Painters compete during a facsimile match in Dafen Village, Shenzhen City, south China's Guangdong Province, Thursday, May 18, 2006. More than 110 contestants make facsimile of portrait or scenery oil painting in the timed game held in the village which is famous for its oil painting facsimile industry. (AP Photo / Xinhua, Feng Ming)
The global economic slowdown is causing far-reaching and unexpected repercussions upon the international art scene. In a recent New York Times column, Thomas L. Friedman explores how the U.S. housing collapse has impacted the Chinese art village of Dafen:
I had no idea that many of those oil paintings that hang in hotel rooms and starter homes across America are actually produced by just one Chinese village, Dafen, north of Hong Kong. And I had no idea that Dafen’s artist colony — the world’s leading center for mass-produced artwork and knockoffs of masterpieces — had been devastated by the bursting of the U.S. housing bubble.
The Dafen “art factory village” outside Shenzhen, in southern China, has transformed painting into a $36 million industry. It’s estimated “60 percent of the world’s cheap oil paintings” are produced within the town’s 4 square kilometers. A good painter can crank out up to 30 pieces a day: Monet’s, Van Goghs, or more generic scenes like nudes and military poses. One of the biggest operations, Shenzhen Artlover Ltd., state they wish to “get into the business of oil paintings the way McDonald’s got into the business of fast food.”
Accoridng to DafenArtOnline:
DAFEN Artist Village is located in Buji Town, ShenZhen, China. It is reputed as China First Artist Village and China Best Culture Industry Base, which gathers numerous professional artists from all over China and provides excellent culture environment for art creation. For the time being, there are more than 2000 talented artists, 10,000 junior painters and 300 painting-ateliers gathering in the village. The number of artists is still increasing with the growing reputation of village. These artists are cultivating their own style in the inspiriting culture environment and made Dafen Artist Village become the most concentrative base for painting arts in the world. Unofficial statistics show that the oil paintings from Dafen Artist Village have occupied up to 50% of commercial oil painting market in US.
Are these paintings forgeries, or mere copies or facsimiles? Apparently the distinction can be found in the artist’s intention. If art forgery involves the creation and sale of art that is falsely attributed to be work of another, usually more famous, artist, then no, the Chinese artists are not forgers.
Indeed, copying the paintings of the masters has long been a important aspect of an artist’s training. At one time almost all art students were required and encouraged to do this. And most masters of old themselves copied the art of other masters, the better to discover and learn the techniques used. What’s new here is the scale of the enterprise, which brings all the efficiencies of the industrial revolution to the art world.
[One] businessman is dreaming of industrial mass production, complete with assembly lines. The creation of every painting would be divided into standardized production stages. [He] wants to ‘get into the business of oil paintings the way McDonalds got into the business of fast food.’ By the end of the year, he wants to have set up an art school for training talented new painters — even if mass production doesn’t require all that much talent.
The numbers are mind boggling. An estimated 60% of the world’s cheap oil paintings are produced in Dafen, with Chinese paintings comprising 50% of the commercial oil painting market in the US. The appeal is understandable: for $40 you can purchase an actual hand-made painting of good quality. Although as the product of an assembly-line aetelier, the artwork may be lacking that “spirit” or “heart” that only the dedicated artist can provide. Art as fast food? The reference to McDonalds may be useful: compare a mass-produced hamburger to a hand-crafted, artisan burger.
Of course, at this point, all these plans may change as the decline in the housing market reduces the demand for cheap Chinese reproductions.
And that may be a good thing since these cheap knock-offs pull market share away from American artists. Unfortunately the same market conditions may well reduce the demand for American artworks.
Image source: Workshop of the world, fine arts division
~MadSilence
10 Comments
January 7, 2009 at 1:40 am
That is, indeed, mind boggling. I had no idea such a place (and such a market) existed. Except maybe for those fluffy Thomas Kincaid paintings. Anyway, thanks for the mind-expanding post!
