Changing Relationships in the Art Reproduction Business

The business of art reproductions in North America has changed over the past few years in some very obvious ways. One is the drastic reduction in “print galleries” which were the rage in the hey days of the “Limited Edition Print” – touted by publishers of artists such as Bev Doolittle, Robert Bateman, and many more. Those were the days when it seemed that a “limited edition” of 96,000 prints was not only a “good size for the market” but somehow still had the personal touch of the artist. It is amazing what marketing can do for a consumer anxious to own a piece of history in the form of art – or the greed that a potential “investment’ can bring out.

For all the negatives of that time of marketing, there were also many positives. It made people aware of art, it created a desire in many people to learn to appreciate the talent of many different artists and it created a “new norm” that people adopted that said that artwork needed to be a part of their lives, their homes and their décor.

Today, the internet as one key element has brought us closer to the actual artist who creates the work. We have an incredible opportunity to reach out and touch the talent, to try and understand what makes them create, to understand the motivations behind a particular piece and to feel as though we are able to experience the actual creation in a vicarious way.

As a result the business model has also changed with people more anxious to collect original work, with more original work available in galleries, on the internet, via art shows etc.

This has raised the expectations for reproductions and has caused the market to expect that even the reproductions should come directly from the hand of the artist rather than through several middlemen. Where is the place for publishers, distributors and art marketers? More on these thoughts in the days ahead. As always – your thoughts and comments would be greatly appreciated.

Giclee Defined

The art business is full of buzzwords that are used by clever marketers to provide comfort to the public that the piece of reproduction art they are acquiring has the value to justify the price. One of those words today is "Giclee". Just the sound of this french term has many a customer reaching for his checkbook. I wonder if people would play as much if they simply referred to the piece as an "ink-jet" print?

While marketing is important in selling anything - including art, one of the things that frustrates me the most is not only the attempt to oversell something but the expectations that this places on everyone involved from the artist, printer, publisher and buyer.

What really is a "Giclee". I decided to re-print a definition that I have used to explain this print form below:

GICLEE PRINTS - GICLEE PRINTING

The Definition : Giclee (zhee-klay) - The French word "giclée" is a feminine noun that means a spray or a spurt of liquid. The word may have been derived from the French verb "gicler" meaning "to squirt".

The Term : The term "giclée print" connotates an elevation in printmaking technology. Images are high resolution digital scans printed with archival quality inks onto various substrates including canvas, fine art, and photo-base paper. The giclée printing process provides better color accuracy than other means of reproduction. As for quality, the giclée print now rivals many traditional silver-halide and gelatin printing processes and is commonly found in museums, art galleries, and photographic galleries. Numerous examples of giclée prints can be found in New York City at the Metropolitan Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, and other public galleries. In addition, many artists today are using this technique to allow them to produce reproductions in small quantities.

The Advantages : Giclée prints (sometimes mistakenly referred to as an Iris print which is a 4-Color ink-jet printer line pioneered in the late 1970s by Iris Graphics) are advantageous to artists who do not find it feasible to mass produce their work, but want to reproduce their art as needed, or on-demand. Once an image is digitally archived, additional reproductions can be made with minimal effort and reasonable cost - the prohibitive up-front cost of mass production for an edition is eliminated. Another tremendous advantage of giclée printing is that digital images can be reproduced to almost any size and onto various media, giving the artist the ability to customize prints for a specific client. These digital images will not deteriorate in quality such as negatives and film because the information is archived digitally.

The Process : Giclée prints are created typically using high-end 8-Color to 12-Color ink-jet printers. Among the manufacturers of these printers are vanguards such as Epson, MacDermid Colorspan, & Hewlett-Packard. These modern technology printers are capable of producing incredibly detailed prints for both the fine art and photographic markets.

In the end - a print is still a print! However, a good reproduction made with quality in mind will showcase the artist's talent and provide a great copy of a great original. As for pricing - Giclee's may cost more to make per print but the cost is still well within reach for most people while many artist's originals are not.

