From Imitation to Creation
The inspiring journey of a south China village to the world stage of art
Asmall Chinese village with no initial connection to Western art has risen to become one of the world’s leading producers of oil paintings. It may seem surreal, but it is the reality at Dafen Village in Shenzhen, south China’s Guangdong Province. Originally populated by 300 inhabitants and covering an area of 0.4 square km, it is now home to more than 1,200 studios, employing over 8,000 painters.
The “Van Gogh of China”
Located at the gateway to the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Shenzhen is a manufacturing and technology powerhouse. In 1980, a year after it set off for development, the Chinese Government established the country’s first special economic zone here to promote economic reform and opening up. Huang Jiang, a Hong Kong-born art dealer and ambitious businessman, was attracted by Shenzhen’s preferential policies and cheap labor at that time. In 1989, he chose Dafen as the location for his company, which specializes in the manufacturing and overseas marketing of oil paintings. Since then, the art business of the village has boomed. Thousands of people with no formal art education have flocked to Dafen to learn the techniques needed to produce imitation works of Western masterpieces.
Zhao Xiaoyong followed this wave in 1996. He settled in Dafen where he learned all the basics of oil painting. This former farmer reproduces Vincent van Gogh’s paintings, including Sunflowers and Almond Blossom, based on a painting album. His first copies were sold in 1999 when an American buyer placed an order for 20 of them. More orders came later from abroad, prompting him to recruit apprentices. Zhao and his team worked day and night, painting a maximum of eight canvases each day, with prices for copies ranging from 200 yuan
to 3,000 yuan ($31-$468) each depending on the size. Twenty years down the road, Zhao has made more than 100,000 copies of the Dutch painter’s works, earning his nickname the “Van Gogh of China.”
Like Zhao’s background, Dafen’s art business was initially based on selling reproductions of famous paintings. Many were shipped to Europe and the U.S. By 2005, 70 percent of the oil paintings on the Western market were produced in China, and Dafen accounted for 80 percent of them. Dafen’s painters made it possible for many Westerners to obtain replicas of masterpieces at affordable prices.
Long march to originality
After it became known as the “masterpiece copy factory,” Dafen wanted to break out of this cliché at all costs. In 2004, the local government set up an arts management office. “We offer assistance without participating in commercial operations,” said Liu Yajing, Director of the office. Recognizing the village’s potential, the government invested in infrastructure and sought to improve its environment. They provide basic housing for talented artists to facilitate their settlement in the area.
Chen Qiuzhi is one of the painters in the village who have turned to innovation due to the slowdown in their overseas market following the 2008 financial crisis. He abandoned low-end reproduction and tried to develop his own style, combining painting and Chinese calligraphy. Ten years of hard work has brought him fame with his works dominating in the auction markets. Today, a single one of his works is worth tens of thousands of yuan, nearly 100 times the value of the replicas he painted in the past. “Only through creation can one become a known painter,” he said. His comment was echoed by Zhao: “Reproduction gets me nowhere. I will pursue the path of creation both for the market and for my dream as a true artist.”
More than 300 artists in Dafen now focus on producing their own artworks. “There are not many of them, but they influence and stimulate artistic creativity in Dafen,” Liu said. In 2017, the annual output value of the village reached 4.15 billion yuan ($647 million), of which 20 to 30 percent was from original works.
Changing with the times
Faced with financial difficulties, Dafen knows how to bend but never give in. Last year, the COVID-19 pandemic sent the world economy into recession. The people of Dafen have once again managed to escape a disastrous financial wreck, thanks to e-commerce.
“Most of my income last year came from online sales,” said Xiao Shuihui, an oil painter in Dafen. He opened his studio in the village in 2013. For him, it’s the perfect place to start a business. “We can use convenient express services to have the oil paintings delivered to buyers.”
While e-commerce seemed to take a back seat in his business at the beginning, it is already playing an essential role now. As a result of the epidemic, his monthly income dropped to 10,000 yuan ($1,559) in the first few months of 2020, down from 30,000 yuan ($4,677) in 2019. He then began to attach greater importance to e-commerce, managing to maintain his previous standard of living.
Dafen has been exploring e-commerce since 2012. There are currently more than 2,500 online stores on Tmall, Taobao and Jd.com for Dafen’s workshops. The total annual output of the village was estimated at 4.1 billion yuan ($639 million) in 2020, of which 2.34 billion yuan ($365 million) was generated by online sales, up 30 percent year on year.
Much is being written about the future of Dafen. A fine arts museum, a theater, a training center and a hotel are being built to make the village a tourist site focusing on all aspects of oil painting.
For her part, Feng Jianmei, an art dealer based in Dafen since 2002, had a residence built in January 2018 dedicated to international artists. Since then, it has attracted 207 artists from 14 countries who have stayed there for one to three months, devoting themselves to creating artworks and exchanging ideas with local artists. “I hope the village will become a world-renowned art haven,” she said. CA
Reproduction gets me nowhere. I will pursue the path of creation both for the market and for my dream as a true artist. ZHAO XIAOYONG A painter in Dafen