Unidentified Acts of Design: The Painters/Dafen Village

Unidentified Acts of Design is an exhibition and series of eight films made for the 2015 Shenzhen Urbanism\Architecture Biennale. The films explore different places in the Pearl River Delta where design is taking on new forms and meaning, with a focus on the people at the forefront of these changes.
In the early 1990s a group of painters moved to Dafen Village, a small enclave on the outskirts of Shenzhen, to set up business making reproduction paintings. The village and its environs has now attracted 10,000 painters from all around China looking to try their hand at commercial painting. For many, Dafen has been an opportunity to earn a living while perfecting a craft. To facilitate the production of hundreds of thousands of paintings each year, the area has evolved into a complex production unit, with various people undertaking different functions, from frame assembly to internet sales.
Find out more about Unidentified Acts of Design and the V&A's work in China vam.ac.uk/shekou

[@martinefuguet7456]

Merci beaucoup pour la qualité de production et de la réflexion de ces artistes . Il est en effet urgent que le système financier bouge. Comment pouvons nous aider au mouvement. Merci

[@takingoutthetrash1512]

they are damn good... props to them, they have a real talent

[@honsville]

So what is the website to view and order the paintings?

[@beritbranch2436]

very difficult to to read sub titles-I agree nice music-could you put the white writing on black back ground? would help

[@petersmith1840]

what is the piano music ?

[@Dallas-Nyberg]

The majority of these artists, are painting exact copies of other artist's work.. they have no respect for anyone's copyright ... they are merely creating forgeries to make a quick buck... they suck.

[@seanarthur8392]

Individually they have nothing personal or original to say, which is sad, or they do, but are afraid to express themselves.

[@vetteseller5]

It’s not forgery when it’s not being sold as an original, these are merely copies so art lovers can enjoy a hand made painting in their home. And copyright law makes a lot of these older paintings, public domain.

[@azuaraikrezeul1677]

@@seanarthur8392 why don't you ask them if they have originals? i bet you wouldn't even ask that. art snobs like are the reason people look down on artists.

[@JindodogNewYork]

I never understood why they copy other artist’s artworks, but after watching these documentary, I understood why they copy other artists works. It’s not art for them. It’s for living for them. The clients pay these artists so little money but the clients sell them much more expensive in Europe or USA. It’s a very sad capitalism situation and now I feel bad for them. It’s so unfair for these artists. Most white clients only make money.