Da Fen Oil Painting Village in Shenzhen, China is apparently home to thousands of artists who primarily paint inexpensive copies of famous art works by the old masters and others. Over at CT2, Kevin Kelly posted a short riff on these "original hyper fake reproductions." From his post:
In China there is an entire village given over to making money by fake paintings. These are not counterfeits intended to deceive. No one is fooled into thinking the Van Gogh painting they just bought is painted by Van Gogh. Rather the fake is like a reproduced poster of Van Gogh. But since it has been painted by hand, often with gusto and intelligence, it is much more interesting than a duplication of the original. It is an original reproduction. It is a hyperfake.Re-painting masters is a venerable activity.
