Film portrays prolific village painter
A documentary that tells the story of Chinese artists in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, who paint perfect copies of great Western works of art, will be shown at the British Film Institute in London on Saturday, in celebration of Chinese New Year.
The documentary, China's Van Goghs, follows Chinese peasant-turned-oil painter Zhao Xiaoyong. He and his family have produced hundreds of thousands of copies of Dutch painter Vincent van Gogh's works, including Sunflowers, The Starry Night and Self-Portrait With Bandaged Ear.
Produced and directed by Yu Tianqi along with her father, Yu Haibo, the film gives a glimpse into Zhao's life as a skilled painter of replicas, his obsession with Van Gogh and his dream trip to see the real paintings at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam - which is home to one of Zhao's best clients.
