I feel like sharing with everyone, hopefully you’ll feel all a bit better.

First let’s say the most important: those guys are not only Israelis, they are backpackers from all around the world who don’t really know what they do. I’m French; I did it myself and am not proud of it. Although it’s the only job I found to pay my travels.

I feel bad about the whole thing but in the same time, some of the buyers will never know and they were so happy to buy a real painting with a story behind it for 100 bucks, really happy. I truly hope they will never read those blogs so they can still enjoy those beautiful colors in their homes.

In the same time I think I really earned this money, walking 8-10 hours in 30-35 degrees and forcing doors was really hard. I was so happy when I finally could stop this terrible job and have enough money to discover your beautiful country.

The money you gave me guys, I gave it back to your economy. I had only 200 bucks on my bank account when I got back home but thanks to you I had thousand of beautiful landscapes in my head.

Those young students do this door-to-door job as any other shitty job they could find to pay their travels. Before judging those poor young guys, check what motivates them to accept those sad jobs. Working for 3 or 5 bucks an hour in a restaurant does not pay. Have you ever checked that the pizza you have in your plate at the restaurant has not been prepared by a poor backpacker (yes for me 3$/hour is a poor salary). Hope you’ll do it next time.

Yes those canvases are probably made in China. And what? You like one of the canvas? Good for you, buy it. Do you think you have paid more that what it was worth? Where would you have bought art? How much would you have paid?

Next time you have one of those backpackers at your home, don’t yell at him. Tell him/her that lying about the origin of a product is not fair. Advise him to tell the truth about the product. If there is a canvas that you like, tell him you would love buying one for what is fair for you and help this young guy/girl to understand a bit of life.

Hope I have not hurt anyone.

Regards.

Nicolas

It was cheaper than paintings in Sweden. We saw different sized paintings and the other sizes were not to our taste, plus each painting had its own peculiarities.

We bought one that we liked. I thought it was a better deal than flying to China to get one.

He made some money and we got a great painting for the money.

What’s the problem?

(I buy underwear and jeans that get holes in them for about the same money. This will hang on the wall for years)

I was visited by an ‘poor art student’ in Melbourne a few years back selling largish oil paintings, but as I was actually a poor art student myself then, I didn’t by any paintings (I had lots of art and not much money). I remember having a good chat and watching him go thinking how much effort it would be to spend days walking around the suburbs carrying paintings.

I don’t think it’s a scam – it’s more like just dodgy sales people – and how many of them are out there! I know how it’s really frustrating to have been scammed having been myself in other contexts, but I really think people are being too hard on them. Who is really the scammer – the (probably genuinely) poor person trudging door-to-door selling chinese copies of paintings, or the corporate executives who undertake dubious business practices and who are pulling huge salaries that are vastly disproportionate to the majority of workers in the same companies?

I remember being so mad after each time I was scammed in India, then cooling down when I realised objectively that the money was so small to me and could mean so much to the scammers. It obviously isn’t the same situation here, but I do believe moral indignation around these situations can be very socially and economically relative.