Offshore Art & fake artists

I recently read an article on "cheap art from China"and it's affects on the individual artist.I was unaware of the scale of the industry.They actually have small painting villages of workers!
I'm sure most people are aware of this,but it reminds me of when I began selling my own work online.

I remember being told by a well established artist that I should paint under a pseudonym for my online work . He told me that many art collectors/designers don't care whether a name is real or not.In fact many galleries had one or two artist painting under several names.It often came down to price point and whether it matched an interior design. It didn't sit right with me.

I felt that putting a face to the work was the best thing for me and in the sea of faceless Chinese factory artists I hoped I would stand out. Initially I took some flak from a couple of galleries for using my real name on the net but at least I've continued to paint and work without regrets.