Xiamen Net-Xiamen Business News Recently, an underground old industry survey involving China cultural relics fraud caused an uproar in the industry. The reporter's unannounced visits found that at present, the calligraphy and painting art industry in Xiamen still "hides" a secret fake industrial chain-these counterfeiters specialize in local famous calligraphy and painting, with a clear division of labor, and every process is "checked". After the fake works are completed, most of them flow to "nouveau riche" or small galleries with certain funds but lack of professional appraisal ability. If you successfully sell a fake work, you can get amazing profits.
Busy "part-time job"
Some professional painters or students are involved in counterfeiting.
As soon as the summer vacation, Xiao Chen of an art college began to be busy with "part-time job".
Xiao Chen said that in this part-time job, he worked for two years, painting for some "bosses". However, Kerwin Chen admitted that he knew that all his paintings were by famous people. Include Li Geng, Li Xia and Zheng Naiguang. Now, he will apply what he usually learned in school to "copy" these famous books. This made him a little embarrassed at first.
"'Part-time job' costs more than 2,000 a month, and there are some subsidies, but overall it is much less than' teacher'." Xiao Chen said. It is reported that some so-called "teachers" in Xiao Chen are professional painters, but for various reasons, their original works can't sell at high prices, so they are invited by some "bosses" to copy or imitate the works of other famous artists, which is also commonly known as fake calligraphy and painting.
According to the person in charge of a large painting and calligraphy institute in Xiamen, there is a group in Xiamen that specializes in copying the paintings and calligraphy works of famous local artworks. In addition to the above-mentioned Li Xia, the works of Zhu Minggang, Yang and Wei Chuanyi, which have been heated up recently, are all objects of forgery. "Especially Yang, now the price of his works has been fired to 30,000 yuan/square foot, and the market is selling well. Of course, these counterfeiters have to adapt to the market. " The person said.
It is understood that the workplace of this group is relatively hidden, mostly in some fixed studios. Some of these venues are rented by gallery owners themselves, and some are dedicated by painters themselves. Xiao Chen told reporters that the imitation market of calligraphy and painting in Xiamen has only "caught fire" in recent years, while Zhao 'an and Putian in Zhangzhou are the traditional imitation places of famous calligraphy and painting.
clear division of labour
Every fraud process is "checked"
In fact, the birth of a highly imitated famous calligraphy and painting can not be completed by one person, but also requires the cooperation of many people. The reporter's investigation found that this calligraphy and painting fraud gang has a clear division of labor, and every process has a "check".
"The so-called' specialization in art', when calligraphy and painting are faked, some people draw characters, some people draw landscapes, and some people draw flowers and birds." A Ping (pseudonym), the operator of Xiamen Gallery, told the reporter, "In addition, some paintings have a large workload and a finer division of labor. Some people specialize in painting people's faces, some people specialize in painting people's bodies, and some people specialize in painting hairstyles. "
In order to make the fake look more authentic, in addition to the "quality" of the painting itself, the old and new paper, signature and mounting are also places that counterfeiters pay great attention to. A Ping told reporters that some imitations of later famous works need old paper, and their counterfeiting is quite "clever". For example, paper usually turns yellow by smoking and soaking in tea, and then it is put into a high-temperature room to evaporate water, which makes the paper more brittle and makes the cultural relics look like old things.
A Ping said that someone changed the original painting into a painting core and mounted it with old materials. Some counterfeiters hang framed paintings in the yard and let them weather in order to deceive people. After a while, they took off the painting core and put it back on. Repeated three or five times, it becomes "old", and there is no doubt in the mounting work.
Looking for a buyer's "broker"
"nouveau riche" is the main buying force.
After the imitation is completed, the next step is to find a buyer. It is reported that these fake calligraphy and paintings generally have specific "brokers" who are responsible for classifying paintings and finding buyers.
According to Mr. Zhang, a senior agent in Xiamen's calligraphy and painting industry, the "agent" will classify the paintings before delivery. "Although they are all fake calligraphy and painting, there is a big gap between different people's imitations." Mr. Zhang told reporters that students' copying meetings are very different from professional painters. "The difference between ordinary A goods similar to luxury goods and high imitation A goods."
