What kind of art am I buying?
Original artwork:
Original watercolor on paper, on canvas, on clay board or other substrate. Oil on canvas or other substrate, acrylic, pastel etc. including types of traditional original prints: relief, lithographs, woodcuts, serigraphs, etchings, silk screen, and sculpture.
Any of the above done by the artist and signed by the artist – one of a kind. – original.
Types of prints/printing:
Traditional printmaking: These are original art. These include relief prints, woodcuts, linoleum, etchings, silk screen, monoprints.
You will find these signed by the artist in a limited-edition number. 1/5 – title – signature of artist – this means this is the first print of 5. 2/5 second etc. meaning also that in traditional print making for this edition the same paper is used for each of these 5 prints
Reproduction prints of original work:
A wide variety of choice and price. A/P – Artist Proof: this may be the first run of a print testing the colors and the overall print image, a test on a certain paper; an artist proof may be different from the limited edition, often desired by collectors.
An artist may produce an artist proof at his/her discretion as a special print.
Giclee Prints (zhee-KLAY) is a neologism coined in 1991 by printmaker Jack Duganne Basically, meaning Fine Art prints made on inkjet printers, the actual process was invented in the late 1980’s and has since come to mean any inkjet printer. In our unregulated world it has no associated warranty of quality.
Current usage:
Giclee has come to be associated with other types of inkjet printing including processes that use fade- resistant inks, pigment based, and archival substrates primarily produced on Canon, Epson, HP and other large-format printers. These printers use the CMYK color process but may have multiple cartridges for variations of each color based (your home computer usually prints with 4 cartridges) in addition to regular magenta and cyan there may be light magenta and light cyan this increases the apparent resolution and color gamut and allows smoother gradient transitions Any image that is printed as a giclee needs to be created at a resolution of no less than 300 dots per inch (DPI). This is to ensure that the final print has the sharpest detail and lacks any of the fragmentation that can occur with images less than 300 DPI.
For giclee printing, the paper or substrate used to print the final piece must be of archival quality. Typically, it will be acid free and consists of a 100% cotton or rag base. These are the best papers for longevity and color reproduction. The last step to creating or confirming a true giclee print is the type of ink and printer used. The biggest contrast between a standard inkjet print and a giclee print is that giclee’s are printed using pigment-based inks rather than the dye-based inks found in lower cost inkjets. (usually your home/office printer) Pigment-based inks have a longer life span that can last anywhere from 100 to 200 years without significant fading. The type of printer used to create giclée’s is usually a larger format printer that specifically uses pigment-based inks and will hold around 8 to 12 different color ink cartridges. The more inks used, the more sophisticated the color range available on final output. Reproductions used to be done in a process called a four-color offset litho print. It is still done but the disadvantage of this process to be anywhere economical, a run of the image would usually be 1,000 minimum – it must be set up and produced at once in a mass edition.
With inkjet printing the artist does not have to store large quantities of the prints, they can print and sell on an individual basis and in accordance with demand. Inkjet printing has the added advantage of allowing artists to take total control of the production of their images, including the final color correction and substrates being used.
Many of the artists at 2 Street Gallery own and operate their professional inkjet printers. Most prints (reproductions of original art) in 2 Street Gallery are produced by the artists. Many prints that you find on the internet or other galleries may be commercially printed. Prints do not mean that it is not necessarily art or undesirable art it is a form of reproducing original art. Some prints are considered highly collectable.
Price variations:
In 2 Street Gallery you will find many original works of art and a variety of Giclee prints: most printed by the Gallery artists of their original work.
Printers may vary some, quality of inks used, and the substrate also varies in quality and price.
You will find the following:
Limited edition giclee print only a designated number of prints will be made (designated by artist) this will be noted in the left-hand corner i.e. 5/50, 50 is the total number printed 5 is the 5th one printed
Limited edition giclee are usually your highest quality print.
Enhanced giclee print – a giclee print with the addition (enhancing) of watercolor, acrylics, inks or colored pencils. It will be a one-of-a-kind print, once enhanced. Often desired.
Open edition print – they may be digitally signed by artist or not signed at all – they may be printed indefinitely and may have no signature or other information – just an image that you like.
When purchasing a print that indicates it’s a giclee it may include the type of ink, paper, and sometimes printer used. A giclee print should have a life span of 100 years or more if properly cared for by the owner.