7 - China’s Van Goghs: Documentary Production, International Taste, and Artistic Labor

Summary

Abstract

Dafen oil painting village in southern China is home to thousands of peasant-turned-painters who hand-produce copies of Western masterpieces in huge quantities to sell to an international clientele. China's Van Goghs (Yu Haibo and Kiki Tianqi Yu, 2016) follows the lives of a group of these painter-workers, and poses fundamental questions about the value of art and labor. It also examines the artists’ intimate and complex relationship with Vincent van Gogh, who is at once their hero, mentor, and kindred spirit. This chapter is based on interviews with the production team, and my own experience as associate producer of the film. Utilizing production studies methodologies and paratextual analysis, it investigates the relationship between subject, audience, and intermediaries in both the on-screen art world and the international documentary industry.

Keywords: Documentary, production, paratexts, film festivals, independent Chinese cinema

Looking beyond traditional textual analysis can provide valuable insights into the portrayals of art worlds in cinema. Using mixed methodologies – including participant observation, textual and paratextual analysis, and production studies methods – in the following analysis of the multi award-winning documentary, China's Van Goghs (2016), directed by the father-daughter team of Yu Haibo and Kiki Tianqi Yu, I investigate the relationship between subject, audience, and intermediaries in both the on-screen art world and the international documentary industry. In doing so, I demonstrate the intricate negotiations required to strike an acceptable balance between art, authenticity, and accessibility.

China's Van Goghs is an intimate portrait of the peasant-painters of Dafen, which lies in a suburb of Shenzhen in southern China. Dafen is the world's largest oil painting village, where thousands of migrant workers produce copies of Western masterpieces for sale. Dafen has received some media attention and is the subject of a scholarly study by Winnie Win Yon Wong, whose research was aided by the directors of China's Van Goghs, and whose book, Van Gogh on Demand: China and the Readymade is illustrated by photographs by Haibo Yu – one of China's most celebrated photographers.

It is incumbent on me to declare an interest here: I acted as associate producer on China's Van Goghs, and most of the key production crew are members of my family-in-law. It was produced by my wife, Kiki Tianqi Yu (hereafter Tianqi), who directed alongside her father Haibo Yu (hereafter Haibo); the executive producer is my mother-in-law, Lijun Zhao, and my brother-in-law, Weiqi Yu, composed the music.