Winnie Wong

In the Guangdong province in southeastern China lies Dafen, a village that houses thousands of workers who paint Van Goghs, Da Vincis, Warhols, and other Western masterpieces, producing an astonishing five million paintings a year. To write about life and work in Dafen, Winnie Wong infiltrated this world, investigating the claims of conceptual artists who made projects there; working as a dealer; apprenticing as a painter; surveying merchants in Europe, Asia, and America; establishing relationships with local leaders; and organizing a conceptual art show for the Shanghai World Expo. The result is Van Gogh on Demand, a fascinating book about a little-known aspect of the global art world - one that sheds surprising light on our understandings of art, artists, and individual genius. Confronting difficult questions about the definition of art, the ownership of an image, and the meaning of imitation and appropriation, Wong shows how a plethora of artistic practices joins Chinese migrant workers, propaganda makers, and international artists together in a global supply chain of art and creativity. She examines how Berlin-based conceptual artist Christian Jankowski, who collaborated with Dafen's painters to reimagine the Dafen Art Museum, unwittingly appropriated a photojournalist's intellectual property. She explores how Zhang Huan, a radical performance artist from Beijing's East Village, prompted propaganda makers to heroize the female artists of Dafen village. Through these cases, Wong shows how Dafen's workers force us to reexamine our expectations about the cultural function of creativity and imitation, and the role of Chinese workers in redefining global art. Providing a valuable account of art practices in a period of profound global cultural shifts and an ascendant China, Van Gogh on Demand is a rich and detailed look at the implications of a world that can offer countless copies of everything that has ever been called "art."

Explores how the function, norms, and meaning of artists’ names in Chinese modernity have been misunderstood. Challenging contemporary procedures for establishing attribution, chronology, and authenticity in Chinese art, Winnie Wong explores the means, methods, and stakes of recovering the names of an anonymous community of artists. To examine how Western art history has misconstrued and miscategorized names and identities in Chinese art, she looks to conflicting features of modernity: the European attachment of singular names to individuals and their works, and the Chinese use of socially contingent names that often are not attached to material labor and sometimes operate against it. Wong charts the genealogy of this naming problem by bringing to life the artists of the Qing Empire’s trade with Europeans at the port of Guangzhou, centering on a group of portraitists known by names that were recorded in a pidgin language: Chin Qua, Chit Qua, Spoilum, Lam Qua, and Ting Qua. Many of these paintings survive today, yet scholars have identified only a handful of the painters’ identities. Pushing against Western norms that have shaped our understanding of authorship, Wong reveals that these artists shared names, created works in multiples, and signed their pieces with different names or none at all. This lavishly illustrated volume explores portraiture across media, including unfired clay, reverse painting on glass, watercolor on paper, oil on canvas, and the daguerreotype, to propose new ways of studying anonymity, copying, and the emergence of author names in the Sino-European visual culture of the long eighteenth century.

Guyana is a nation in South America. Its indigenous roots have been influenced by centuries of Dutch and British colonial control. Today, it is an independent member of the British Commonwealth, with its own unique flavor. This book dives into Guyana's rich history and studies its heritage, culture, traditions, government, economy, and religious practices, ultimately creating a complete understanding of the nation in the twenty-first century.

Our planet is large, vast, and filled with an amazing array of unique countries and cultures. With this book, students can explore one such place, the young nation of Latvia, which hugs the Baltic Sea. Vibrant photographs, detailed maps, and engaging text combine to give readers an inside look at this country, its history, its people, and all the opportunities that lie within it. Once a part of the USSR, Latvia has been through immense changes in recent years. Readers will be riveted by the exciting stories and images in this book.

Ghana, which means "Warrior King" in the Soninke language, has a long history of powerful empires. Beginning in the fifteenth century, powerful and ancient Ghanaian empires were taken over by colonial powers, with Great Britain taking control of the country until 1957. Since then, the country has existed as a diverse and independent nation, grouping together a large population of people with different ethnic, linguistic, and religious backgrounds. This book introduces readers to the multicultural nation of Ghana and its geography, history, environment, and culture. Engaging sidebars and vivid photographs accompany readers on their journey.

A culturally rich nation, Zambia has a history back to the twelfth century. Vivid storytellers, Zambians are known for passing on tradition and culture through word of mouth. This book contains vivid images, detailed sidebars, and informative references to engage and inform young readers.

Georgians enjoy life in proximity to mountains and the curative properties of the Black. Exploring the strong presence of song, dance, and other cultural influences, this book brings Georgia into great focus. This volume explains the geography and people of Georgia, and is an excellent resource for anyone interested in learning more about this former Soviet republic.

This book provides the in-depth information, exercises, and worksheets that will provide readers with the tools to become successful, enlightened filmmakers. Most novices are unaware of the ""business"" aspects of the film world or that producing Hollywood films will involve contracts, budget constraints, personnel, scheduling, legal issues, insurance, and safety regulations. Many first time filmmakers spend all their time on their ""creative endeavors"" and often forget to establish production management strategies or consider business ethics as integral parts of the process. In many cases the result is litigation or insurance problems that can lead to financial hardship and/or the inability to distribute the film. The book includes a companion CD-ROM containing the forms and documents covered in the text. Solutions to exercises and PowerPoint slides are available to instructors.