generated paintings have flooded the on-going International Furniture and Decoration Exhibition at the Dhahran International Exhibition Center. The Chinese sellers are also passing the paintings as originals to unsuspecting buyers, with about a dozen Chinese stalls marketing them. “These are original, hand-painted pieces, not by computer,” said one of the Chinese sellers who was approached by a visitor. When Saudi Gazette asked the Chinese salesman again about the authenticity of the paintings, the salesman, obviously irked, vehemently denied they were computer generated productions. The commercial quality of the items gives them away. One need not be an art connoisseur to quickly detect that the paintings being passed as original by the Chinese salesmen are, in fact, fakes. For example, the edges of the computer made paintings have traces of printer ink obviously showing. The paintings are also shiny and smooth, indicating that a brush didn't even touch them. Another apparently false claim is that the frames of the computer-generated paintings are plastic, and not made of wood as the Chinese sellers alleged. Elkhouss Mahmoud Elkhouss, an Egyptian exhibitor at the show, said many buyers who can't tell the difference between a genuine article and a computer generated piece are being deceived and hoodwinked. “Prices of the Chinese products are extremely low,” he said. “You can get them at rock bottom prices if you buy them by the dozen. The Saudi Gazette was able to verify his claim that a small Chinese CG painting is passed on to buyers between SR40 to SR70. “An authentic, hand-brushed painting of the same size sells for not less than SR500,” said Elkhouss. “It is easy to detect the Chinese products because one generated painting could have several dozen clones,” he said. “You just don't call that kind of thing original.” He displayed several paintings done by an Egyptian artist, that do not have similarity in shade or the position of the subjects. Most of the buyers of the computer generated Chinese paintings display the paintings as decorations, rather than to be enjoyed as arts and masterpieces, because they are cheap and serve the purpose. They are mostly displayed in restaurants and halls of furnished apartments. __
