Paul Heintz, à Shenzen, et tout le monde est occupé, 2019

ink and watercolor on paper, diptych
29.7 x 21 cm, 34.5 x 26 cm framed

In the suburbs of Shenzhen in China, the Dafen Oil Painting Village is renowned for its specialty: the replica of master paintings. In the Dafen Oil Painting Village, 8,000 copyist artists organize themselves in companies and workshops to mass produce up to 5 million paintings per year. Individually, in small or large series, these copies of the great masters are generally sold on the internet and are found hung in interiors all over the world. Who are the painters of Dafen? In the age of globalized trade, offshoring, networks, what are their conceptions of art?
This is what motivated the artist Paul Heintz’s remote encounter with Wang Shiping who lives in Dafen, where he is a replica painter, and is the same age as Paul Heintz. They start a correspondence of paintings and drawings between France and China and converse by instant messaging.

Paul Heintz, à Shenzen, et tout le monde est occupé, 2019

ink and watercolor on paper, diptych
29.7 x 21 cm, 34.5 x 26 cm framed

In the suburbs of Shenzhen in China, the Dafen Oil Painting Village is renowned for its specialty: the replica of master paintings. In the Dafen Oil Painting Village, 8,000 copyist artists organize themselves in companies and workshops to mass produce up to 5 million paintings per year. Individually, in small or large series, these copies of the great masters are generally sold on the internet and are found hung in interiors all over the world. Who are the painters of Dafen? In the age of globalized trade, offshoring, networks, what are their conceptions of art?
This is what motivated the artist Paul Heintz’s remote encounter with Wang Shiping who lives in Dafen, where he is a replica painter, and is the same age as Paul Heintz. They start a correspondence of paintings and drawings between France and China and converse by instant messaging.

Paul Heintz, à Shenzen, et tout le monde est occupé, 2019

ink and watercolor on paper, diptych
29.7 x 21 cm, 34.5 x 26 cm framed

In the suburbs of Shenzhen in China, the Dafen Oil Painting Village is renowned for its specialty: the replica of master paintings. In the Dafen Oil Painting Village, 8,000 copyist artists organize themselves in companies and workshops to mass produce up to 5 million paintings per year. Individually, in small or large series, these copies of the great masters are generally sold on the internet and are found hung in interiors all over the world. Who are the painters of Dafen? In the age of globalized trade, offshoring, networks, what are their conceptions of art?
This is what motivated the artist Paul Heintz’s remote encounter with Wang Shiping who lives in Dafen, where he is a replica painter, and is the same age as Paul Heintz. They start a correspondence of paintings and drawings between France and China and converse by instant messaging.