Mosaic and Digital Art

Pat (my wife) and I enjoyed a holiday recently on the Adriatic coast visiting Venice in Italy and the country of Croatia. Aside from the great vacation highlights including beaches, Roman ruins, good food and wine, etc etc - we of course noted some of the artistic highlights. Pat as an artist has her own viewpoint, but one thing I happened to notice was a curious similarity to today's digital art.

In taking photos of some of the outstanding murals such as the small sample posted on this page of a mural in St. Marks Basilica in Venice, the incredible mosaic tiles used to make these murals had a striking resemblance to me of the "pixels" on a computer screen in the creation of digital images.

Next time you digitize your photos or paintings and zoom in with whatever photo editing software you are using - imagine your art as some great mural - painstakingly assembled from hand-painted mosaic tiles. Who knows it may inspire you!

Limited Edition Print - What is it anyway?

I was talking to someone the other day who asked the question - what is a Limited Edition print anyway? They understood the concept but I don't blame them for being confused the way the term is used and abused today. It makes that question an important one.

Technically speaking almost anything that has a pre-defined number of copies can be considered a limited edition - but now most people have forgotten where this originally came from. Back in the days of the "stone" age - OK, I mean where artists used to etch images on stone, copper or any rigid hard surface and then make prints from those etchings - the limited edition came into play.

The reason was simple - once you inked the etching and transferred the image to paper for a few prints, the original etching would start to wear and eventually would no longer transfer a sharp defined image. As a result, the artist started to number how many images were made from any one original and once they determined that the quality had eroded to the point that it was no longer acceptable - they would call that the end of the edition. Most often the original stone or plate was defaced or destroyed so no further copies could be made - meaning that whatever number had been printed was all there would be. In other words a truly limited number - thus limited edition.

That is often the reason why "Artist Proofs" incurred more value to eventual collectors than the prints themselves. These were often the very first "pulls" from the original plate so that the artist could check the quality and thus often the "sharpest" images. If they were good and accepted by the artist - people eventually came to see these as having more value than the last prints produced which might not be as good.

The practice was carried over to modern day printing - despite the fact that using digital or offset printing methods resulted in each print being virtually identical and each one being as good a quality as the next. However, to this day people will pay more for an "Artist Proof" than a regular print and this has resulted in creating a Limited Edition within the original Edition of prints

For good definitions on printing and publishing terms, see:
http://www.thevgroove.com/art-business-reproduction-printing-definitions

What Happened to Art Reproductions?

As I travel and visit stores, galleries and frame shops, I am wondering - what happened to quality art reproductions. The world was crazy about great posters, Limited Edition prints, and small reproductions of all kinds.

Now "decorator" prints are found in Walmart and Home Depot, galleries and frame shops struggle to sell reproductions of fine art and ebay is crammed with people trying to sell work that no longer seems to have value.

Giclee prints - just another form of reproduction, albeit of great quality and often very faithful to the original, greeting cards and gift items form the bulk of reproductions available almost everywhere.

On one hand the world has returned to buying good quality original work - even from relatively unknown artists through the power of the internet and that is a Great Thing! But it does ask the question about where reproductions are headed. I would love to hear what both artists and collectors think the future holds.

I for one think that there will always be some market, but it certainly is changing and quality, the artist's reputation and style of work will bear a major part. More thoughts to come, I am sure........

Intial Thoughts about the "Business" of Art

I have resisted "blogging" for some time, even though it seems to be a great form of journaling and getting your thoughts down when you think of them - particularly in a fast-paced and digital world.
I have been working for over 25 years in the Art Business, as a gallery owner, picture frame dealer and somewhat framer, Publisher of Art Reproductions and artist agent. Along this path, I have come to respect the incredible diversity of art forms, expression and talent that we have in our world and how difficult it is for many incredible artists to gain recognition and respect for what they do. I have also seen many successes and have been grateful to be a part of seeing artists realize success from the response to their work.

I would like to put down in this blog some of the thoughts that I see in a very changing environment, brought on mainly by the digital age and our own lifestyles and demographics changing the course of how artists create, publish, display and sell their work.

I am fortunate to continue to be a part of this market through my company - Island Art and it's division - matshop.com, that works with and supports artists in many ways. I will try to be candid and direct in my observations and invite feedback. Hopefully we can generate some great discussions and opportunities as times change.