"Generous nouveau riche are often the main buyers of high imitation fakes. They lack professional knowledge. Many times they buy calligraphy and painting in order to cultivate relationships, and they are close to leaders and customers who like calligraphy and painting, so they usually buy high imitation fakes. " Mr. Zhang told reporters, "And some amateurs buy fakes because they are too shy to afford genuine ones. They often choose imitations with poor imitation level. "
What's more noteworthy is that some professional collectors will also buy fakes. "This is mainly concentrated in some small galleries. In fact, these gallery owners have the ability to identify the authenticity of these calligraphy and paintings, but in order to make huge profits, they also joined the ranks of selling fakes.
Mr. Zhang said that at present, the imitations seen in Xiamen market are much worse in price according to the high imitation level.
"If it is an ordinary imitation, then the delivery price is generally low, sometimes it can be sold for tens of yuan, while the delivery price of high imitation is hundreds or even thousands of yuan." Mr. Zhang told reporters that, despite this, if the imitations are sold successfully according to the current market conditions, not only can the costs be recovered, but also huge profits can be made.
The data shows that at present, the starting price of Li Geng, Li Xia and other works in the auction market has exceeded 654.38+10,000 yuan. At present, the price of Yang's works is 30,000 yuan/square foot, Wang Zhongmou's works are 3,000 yuan/square foot, and most of his works are 3,000 yuan/square foot to 5,000 yuan/square foot.
"100 copies, as long as one or two copies are successfully sold, you will make money." Mr. Zhang told reporters that, for example, if a work by Li Geng is sold for 654.38+10,000 yuan, its profit rate can be as high as several hundred times compared with the cost price of several hundred yuan.
Someone made a fortune selling fake paintings.
In Xiamen calligraphy and painting circles, there is a long-standing example: Mr. Li (a pseudonym) has been engaged in art calligraphy and painting business for two or three years, not only buying a house, but also successfully driving a Mercedes-Benz. It is worth noting that this Mr. Li started by selling fake paintings.
According to Miss Chen, a gallery agent in Xiamen, Mr. Li is a native of Zhangzhou, in his thirties. He used to be a real estate agent and a wine wholesaler. Three years ago, under the guidance of "acquaintances", Mr. Li began to set foot in the painting and calligraphy art industry, and soon mastered the network resources.
"Zhangzhou Zhaoan is the hometown of Fujian painting and calligraphy. It is recommended that Mr. Li buy a batch of high imitation works from Fujian and resell them to several wealthy businessmen in Quanzhou. "Miss Chen said that through certain contacts, Mr. Li successfully sold high imitation and earned the first bucket of gold.
"Later, Mr. Li's business grew bigger and bigger, and he was no longer satisfied with reselling fake calligraphy and painting, and began to set foot in some high-end collections. However, I don't know if there are fake calligraphy and painting behind this. " Miss Chen said with an ambiguous attitude.
The root cause is poor supervision.
The copying of works of art was originally a kind of inheritance of art, but now it is used by some lawless elements to make fake profits, which not only disrupts the market order, but also hurts collectors' hearts. In my opinion, there is no lack of supervision in the art market. In the final analysis, in addition to the imperfect art appraisal system, poor supervision by regulatory agencies is the root cause of the emergence of counterfeit goods in the market.
According to China's Copyright Law, the act of "making and selling works signed by others" is an infringement. For the crime of manufacturing and selling fake paintings that infringe the artist's copyright, if the amount of illegal income is huge or there are other particularly serious circumstances, the maximum penalty can be fixed-term imprisonment of not less than three years but not more than seven years. However, at present, fake paintings are being sold in public all over the country, and market managers and relevant regulatory authorities "turn a blind eye" to this.
This year's "Twelfth Five-Year Plan", the country will vigorously develop cultural and creative industries, but the development of cultural industries needs healthy soil. The author hopes that the relevant departments can introduce more effective supervision measures as soon as possible, put an end to counterfeit goods and establish a benign development market.