Da Fen Oil Painting Village

Mom and Dad Spoiler Alert: If you don't want to know what you're getting for Christmas, stop reading now.

For everyone else, this weekend we went to DaFen Oil Painting Village in Northern Shenzhen. Before we moved to China, we'd read about this place and that you can commission oil paintings at low prices there. We thought it would be really cool to have family portraits done to use as Christmas gifts... not your typical present and definitely one of a kind, right? Luckily, our friend Sylvia and her family were also interested in visiting the area, so we met up with them and had a great day.

The toilet restaurant was on the way and they hadn't been there yet, so of course we had to go for a urinal full of milk tea and a bathtub full of spaghetti.

Charmy shaved strawberry ice cream for dessert!

This is the ice cream shaver. I can't even express how awesome this stuff tastes.

We did a little bit of shopping (Sylvia's daughter was tempted by a pair of Ubgs), and then we headed off to DaFen Station, about 20 minutes away by subway.

From the station exit all the way to the artsy streets there are vendors all along the way capitalizing on the extra foot traffic. There was not one, but two spoon salesmen. 3 spoons for 10rmb... not bad and definitely hygienic.

This guy was giving haircuts on the street for 2rmb (30cents).

There was an armless man painting calligraphy with his feet, but I felt a bit shy to take his picture, so here's a man widdling combs from soapstone instead.

These guys were selling fleece blankets right off the spool of fabric. You could just tell them what size you wanted and they'd cut it and finish the edges for you right there.

Of, if you liked, you could just play a round of pool on the street. November 10th and it was hot and sunny- a perfect day for outdoor billiards.

Finally, we made it to the art streets. The "village" takes up quite a few blocks and every shop is stocked full of paintings- mostly reproductions, but some originals. The artwork was beautiful. Some of it looked like it was straight from a museum. On top of all the stores selling art, every alleyway was also full of vendors with canvases stacked frame upon frame on the street. If you were lucky, you could even watch some of the artists at work. 

Most of the more affordable pieces were stacked outside the stores to draw people in. Paintings like the ones above (would you like Winnie the Pooh orrrrr framed porn?) were 15-25rmb ($2.50-$4.00), while some of the stuff hanging inside the stores cost hundreds and one piece Sylvia looked at was over $1000. Most things could be had for $25-50 though, I'd say.

One of the displays set up on the street. A lot of the art was the same or similar from store to store, so you could bargain around for a better price, but you do wonder where they're getting all of this mass-produced art from!

The main square.

One store sold statues, including this nude Bruce Lee.

Alleys of art.

We had a bit of a hard time finding someone to paint our family portraits for us. We'd printed off photos to have the artists copy, and everyone who we talked to offered a different price. I'd heard this was a "cheap" place to shop and, although there are some cheap deals to be found for the already-made art, the prices we were offered for our custom work was way over our budget. The first shop wanted 800rmb ($135) to paint my family. I was shocked. I mean... this is China! But then the next one wanted 900. The next said 1300 and then finally the last person said 2250rmb, which is just under $400. Ummm... no! Finally, I talked to a guy who said 1350rmb. When I started to walk away he passed me a calculator and said "you say price". This was the first person willing to barter, and I eventually got him down to 650. It was still more than I expected but, it will be quite large and I think it will be a cool gift. Mel ordered one too, from the same guy, and we'll go back next month to pick them up.

After we got that taken care of it was time for us to shop for something for ourselves. We've never been in the financial position to be collecting oil paintings before, but I guess that's the nice thing about China- it's easier to live a little large sometimes (bought iphones yesterday, btw! Love them!). Sylvia stopped an artist in the middle of painting a picture and bought the painting he was working on. How cool is that? We're going to pick it up for her (it has to dry) when we go back for our paintings next month.

So here's the piece Mel chose... it's actually 3 canvases and it looks perfect over our dining room table.

...and here's my purchase from the artists village: Mr. Michael Jackson himself. Not at all what I thought I was looking for, but when I saw it I had to have it. I may have felt a litttttle ridiculous carrying this home on the subway. Hee hoo!