Dafen (town of painting replicas)
Encyclopedia
Buji
Buji is a town inLonggang District,Shenzhen Municipality,Guangdong Province, China.Bu Ji literally means "Cloth Lucky" in Chinese.Historically, it was located in the Sin On District of the Canton Province of South China....
, Longgang
Longgang
Longgang may refer to the following locations in mainland China or Taiwan:*Longgang District, Huludao , Liaoning*Longgang District, Shenzhen , Guangdong*Longgang Station , railway station in Miaoli County, Taiwan...
, Shenzhen
Shenzhen
Shenzhen is a major city in the south of Southern China's Guangdong Province, situated immediately north of Hong Kong. The area became China's first—and one of the most successful—Special Economic Zones...
in Guangdong
Guangdong
Guangdong is a province on the South China Sea coast of the People's Republic of China. The province was previously often written with the alternative English name Kwangtung Province...
province, China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
. In the early 1990s a group of about twenty artists under the leadership of the painter and businessman Huang Jiang took up residence in this town. They specialised in the making of large numbers of replicas of oil painting
Oil painting
Oil painting is the process of painting with pigments that are bound with a medium of drying oil—especially in early modern Europe, linseed oil. Often an oil such as linseed was boiled with a resin such as pine resin or even frankincense; these were called 'varnishes' and were prized for their body...
s by masters such as Van Gogh
Vincent van Gogh
Vincent Willem van Gogh , and used Brabant dialect in his writing; it is therefore likely that he himself pronounced his name with a Brabant accent: , with a voiced V and palatalized G and gh. In France, where much of his work was produced, it is...
, Dalí
Salvador Dalí
Salvador Domènec Felip Jacint Dalí i Domènech, Marquis de Púbol , commonly known as Salvador Dalí , was a prominent Spanish Catalan surrealist painter born in Figueres,Spain....
, da Vinci
Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci was an Italian Renaissance polymath: painter, sculptor, architect, musician, scientist, mathematician, engineer, inventor, anatomist, geologist, cartographer, botanist and writer whose genius, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance...
, Rembrandt or Warhol
Andy Warhol
Andrew Warhola , known as Andy Warhol, was an American painter, printmaker, and filmmaker who was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art...
These replicas were sold in many countries for relatively low prices. The endeavor was quite successful and the demand for replicas increased. In order to fulfill the demand more and more artists took up residence and started to make a living, the estimate (2006) being in the thousands.
Many of the artists are trained at art academies in the required techniques and produce dozens of replicas daily.
The official policy states that these replicas are of paintings of artists who have died more than seventy years ago and consequently out of copyright
Copyright
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
. An obvious exception to this would be Andy Warhol (cited above) who died in 1987, and Dalí, who died in 1989.
The only requirement is that it is made clear that these paintings are replicas. Currently, 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.
See Also
- Sanlian Crystal & Jade Culture Village
- Dafen StationDafen StationDafen Station is a station of Longgang Line, Shenzhen Metro. It was opened at Dec 28, 2010. It is located in Shenhui Road near the Kangda'er Garden.-Station layout:- Exits :-External links:* * *...
, Longgang LineLonggang Line, Shenzhen MetroLonggang Line of Shenzhen Metro in first phrase it runs northeastward from Yitian to Shuanglong. Longgang Line opened December 28, 2010. It also has an unofficial name Universide Line because it connected the playground about Universide and the center of Shenzhen.-Current Stations:-References:...
, Shenzhen MetroShenzhen MetroThe Shenzhen Metro is the subway or underground system for the city of Shenzhen in Guangdong province, China. The system opened on 28 December 2004, making Shenzhen the seventh city in mainland China to have a subway after Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Dalian, and Wuhan. The Shenzhen...
External links
- Chicago Tribune: Chinese village paints by incredible numbers.
- Demand grows for Chinese fake art", "Al Jazeera - 30th August, 2010"]
- "China to the Rescue? Not!", by Thomas L. Friedman, The New York Times, December 20, 2008