A self portrait of Yu Huang by Sebastian Koseda

A self portrait of Yu Huang by Sebastian Koseda
Henry Moore Gallery, Work In Progress Show
Oil on Canvas
1m2 x 2

Dafen (大芬) is inhabited by over 8,000 Artists who specialise in the making of large numbers of replica paintings. In 2014, Sebastian Koseda asked Yu Huang (an oil painting producer) to send over an image of himself. Koseda then sent back the image and requested Mr. Huang to paint it. The painting was then signed by Mr. Huang with Koseda’s own signature.

This exercise subverts the production process that the service is intended for and gives a face to an otherwise anonymous artist, generating a recursive dynamic, challenging the ever incresing outsource culture in contemporary art.
The factory worker becomes the product he produces.

The painting can be viewed in two ways, shown in the captions below

Sebastian Koseda
Oil On Canvas.
The Artist Comments on the value of Chinese mass production in art. The Chinese Artist Mr. Huang is embraced in a portrait of self-reflection.
Artwork Conceived and signed by the Artist.

Yu Huang
Oil On Canvas.
Mr. Huang, The prolific oil painting Artist masterfully captures his own
likeness in order to be exhibited as a shameless misinterpretation at the
Work In Progress show 2015. The client paid Mr. Huang to sign the painting
with the client’s own signature stripping him of ownership from the finished piece.
A form of creditable art or an example of common exploitation?

‘You have to look at it as if the artist is an architect, and we don’t have a problem that great architects don’t actually build the houses.’
-Damien Hirst