cry with my innocentism visual art. Innocentism art is my own invented word for the art I am creating. I used to refer myself as the mother of Innocentism art. And slowly the viewers themselves will discover what innocentism art is. Anyway, going back to the daddy of the bride, I was not expecting such a reaction! He was not expecting my painting to be so beautiful. Well, it is not really that beautiful but thank you so much! And thank you so much also for appreciating all my works.“
Artist ambition:
Helenna dreams to be one of the greatest artists of our time, and she wants every work of her to be visited in museums around the world.
„I know it is quite ambitious of me or, maybe I don’t have what it takes, but who knows what will really happen 100 years from now, so I might as well wish for the best,“ Helenna wrote
As an international Artist, Helenna Jouja made already a number of painting exhibitions in Vancouver, Kamloops, Manila, Krakow, New York, Zurich, Vienna. This year 2019 will be in 2 cities in Italy and again in Vienna.
Everyone is invited to view her amazing works at the Kunstraum Art Gallery in the Ringstrassen Gallery in Vienna, Austria. Helenna works exclusively with the said Gallery.
For more detaily about Helenna Jouja, visit her Website: www.helennajouja.com
Hector Pascua, ABS-CBN News, Austria
2. August 2018 - Mehr als 100.000 Fans folgen der philippinischen Künstlerin Helenna Amora Jouja auf facebook. Helenna studierte in ihrer Heimat Bildungswissenschaften. Nach dem Bachelor setzte sie ihr Studium in Kanada fort. Sie absolvierte die SLIM‘s Fashion and Arts School. Sie lebt nun in Wien, wo sie besonders von den Werken von Gustav Klimt inspiriert wurde. Ihre Replika des weltbrühmten Werkes "Der Kuss" zeigen ihr Können.
Opernball Wien: Anlässlich des Opernballes 2019 malte die Künstlerin das Bild "The Biggest Ball", Acryl auf Leinwand, 100x150 cm, mit tiefenpsychologischem Blick auf einen der bekanntesten Ball-Promis. Nach dem Motto: Fantasy is more real than reality!
In Ihren originären erotischen Gemälden geht sie einen anderen Weg. Sie erzählt - mit einer großen Portion Humor - Geschichten, von denen viele schon geträumt haben, die aber kaum jemand zu erzählten wagt. Die Serie "The Icecream Cone" ist ein Beispiel für ihren Umgang mit Traum und Wirklichkeit. In spritzigen Videos finden die Bildgeschichten ihrer Gemälde eine Fortsetzung. Das neueste Video "icecream cone" ist nun online:
Weiteres Video von der Künstlerin selbst kreiert:
When Artist Has Gone Mad paintings of Helenna Jouja Leonardo Da Vinci of Vienna
Weitere origniäre Bilder der Künstlerin...
Weitere Videos der Künstler auf ihrer neuen Webseite helennajouja.com
Arik Brauer war in seinem Leben nie um ein keckes Wort verlegen, wenn es darum ging, anerkannte Wahrheiten zu hinterfragen, kleine menschliche Schwächen zu entlarven oder Missstände in Politik und Gesellschaft beim Namen zu nennen. Und was wäre dazu besser geeignet als der Witz in der Tradition großer jüdischer Humoristen? Am 5.6.2019 hat der Maler und Autor sein Buch in Wien vorgestellt, die Korrespondentin von kunstsammler.at, Helenna Joua, berichtet.
by correspondent of kunstsammler.at,
Thalia’s area for the book presentation was full of Arik Brauer fans, mostly pensionists with salt and pepper hair. Approximately 200 fans filled the area and were patiently waiting for their star. Surely one must not underestimate the number of followers and admirers he has.
At 19:00 pm sharp, Arik Brauer appeared like a thief in the night, in his black hat and a sportive dark coat, without wearing a tie, and quickly proceeded to the chair allotted to him in the stage. One who doesn’t know him will just think he is just any other old Jews, who survived the Second World War, and probably already suffering from dimentia, for a man born in 1929, hmmm. But no, he is no ordinary old guy, as expected, and he right away proved it once again that he is not only a talented artist, professor and founder of his own art. As he read part of his new released book, he was showing that he too could be a poet with mastery of telling humorous stories, making his audience laugh out loud while clapping their hands. He played harmonica in a few seconds, every now and then, to add spice to his book presentation. and like any other Jews, he mentioned a lot about Rabbis. He seemed to have also mastered story telling with emphasis on words like he’s acting in a live theatre to entertain his quite attentive old listeners. A natural comedian indeed and his new book, „A Jud and Keck A No,“ is about to prove it.
After a quick presentation of his book, he left quickly leaving everyone no chance to take a picture with him. Those unsigned books were replaced by pre-signed one at the cashier‘s station. He signed his books with an erasable pencil, and such a mysterious signature, i should say, a gigantic fart filling up the space in one page? Pardon me.You have to see it yourself what i meant. His signature is just like what he had illustrated in one of the hilarious stories of his new book about farting.
