Dafen Village

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Studio in Dafen
Dafen Oil Painting Village entrance sign

Dafen (Chinese: 大芬; pinyin: Dàfēn; Jyutping: daai6 fan1) is a suburb of Buji, Longgang, Shenzhen in Guangdong province, China. Since 1989, the area has been an artist village for the production of replicas of masterworks and outsourcing of original art creation as a specialised urban cottage industry with 7000 artists.[1]

History[]

In 1989 the painter Huang Jiang started copying paintings and has since been considered the founder of Dafen s replica industry.[2] In the early 1990s a group of about twenty artists who trained at art academies took up residence under the leadership of businessman Huang Jiang. They produced dozens of replicas daily of oil paintings by masters such as Van Gogh, Dalí, Leonardo da Vinci, Rembrandt and Warhol.[3] In the 1990´s he sent a painting to Walmart and received an order of 50,000 paintings which he had to produce within 14 days.[4]

After the financial crisis, Western demand declined and domestic buyers ordered Chinese art copies, forcing a change in style.[5] As of 2014, 7000 artists were working in Dafen, living and working in the factories, copying paintings and 5 million paintings are being exported to the US and Europe per year. Some can finish 100 paintings in 12 hours.[2] In 2018, 8000 people lived in Dafen, and local government threatened to develop it into tourist destination.[5]

A 2019 publication estimated the Dafen area produced a revenue of around $630 million annually. Previously talent was needed in the production , but the village has innovated with "large scale printers and clusters of tablets and phones used for templating" so that minimal training is required and brokered a deal with Alibaba.[6]

Replicas[]

The official policy states that these replicas are of paintings of artists who have died more than fifty years ago and consequently out of copyright, although the artists copied include Georgia O'Keeffe, who died in 1986.[7] Knockoffs of contemporary artists such as Botero and Yue Minjun are also sold.[3]

The village sells both originals and replicas. It is possible to commission paintings for low prices. The village is a gated development, recognizable by the large sculpture of a hand holding a paintbrush outside its gates.[citation needed]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "Why Not Outsource All Your Art Ideas to China". Crave. 22 March 2016.
  2. ^ a b "Galileo - Die größte Fälscherstadt in China" (in German). 15 January 2014. Retrieved 22 January 2022.
  3. ^ a b "Workshop of the world, fine arts division", theatlantic.com (2007)
  4. ^ Paetsch, Martin (21 August 2006). "Chinesisches Kunst-Werk: Van Goghs vom Fließband". Der Spiegel (in German). ISSN 2195-1349. Retrieved 22 January 2022.
  5. ^ a b Staff (18 February 2018). "Dafen oil painting village: The world's art factory". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 23 January 2022.
  6. ^ Judova, Jenny (May 2019). "Economic Lessons from China's Secret Art Factory". Art Map London. Retrieved 23 January 2022.
  7. ^ Osnos, Evan (13 February 2007). "Chinese village paints by incredible numbers". Chicago Tribune. - Lu Jingxian contributed

Further reading[]

External links[]

Coordinates: 22°36′34″N 114°08′14″E / 22.60944°N 114.13722°E / 22.60944; 114.13722

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