Where is Dafen 大芬 Dàfēn Art Village. ARTists, Con ARTists or ART workers

I finally made it to Dafen Art village last weekend. It is in fact a hop, skip, and a jump from Hong Kong. I am surprised that there are no organized tour trips to go there from Hong Kong, as it is a pleasant way to spend a day.

You can take the MTR to Kowloon town and then switch to the train to the border crossing of Lo Wu. After crossing the boarder into China (don't forget you need a visa, which takes 1/2 an hour to get one at the boarder) you can grab a metered taxi from the taxi stand for 36 rnb. The gypsy cabs charge 150RNB.

Art workers is the best definition of the residence of Dafen Village. Come to think of it, it is really not a village but a district that was set up in the 1990's by the enterprising business man Huang Jiang.

I think that the difference between art worker and artist is creativity. The art workers are not creative. I asked that if they would make some changes to picture which I showed them and they said no. They can only copy/replicate a picture that you provide. I noticed that frequently they will lightly print a copy of whatever it is to be copied onto a canvas, and then paint over the copy with oil paint.

The workers may not be creative but they certainly are talented. I am sure that they are artists among the works but it hard to know who is who.

etching

This worker was using a sharp utensil to scratch these horses to life. Maybe he is a true artist as it is hard to copy such a technique.

I passed by this workers several time throughout the day and he was diligently working on this art piece.

postcard art

Extra large canvas.
The lightly pre-printed canvases allow the workers not to worry about proportions and depth. It really is glorified professional paint by numbers.

ART GARBAGE

coy art to copy cat

SUNRISE ART CENTER

Be sure to vista the Sunrise Art Center. The round doorways are gorgeous and the cool interior courtyards are a nice place to sip a coffee.

Reclaimed ship timbers are used throughout the Art space.

Part of the center feels like an archaeological dig site.

Outside view of the sunrise Art center.

A Vincent Van Gogh...I don't think so........

snow mountain
I bought this oil painting. It looks abstract but on closer inspection it is a snow covered mountain. Cost 250 rnb. I paid an extra 80 rnb to have it framed. I have no idea if it is a copy or not. It just appealed to me.

Working out the deal
This guy says he is an authentic artist. His assistant is in the background as is his art. it really was gorgeous

650 rnb