MANY artists in Dafen Oil Painting Village, Longgang District, are rumored to be moving out of the village in the hopes of a better future.

    Although the rumor has not yet been confirmed by the management department of the village, it has already become one of the hottest issues among art circles in the city for some time, according to the Southern Metropolis Daily.

    A “China oil painting industry distribution center” was opened in Jiangxi Province in August, which is said to potentially house many of the young artists and oil painters presently in Dafen.

    Although it is difficult for a newly built art center to take over Dafen’s status as “China’s No.1 oil painting village” in such a short period of time, concerns are still being raised around the transformation and future of Dafen, the world’s largest mass production base for oil paintings.

    Sense of belonging

    Founded in the 1990s, Dafen Oil Painting Village is home to thousands of artists across the country. They specialize in making large numbers of replicas of oil paintings by masters such as Van Gogh, Dali, da Vinci, Rembrandt and Warhol.

    The artists manufacture some 60 percent of the total global volume in so-called “knock-off” canvases, and many of these artists have trained in these techniques at Chinese art academies.

    However, problems have been raised in the art village.

    “On the one hand, the industrial chain is not completed in the village, and most of the studios are traditional processing and manufacturing factories, so artists here have very low incomes. On the other hand, the community environment is also not very developed, so many residents here do not feel like it’s home,” a Dafen artist, who declined to be identified, told the newspaper.

    “The rent is too high, but the painting prices are low. Shenzhen’s development of artistic and cultural markets is not yet mature,” said an artist, only identified as Siman, in Dafen.

    In fact, this is not the first time that there have been rumors speculating Dafen to be losing its lure to young artists. At year-ends of 2006, 2008 and 2009, large groups of artists were said to have left the village for a better life.

    “Every time the painting market goes down, a lot of painters will leave the village for other places. The village should do something such as upgrading when the market is down, otherwise artists have to leave the village to make their living,” an art critic said.

    New center in cheaper area

    In the past, many artists left Dafen for major cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, but they still had to face problems such as high rent and living expenses. However, the newly built “China oil painting industry distribution center” in Shangrao, a rural area in Jiangxi Province, is now the most popular choice for these “run-away” artists.

    “This is a convenient spot and the Ganzhou airport is only about 25 minutes away by car,” said Chen Zirong, well-known Chinese painter and founder of the center.

    The center has a total investment of more than 2 billion yuan (US$325 million) and can receive more than 3,000 oil painters and more than 1,600 related stores. It also has advantages such as natural scenery, garden landscapes, art displays, cultural communication, training, logistical services and residential areas.

    “We hope to attract painters from Dafen, Putian and Xiamen to seek a transformation here,” Chen said.

    So far, more than 180 young painters who used to live in Dafen have already started their new lives in the center, while about 300 have agreed to move to the center soon, Chen said.

    “It is nice here. Jiangxi Province is closer to my hometown and is cheaper than living in Shenzhen,” said a new resident in the center. “The scenery and environment here are nice, too. I can paint my own works here,” a former Shenzhen painter surnamed Liu told the Southern Metropolis Daily

    Transformation of Dafen

    Although it seems like some other new art centers are rising, it does not mean the end of Dafen, said Sun Zhenhua, president of the Shenzhen Institute of Sculpture and art director of the Public Art Center.

    “Migration of artists is a common thing in art circles, and it is impossible to keep them in some kind of ‘center’ or ‘industrial base.’ Industrial bases are always built to serve things like industries, processing and replicas,” Sun said. “True art has no boundaries. You can create and paint in any place you want. The gathering places for true artists are often selected and changed casually in cities.”

    Sun thinks that the public should not worry too much about the artists in Dafen moving to other cities. “Artists choosing to live in an area which better suits them is common and a good thing. It is not a big deal in art circles,” he said.

    However, Sun also thinks that it is a chance for the village to rethink upgrading and further development. “Dafen has always been labeled a mass production place for replicas and a place lacking in original creations. Lack of innovation is a serious problem for the village and cannot be solved in a short period of time,” he said. “This also tells us that the current system has problems and the management department of the village should take more action to improve the current situation for long-term development.”

    (Wang Yuanyuan)