Okay, so as my first post, I want to bring up something that usually floats to the top of my mind a few times a month. Molly knows all about it but I just wanted to see what others think.
You see, I believe that there are shortcuts to making money in art... shortcuts that take opportunity from others. Prints, photos, digital replication... people are replicating work without their own hands in the mix are taking precious wall space from those willing to actually physically create something. There are levels at which they are acceptable, a photograph that is hand printed or printed in single editions to me hold much more value. A printmaker who prints a lithograph by hand is certainly also an exception. There is craft involved. Sending work away to be mass produced or produced by the hands of an uncredited assistant is to me not acceptable. And at some level the majority of the population gets lost. Not knowing the difference they buy a poster of a master or even worse they buy into an edition of prints sold for a hefty sum of money but not actually made by the person who has signed them. It is a slap in the face of those who desire to be collected, who want a chance to be regarded with esteem. Our audience needs to be educated and artists need to apply some restraint.
What do you think?
You see, I believe that there are shortcuts to making money in art... shortcuts that take opportunity from others. Prints, photos, digital replication... people are replicating work without their own hands in the mix are taking precious wall space from those willing to actually physically create something. There are levels at which they are acceptable, a photograph that is hand printed or printed in single editions to me hold much more value. A printmaker who prints a lithograph by hand is certainly also an exception. There is craft involved. Sending work away to be mass produced or produced by the hands of an uncredited assistant is to me not acceptable. And at some level the majority of the population gets lost. Not knowing the difference they buy a poster of a master or even worse they buy into an edition of prints sold for a hefty sum of money but not actually made by the person who has signed them. It is a slap in the face of those who desire to be collected, who want a chance to be regarded with esteem. Our audience needs to be educated and artists need to apply some restraint.
What do you think?
posted by Luke at 6:34 PM
5 Comments:
I agree that there is a need for education about this. Before Luke brought it up, it never really occurred to me. It's one thing if you knowingly buy a poster because that's all you can afford, or because you really like a famous piece of art. But it's getting deceptive now. When I first heard "giclee print" I thought it was some kind of legitimate printmaking process because of the fancy word. No... it's a print made with an inkjet printer. If that is not trying to be deceptive to get people to buy, I don't know what is.
I always thought it was ammusing when they make a print and then use a clear gel or something to fake brush strokes over the print. That has always blown me away.
Yeah... fake paintings are just an omaha arts festival away:) Mass production of mixed media... make a digital print on a canvas and have an assembly line of people glue stuff on it. How could you sell that stuff with a straight face? But yet there they always are.
Maybe it's a move of desperation. They want to sell stuff, and they know that people are only buying it because it's pretty... and it will make their living room pretty. So the artists figure if they can mass produce it, they won't have to have a day job to make ends meet. HOPEFULLY if "art" purchasers understood this whole situation, things would be different. Any ideas on how to educate them?
Commerial enterprises imitate art. And then commercial art becomes art in it's own sense. Has anyone used a product called Ink AIDE. http://www.inkaid1.com/index.html. I've heard about it from some friends who've taken a digital media class while I lived in DC. But have never tried it myself. You put the product on canvas, paper, etc and then can print on it with a traditional printer. You then peel off the clear film from the Ink Aide with the image and then glue it to canvas. You can also print directly onto canvas. This is one of the ways people are bypassing the act of painting or even old school printing.
Post a Comment
Links to this post:
Create a Link
<< Home