(c) Helenna Jouja
You‘ve heard of Fantastic Realism Art maybe from the deceased Ernst Fuchs, who marvelously painted images from his most vivid wild imagination in realistic, clear, detailed presentation, without the absence of aesthetics, but in fact, a lot of it. Just like Gustav Klimt’s „The Kiss,“ the paintings of Fuchs definitely never fail to impress.
You’ve probably mumbled it yourself, in today’s highly competitive art variation, ranging from abstract to whatever is created by a contemporary artist, the struggle of Fantastic Realism Arts (Wiener Schule des phantastischen Realismus) to find its way to global art appreciation and recognition cannot be overlooked.
In the death of Ernst Fuchs, many might have wondered if Fantastic Realism will soon end, as there seem to be millions of contemporary artists around the world, whose art preferences and abilities seem to lack that old masters skills, or the interest to paint their dreamlike visions in a realistic manner. Sure it is quite refreshing to see contemporary arts hung in a wall, that seem to have a touch of classical old masters style, with sense of complexity of creation, completeness, dedication to produce beauty in its highest quality, and balance, rather than art of a minimalistic style, which ease of creation and shortness of duration to complete seems rather overly appreciated, that made some left wondering if the new generation is tasteless in aesthetic appreciation.
We can just jointly conclude that the people nowadays are much more easier to please, rather than those during the time when arts were laboriously and skillfully produced. Because everything is possible now, as everyone can be called an artist for as long as he can produce a thing with a little bit of paint on it, or glue things on it, and sell it for thousands or even millions of dollars. No need to argue with those people raising their brows about its sale, because if an art is sold, it’s sold and collectors can spend their money on anything they want even if for us it’s not worth it. We absolutely have no right to oppose about other's spending reasons or habits but we can raise our objections secretly or be open about it and be seen as someone bitter or jealous about the reality. Is the future of art compromised because of this contemporary reality? Will excellent arts be soon dead because money talks? As the battle of different style of arts continuously exists in the modern world, fantastic realism art is slowly finding its way to exist globally and making a lasting impression to art collectors. The thirst is on for a much complicated Fantastic Realism arts, which also fall in the category of contemporary arts.
Surprisingly, there are still founders of Fantastic Realism Arts, who are alive and kicking, despite their old ages, and even have time to write important books for our art history. One of these founders, is maybe nearly a century old, but is continuously making his way to be one of the most important artists of our time. He is well-known in Austria as Aric Brauer.
Immediately after the Second World War, the Vienna School of Fantastic Realism was founded by Arik Brauer, in serious collaboration with his other artistic colleagues. However, it’s been more than 60 years now since it’s been founded, but still, only a few has probably heard of it in other continents. If so, it’s probably already been integrated into the standard academic curriculum of every nation. Even in the widespread use of social media, fantastic realism arts are not commonly seen or promoted in the same quality and standard of its founders. One reason of its worldwide unpopularity could be because it’s not cheap to study Fantastic Realism Arts in school and time is also an essential necessity.
Aside from limited highly talented artists, who can be as good as Fantastic Realism’s founders, incoming tourists are not enough to see the original arts in Vienna. Although there were some international exhibitions for it, not so many people have seen them for sure. Yes, thousands might be present in an art expo but not millions. Will artistic talent be a requirement too? We can just assume not so many are capable of having vivid imagination of other supernatural creatures associating them with religious aspects or whatever and be able to paint them like they really existed and are, therefore, parts of the normal world.
While it’s true that a great majority can be artistic with abstract art, the reverse is true in fantastic realism. It’s definitely more difficult than having random colors, shapes, and textures, as seen in most ordinary contemporary arts. Is Fantastic Realism Art the high end of arts in our generation then? When will it ever reach the top 100 most expensive paintings in the world? Well, Gustav Klimt was also from Austria, and his painting made it to one of the most expensive paintings. We can only raise our hope and expectations for Fantastic Realism Arts as they deserve to be a part of our future generations. Sadly, most excellent artists died before they could be greater and I am still waiting for Ernst Fuchs to reach his highest peak to be globally recognized to be in level with the old dead masters‘s popularity and value. How long could we expect Brauer to live then, and it’s sad whenever we lose important people.
Arik Brauer Book Presentation at Thalia Bookstore
Professor Arik Brauer, founder of Fantastic Realism
Ernst Zdrahal drawn Helenna Jouja June 15, 2019
Copyright © 2009 Helenna Jouja - All Rights Reserved.
Sponsor: Sole Owner/Manager Hubert Thurnhofer der Kunstraum in den Ringstrassen Galerien, 1010 Wien, Kärntnerring 9-13 / 144 (Obergeschoß) Vienna, Austria Europe,
Tel: 0699 1266 0929 www.kunstsammler.at mail@thurnhofer.cc
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