New Prints…!
I’ve JUST released a new collection of limited edition prints.
And (characteristically) - if I’m going to do something, you KNOW I’m going to overthink it.
Thus I have been reflecting a bit on WHY I do this…
Why make prints?
For this, we need to go back a bit further: why make art?
Making art is an incredible way to spend your time in this one precious life.
It is fulfilling, totally absorbing, challenging, spiritually, emotionally and intellectually nourishing, FUN…all of the good things.
What art is NOT is a canny capitalist venture.
As a business model and/or straight-up money-making scheme, creating ART is a bloody terrible idea.
An original, one-off, UNIQUE work of art is not particularly accessible or affordable for a lot of people, and it can only be available for one person.
For me, as an artist, I WANT people to have my work. Now sure, this is partly a sales thing. But since I don’t rely on art income for much except to keep my art practice sustainable, I would say it is motivated mainly by the desire to SHARE.
I made this art: I think it’s pretty cool: I want YOU to be able to appreciate it and enjoy it too.
The higher price of an original artwork is a barrier for a lot of people (particularly right now - cost of living, am I right?).
I can’t realistically reduce the cost of those originals - but I DO have this nifty, amazing process that allows me to reproduce them.
No-one gets into making art to make money. it just doesn’t compute. There are MUCH better and easier ways to make money than making art (-cough-... teaching) and much better businesses to start.
Most artists (especially in Australia, with our relatively teeny, tiny art market) will supplement their art income with other revenue streams - workshops, commercial work, administration, design work, teaching....and sometimes prints.
For me, selling work (and prints) helps me sustain my art. It doesn’t pay my bills, but selling an artwork does help me pay for the costs of keeping my practice going: materials, framing, exhibition costs, documenting the work. (My website..!)
So: three ways that creating prints is a good thing.
It makes (a version) of my work WAY more accessible and affordable, so more people who love my work can buy the work and have it in their own space. This is the big win.
It doesn’t just reduce the financial cost of art for my collectors, it also helps ME to create a beautiful art thing at a significantly reduced TIME and EFFORT cost. The streamlined (and mostly hands-off) process of creating the prints can help (in a small way) to balance out the rather large amount of time I spend creating the original artworks.
It helps me sustain my art practice.
Having quality reproductions means that my art can be for everyone.
If they want it!
That being said - making prints from original works can provoke very different reactions.
Some people think it is a great idea, some are neutral, and some really DO NOT like it.
Those who don’t like it tend to think that it devalues the original. So, in selling a print, you are undermining your own art; making it less likely that collectors will want to buy the original, making the original object less valuable, less exclusive.
If you want to get into the cultural/analytical, woo-woo weeds, the existence of a reproduction (may) undercut the ‘aura’ of the original, that unique, ineffable quality of ‘ness’ that the original art object possesses and radiates. (This theory has really been shredded by the fundamental realities of our contemporary culture and the post-industrial, technological and digital landscape…but it still likes to hang around…)
And it is true: my prints DO have a different quality to the original painting. They have the same colours, the same composition, but the qualities of the material substance of the thing is distinct.
The prints are beautiful objects in their own right; the inks are velvety and gorgeous, the paper is thick and a lovely quality.
On the other hand - the paintings show their materials and making; they HAVE the brushstrokes, the painted surface, the layering, the solidity of paint on panel. They don’t need to be put behind glass - they stand on their own.
Same, same, but different.
You can get a bit philosophical with this kind of thinking, pondering authenticity, the relationship between original and facsimile, artwork and reproduction. Cloning. I suspect that as we head deeper into AI country, this distinction between machine-made and hand-made will become even more important in a range of ways, making the hand-made object (perhaps?) even more rare, and possibly even more exclusive and expensive. Thoughts for another day and another blog post…
I can’t completely dismiss the critique of reproductions, or this framework of thinking. I do consider it.
But at the end of the day, RIGHT NOW, I would rather people could afford to buy and enjoy my work. And that means prints.
Who knows, desk calendars, fridge magnets and mugs COULD be next…stay tuned…
