
The Lives of China’s Art Factory Workers - chrischen
https://www.instapainting.com/blog/the-secret-lives-of-china-art-factory-workers/
======
sologoub
At the low end of the spectrum, thanks to this mass produced "art", it's
almost impossible to find anything painted by local artists in places like
Paris, unless you go for the galleries, and even though I'm not sure it's all
legit.

People will literally pretend to paint in public places, but then you walk a
few more blocks and the same half-done painting is being "painted" and the
same "portfolio" is being offered. Even in places that are being billed as
being for local artists only.

I really hope that we can someday return to quality and authenticity from just
quantity.

~~~
xster
I don't know anything from painting and never thought about painting or buying
paintings so I don't really have any context. Is the main antagonism against
this phenomenon that:

a- It's not local? b- It's not one of a kind / unique? c- It's of lower
artistic production quality? d- There's deceit?

From my rough uncultured perspective, if I ever somehow thought I wanted to
decorate my home and went out to buy something, only (c) has any real meaning
I'd think.

In other words, is it ok if I'm eating a banana from somewhere that can grow
banana en masse rather than a banana grown in my backyard?

If not, are people mainly objecting to the fact that the mass produced bananas
are inferior (and this is true more often than not) or is it because of other
reasons.

~~~
specialist
Re supporting the arts: Methinks its about the story (narrative). Authenicity
has its own value.

Source: My SO is establishing herself as a working artist.

~~~
xster
Is it because authenticity leads to a better artistic production value or is
authenticity an end to itself?

I hope I'm not being insensitive or flippant. I'm just hoping these
discussions leads to some sort of insight or solution. It's definitely super
educational for me.

In other words, if 2 actors are playing this super emotional scene with equal
artistic expression and actor A can do it well because he deeply connects with
the characters experience and channels his own life's pains and struggles
through the expression and actor B can't relate at all with the character but
just trained super hard to be able to play any sort of role, is actor B a less
desirable path for people wanting to become an actor?

I realize it's a bit of a wonky analogy because the painter in this case is
both the actor and the screenwriter. Just trying to figure out if self
conviction is a means to an end or an end to itself.

~~~
specialist
I don't know. Maybe try something I do: First "cold read" the artwork, then
learn about it, then look at it all again. I'm very amused when my
appreciation of the artwork changes based on context, for better or worse.

------
justchilly
Another interesting change that’s happening, that this article omits, is that
artists/factories are able to reach customers directly on Alibaba/Amazon/Etsy.
A few years it would have required visiting artists/factories Daifen to get
things rolling. It’s a bummer to see the impact FAANG are having on
startups... but in this case they may actually be helping poor artists keep a
bigger share of the revenue.

Sites such as Instapainting.com / Paintyourlife.com (endless options/higher
prices) / Oilbyhand.com (few options/lower prices) / pixeli.st (good UX) still
have the advantage of focus and marketing (and customer support?), but the
actual products they deliver are likely the same as you’d get directly from
the artists.

Link to Alibaba search:
[https://www.alibaba.com/trade/search?fsb=y&IndexArea=product...](https://www.alibaba.com/trade/search?fsb=y&IndexArea=product_en&CatId=&SearchText=oil+on+canvas+reproduction)

~~~
chrischen
Actually Instapainting is the only one that operates more like Etsy. You're
put directly in contact with the artist, studio, or China company with some
guarantees made by Instapainting that you won't get screwed over.

------
traverseda
>If you’re coming from Hacker News, I appreciate an up-vote if you find this
article interesting.

That doesn't seem like something we should encourage.

------
pierrebai
Nice marketo-move to push this up HN just before the holiday buying season to
promote your company and boost sales.

~~~
bluetwo
Shhhh..... they've done this dozens of times here.

~~~
inetsee
It seems to work. This same blog post was listed on HN two days ago. It got
one upvote (might have been mine, I'm a sucker for articles on art, however
obscure). The re-post has gotten 88 votes in seven hours.

~~~
chrischen
We play around with the title to see what gets picked up.

------
dmix
Are there any good sites for getting well done replicas of paintings by famous
artists? I found a few great paintings I have bookmarked and I've been meaning
to get a real oil-painted replica from China...

This is obviously a content-marketing post by instapainting and keeps linking
back to it's own site (with interesting content none-the-less, there is value
in this approach when they try like this). But I'm interested in finding one
related more to the subject matter. Where they recreate the classics...

~~~
chrischen
We use our special position in the industry to gain access inside. We also
have this article that talked more about the factories:
[https://www.instapainting.com/blog/company/2015/10/28/how-
to...](https://www.instapainting.com/blog/company/2015/10/28/how-to-
paint-10000-paintings/)

This year's article focuses mostly on the art workers and their thoughts and
opinions.

~~~
dmix
Fair enough, I noted there's nothing wrong with content marketing if the
content is interesting, but my comment was about my interest in specific sites
that sell these paintings. As I want to buy one. Rather than the factories
that produce them. If you know any that would be helpful. Unless you also sell
them? Thanks.

------
DanAndersen
Several years ago, when I was working abroad in China, I saw an excellent
exhibit at the Hong Kong Museum of Art that discussed the origins of the world
of "Chinese export art." It's interesting to realize that what the article is
describing has been around for quite some time.

Here are a few posts I found showing some of the more historical export art:

[https://dreaminhkbubbles.wordpress.com/2012/11/16/chinese-
ex...](https://dreaminhkbubbles.wordpress.com/2012/11/16/chinese-export-
painting-from-mid-to-late-qing-dynasty/)

[https://dreaminhkbubbles.wordpress.com/2012/11/17/first-
stag...](https://dreaminhkbubbles.wordpress.com/2012/11/17/first-stage-of-
artistic-inclusion-of-the-east-and-west/)

[https://dreaminhkbubbles.wordpress.com/2012/11/18/details-
sh...](https://dreaminhkbubbles.wordpress.com/2012/11/18/details-showed-in-
the-exhibition-of-the-artistic-inclusion-of-the-east-and-west/)

------
pan69
Could it be that some of these painters might become the Rembrandts of the
future?

I mean, in Rembrandt's time, painters painted on commission and their
paintings weren't nearly as valuable as they are today. Back then, what they
we're doing was pretty much craft, not art per-se.

Of course, not all painters from Rembrandt time became huge sellers in the
future...

~~~
dmix
Is there still a market for Rembrandts today? This type of high volume work
might not provide the large amounts of time it would take to be a great
artist.

I'm curious if this type of art is similar to journalism where the market
dynamics have changed. Art is still very popular of course but to get the
genius 1% you need a wide swatch of artists and I'd imagine this used to be a
far more popular painting in Europe back when the classic painters were
dominating.

------
gumby
Another industry waiting to be disrupted by a combination of robots & AI, so
these paintings can be produced automatically every corner of the globe.

Actually this would make a pretty good YC submission.

~~~
chrischen
We got that already:
[https://www.instapainting.com/blog/research/2015/09/10/robot...](https://www.instapainting.com/blog/research/2015/09/10/robotic-
painter-color/)

------
Paskov
There is a documentary on this subject, named "China's Van Goghs".