January 7, 2009 at 4:09 am
This is both surreal and sad. On another note, when my children were little, they loved those heavy plastic animals from China. I was always astonished at the incredible quality of the clearly hand-painted features of the animals selling for a couple of dollars. They were each very slightly different, and I always wondered who painted them and felt guilty we were paying so little for them.
January 7, 2009 at 8:57 am
Amazing! I never will look at another painting hanging in a hotel room without remembering Dafen. Thanks for sharing this information.
January 7, 2009 at 9:08 am
WE had a local non art related business buy some and use them as a means to be included in the art strolls, ugh! He couldn’t understand why some locals were miffed he couldn’t showcase local artwork (which is plenty in a community of artists).
Sometimes I just want to give up! Of course I can’t, I seem compelled to create on a daily basis whether it is marketable or not lol!
60%, I knew about Dafen, but wow, that is just an incredible percentage.
January 7, 2009 at 10:19 am
Now hold on, Sweetfern! I’ll have no negative comments on Thomas Kincaid. He’s an American success story.
And QS, surreal, yes, but sad? Sounds like an American success story, Chinese-style. Actually this story should resonate with many contemporary artists–economic success has become a defining element of contemporary art.
Tobeme, we have a regular art fair held at the local Marriott, where you can buy real oil paintings, cheap. Made in China, of course. To me, the art “feels” very different than the art I find a local art sales.
Jafabrit, your “local non art related business” exhibits great artistic & marketing creativity. Please don’t give up. It’s what’s in people’s hearts & homes that matters, not what’s in the hotel or office.
January 8, 2009 at 4:32 am
I know China have great artists and replicating anothers’ work for mass production (as they always do) is no problem. If they are not the ones doing it, then somebody will. It use to be a very exciting experience to actually see original paintings especially at the museum. After all the machine printing, the thrill was not there but it is good to own a piece of history even if it is not the real thing. Thanks for sharing such info.
January 8, 2009 at 8:58 am
What I would like to do is speak to one of the 2,000 talented artists who can crank out 30 paintings a day. How does he/she feel about that? How long until they burn out? What about their own art? When do they have the time to crank out their own? Are they even in the mood to pick up a brush after a grueling day like that?
Sounds like Dafen is an art sweat-shop. Shocking.
January 12, 2009 at 12:34 am
I do take some thought to culture issues, here. I know that the west sees forgery as bad, but that good copying has been an up-front aspect of our culture. I like to copy good art, but it never gets sold.
It is when the man (usually I don’t say the nationality – but you have revealed it here) with the video camera comes strolling through the aisle at the art fair that I get my dander up. This is theft, and we are well aware of it!
January 15, 2009 at 1:21 am
Sugali, you’re correct, there’s no real harm in replicating artworks, as long as they’re not represented as “the real thing” (counterfeits). If the replicas compete with the original works of American artists, then the artists may have to adjust to the demands of the marketplace. The copies are cheap!
Erika, from what I’ve read, some of the Chinese art factories operate like a Ford auto plant: a conveyor belt of canvas that moves slowly past an army of artists, each responsible to paint a single tree, or mountain, or pair of eyes, etc. Of course the work may pay well…
Copying the art of the masters has long been part of an artist’s education, as Casey points out. Of course that doesn’t appear to be the situation in China. Casey, what do you mean by “the man…with the video camera?” Don’t artists always borrow & learn from one another?
Thanks for the comments all. MadSilence to&w
January 21, 2009 at 10:55 am
It is a violation of copyright if the works are still protected. I don’t know if China follows international copyright laws though. I don’t think they could use parody as a defense either since these works are direct copies with no visual commentary added. Basically any art work that is 70 years or older is fair game if the artist has been dead for 70 years or so. Problems happen when they mass reproduce protected works of living artists.
They don’t just paint. Some use press machines that put the basic image on the canvas at which point several artists will do touch-ups to the image. Really though, as long as they are using images that are legal for them to use they are not doing anything wrong. All kinds of work is mass reproduced– even in the US.
I would not worry about it unless they use one of your works. Most of the people who buy reproductions are the not the people who would buy original art in the first place. The buyers of reproductions are more concerned about decoration than the value of exploring an individual artist. My observation– and I will stick to it.