In college my friend told me about this gig selling art that I took him up on. We picked up a moving truck from a warehouse and drove it to a city about 20 hour

In college my friend told me about this gig selling art that I took him up on. We picked up a moving truck from a warehouse and drove it to a city about 20 hours away and set up art sales in hotels. When I asked the owner of the operation where the paintings were from he said Asia. The paintings themselves appeared to be legitimate paintings. Most were different, but a few were very similar to other paintings packed into the truck. Often an object in the painting was moved slightly. Some even looked like classic paintings, I found one or two variations of Van Gogh's Starry Night, as mentioned in OP's article. Each one of these paintings sold for about $40-$100, depending on size. I made decent money for a college kid but I declined a second gig as I was concerned about where these paintings were coming from. I pictured a sweatshop like scenario with painters inhaling fumes while getting paid pennies for each painting. It's good to hear that probably isn't the case, at least according to this article. The paintings were also marketed as being painted by "starving artists" and the whole operation felt a little dishonest.