VietNamNet Bridge – If well-known painters could come back to life by a miracle, they would have wanted to die again when they see their artworks being imitated and sold at dirt cheap prices in Vietnam.
On the roads which are called “painting streets” like Dong Khoi, Nguyen Hue, Bui Vien, De Tham, Pham Ngu Lao, Nguyen Van Troi, Tran Phu in HCM City, there are at least 160 galleries. This number is two or three times more than that of ten years ago.

At these galleries, visitors can see all master pieces of well-known painters of all times in the world, from Leonnard de Vinci, Goya to Ingres, Géricault, Renoir, Sisley, Monet, Manet, Picasso, Braque, Kandinsky and Sanvador Dali.

Seeing these names, it seems that HCM City is the land of painting juice of the world. But all of these works are imitations. After the concept “rubbish music” appears in Vietnam, this situation may be described as “rubbish paintings”.

At galleries, clients freely choose paintings they like and bargain them as food at market. For the same imitation painting, for example Van Gogh’s The Night Café, of the same size 60x80cm, the prices range from VND400,000 ($20) to VND1 million ($50). The price even fells to VND250,000 ($10) if one buys it online.

Leonard de Vinci’s Mona Lisa is a favorite work of painting copiers. This painting is sold at all galleries. As the woman’s smile is so difficult to copy, the price for imitation works varies depending on their “similarity”. Well-imitated paintings are priced over $100 and poorly-imitated works are sold for several tens of USD.

Some galleries are very “lazy”. They make photocopies of famous artworks and then color them to sell at dirt cheap prices.

It is heartbreaking to see world famous painters’ artworks to be “tortured” that way.

Selling paintings as food

VietNamNet’s reporters met some imitation painting traders, who used to be a pottery maker, a small trader and even a toilet paper trader, etc. In their eyes, imitation paintings are normal products, just like foods.

These people do not have a little knowledge of painting. They do this job just for profit. They often rent a house in front of street and hire 3-4 painting copiers who are perhaps students of art schools or amateur painters to set up a “painting workshop”.

For these “gallery owners”, all paintings are equal. The most important thing is customers’ demand. The prices for imitation depend on customers. If in HCM City’s downtown streets, imitation paintings may be priced up to $70-100/painting, the price falls by half at galleries in the suburbs.

At the beginning, galleries of this kind were often located at luxurious sites in the downtown areas to lure foreign customers but they have been gradually moved to roads near the centre because gallery owners have realized that their main customers are Vietnamese. Gradually, imitation masterpieces of great painters of the world have been moved from luxurious galleries to the pavement.

If a painting copier can make one imitation painting of Van Gogh a day, he can produce up to 365 paintings a year while Van Gogh drew less than 800 paintings in his life. If Van Gogh could not sell a single painting in his life, these copies earn a lot of money from his paintings, very easily.

Imitation painting market in disorder
Along with economic development in Vietnam, people’s demands become diverse, depending on their pockets. Some begin to decorate their homes by paintings.

Initially, only famed painters dared to open galleries selling imitation artworks because their name and experience guaranteed for the quality of imitation works (oil paintings). Moreover, they had professional copiers. The first galleries of this kind opened in Hanoi and HCM City in 1994-1995.

At that time, this was a new, promising market and customers were mainly foreigners because the quality of imitation paintings in Vietnam was good while the prices were equivalent to one seventh or one tenth of galleries in Europe. That a big gap of profit for Taiwanese, Singaporean, Hong Kong and European painting traders to order imitation artworks from Vietnam.

That was the golden age of Vietnamese imitation painting traders. Though they wholesale imitation artworks to foreigners at cheap prices in comparison with overseas prices, they could still earn huge profit.

That golden age laid the foundation for the boom of the market for imitation paintings and the appearance of galleries in big cities.

The need for imitation paintings as decoration items is on the rise along with the appearance of new residential areas. However, a few of them have knowledge of painting, particularly Vietnamese painting. As a result, a few customers are keen on imitation artworks by Vietnamese famous painters like Bui Xuan Phai, Nguyen Sang, Nguyen Tu Nghiem, Nguyen Van Lien, Tran Van Can, Nguyen Gia Tri and To Ngoc Van.

As the demand for imitation paintings of world famous painters is on the rise, mountains of “rubbish” paintings are produced, which make art critics very angry.

Imitation paintings a threat for Vietnamese painting
Should imitation painting is blamed? Perhaps not because only billionaires are able to buy original artworks by well-known painters. Others can only own imitation products. Moreover, the number of original works is very limited, not enough for all. Even some painters have to copy their own paintings to satisfy painting lovers’ need for specific works.

In the world, there are foreign painters who live by imitating famous artworks but in these countries, the copyright of paintings is stipulated by the law. In Vietnam, copyright is neglected.

However, imitation or fake paintings have become a big threat for contemporary Vietnamese painters. Not only artworks by famous painters like Thanh Chuong, Le Thiet Cuong, Dinh Quan, Mai Anh, Dao Hai Phong, etc. but also those of young painters are imitated. These paintings are not only sold in the name of imitation paintings but in the name of original works. This is a form of brain stealing and cheating.

Imitation painting is killing Vietnamese painting since painting collectors are afraid of purchasing fake paintings.

Viet Le Quan