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After I gathered all the things that are made in China in my apartment, I am surprised by the amount even I expected there will be quite some amount. There are kitchen ware, toiletries , bedding sheets, pens, brushes, notepads, keys, clocks etc. Some of them came from the apartment, some of them I purchased knowing they are made in china, and some I have no Idea. Some of them are from local Australian brands, some are from Japanese brand where some are western style Japanese product that are made in china. Also a few of them are from Chinese brand that have westernised branding. I also discovered some faux flowers that are sold in target, which are made in china, which is very intriguing to me, there are also fake fruits that are sold in Japanese Shop, also made in China. Which remind me of the way still life drawing are taught back in china. In lots of the cases, students just imitate directly from a photograph of still life, or even just from some other still life paintings. In better cases, props are provided, and most of them are fake, just like the fake fruits that are sold in these shops, real fruit and flowers etc. were not considered probably because of their low productiveness, you cant reuse them after a week or so. I wonder how it deviates step by step from once still life is created, using real and raw sometimes dead objects, and re-arranging re-compositing them to make the picture. The relation of engagement and activity has changed, which happens also in the process of manufacturing these things. The process is an imitation of the imitation, or recreating the spectacle of a concept without real concept. 

I will end the writing with a documentary that’s called China’s Van Gogh, which follows the biggest market Da Fen village in Shen Zhen, Originally industrialised by some Hong Kong Entrepreneurs that saw the demand of replicas from western market. They found a village in Shen Zhen and hired some illiterate workers, that produce replica’s of famous painters such as Van Gogh. Most of them are very low paid and not professional painters, they can only paint certain replicas but nothing else. The documentary follows the absurd industry and life and insights of these workers, and how these paintings are sold as souvenir at the Van Gogh Museum at Amsterdam. Ironically the film is funded by a Dutch company, and directed by a father-daughter pairing where the daughter have a oversea education background, and the father being a very old fashion camera man in Shen Zhen. Without self consciousness, the production of the movie it self is the repetition of exact how China’s Van Gogh are created.

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