Painters brushed aside in cleanup campaign
By Wang Qingchu |
March 1, 2011, Tuesday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
ARTISTS who display their oil paintings on the exterior walls of buildings in southern China's Dafen Village will soon need to find other places to sell their works as the local government pledged to ban the practice to brush up its image before the coming Universiade, Guangzhou Morning Post reported yesterday.
Dafen, a suburb in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, is the world's biggest production center of art replicas. Thousands of artists and dealers rent shops or exterior walls on buildings to display and sell oil paintings.
However, the Shenzhen government has pledged to clean up the city's environment before the 26th Universiade, the Olympiad for university students, which the city will host from August 12 to 23. Oil paintings hung on the walls of buildings are considered illegal and need to be removed, the report said.
Zhou Yiyan rents a wall next to a major street in Dafen. He sits there during the day and sells paintings for a living. Hundreds of painters do likewise.
Renting a wall is much cheaper than a shop. The monthly rent for a 20-square-meter wall is 800 yuan (US$122) while that for a shop more than doubles to 2,000 yuan, a painter told the newspaper.
"Artists who rent walls mainly sell to domestic buyers," Cao Shouyong, a painter who rents a 32-square-meter wall in Dafen, was quoted as saying.
Cao doesn't understand why the government suddenly wants to prohibit the practice and he disagrees with the explanation that hanging oil paintings on walls is an eyesore, the report said.
All painters received a notice on February 24 stating illegal structures, rain shields and ad banners would be removed.
An urban management officer surnamed Kong told the newspaper the illegal structures are a safety threat as they block fire passages.
Kong added that they were not removed before because they didn't have enough staff and resources, not because they were legal.
"It's a good opportunity to completely wipe out the practice before the Universiade," Kong was quoted as saying. "This will protect the interests of the majority of painters who rent shops."
Dafen, a suburb in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, is the world's biggest production center of art replicas. Thousands of artists and dealers rent shops or exterior walls on buildings to display and sell oil paintings.
However, the Shenzhen government has pledged to clean up the city's environment before the 26th Universiade, the Olympiad for university students, which the city will host from August 12 to 23. Oil paintings hung on the walls of buildings are considered illegal and need to be removed, the report said.
Zhou Yiyan rents a wall next to a major street in Dafen. He sits there during the day and sells paintings for a living. Hundreds of painters do likewise.
Renting a wall is much cheaper than a shop. The monthly rent for a 20-square-meter wall is 800 yuan (US$122) while that for a shop more than doubles to 2,000 yuan, a painter told the newspaper.
"Artists who rent walls mainly sell to domestic buyers," Cao Shouyong, a painter who rents a 32-square-meter wall in Dafen, was quoted as saying.
Cao doesn't understand why the government suddenly wants to prohibit the practice and he disagrees with the explanation that hanging oil paintings on walls is an eyesore, the report said.
All painters received a notice on February 24 stating illegal structures, rain shields and ad banners would be removed.
An urban management officer surnamed Kong told the newspaper the illegal structures are a safety threat as they block fire passages.
Kong added that they were not removed before because they didn't have enough staff and resources, not because they were legal.
"It's a good opportunity to completely wipe out the practice before the Universiade," Kong was quoted as saying. "This will protect the interests of the majority of painters who rent shops."
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