I’ve written this essay to explain why prints are nothing to be scared of, and why I think they are the best way to enjoy art in an affordable way.
When you simply can’t buy or afford an original piece of art, but you love the image, what options are you left with? Prints of course!
These days, printing is an incredibly accurate and representational process. They might be given the fancy name of Giclée, but they are just inkjet prints made with superior printers, inks and papers. And surprisingly, they only need to be scanned and printed at 300 dots per inch. This is considered very low by computer buffs, but is plenty to print at the same size as the original while still leaving your eyes the impossible task of seeing any granularity. The inks and papers are stable, of museum archival quality, and more than capable of outlasting an original painting. Canvas isn’t as resilient as one would like to think, so if taking care of an original isn’t for you, then prints are a great alternative. Just insist on the best quality.
When artists issue prints, they often like to restrict the numbers printed in order to create some sort of rarity that resembles an original. They then number them 1/50 for example. Is there any advantage to paying more for this rarity? Not in my opinion. IF, and it’s a very big IF, you are looking at investing in your print with the intention of trading it at some point in the future against a very well known artist who may have died for example, then it’s possible that the value could increase. You are also getting involved in auctions, fees, capital gains tax etc. But most of us simply want to enjoy the image! There’s no point in paying for this rarity from any normal artist. Knowing that there might be 99 other owners of the image really shouldn’t bother you. What counts is that you have that image. You still own a share of the artist’s work for your own enjoyment.
Why do I think that prints are better than originals? Imagine spending ten thousand pounds on an original. You might need to insure it against disaster, there’s always a fear of it being stolen, damaged during moving house, or God forbid, a fire. The outcome of this is that your expensive insurance will refund the value originally declared, but you’ve forgotten that the actual image may be lost forever! It’s actually irreplaceable. But then there’s a print. A print is much cheaper to buy, causes less stress during ownership, and if the worst happens, it actually could be replaced in many cases; disaster averted.
Additionally, you can get a print made to any size. This enables you to have your chosen image to fit a limited space. Having been to my printers to inspect their work, I literally can’t tell the difference at viewing distance between my painting and their printing. Printing actually looks more uniform too.
Now talking about my own prints to give you more clarity, we’ll start with a rough rule of thumb on cost: A full size print should be around one tenth of the original in price, and a half size print about one twentieth. That’s what I try to base my print prices on. That gives you a significant saving, and still allows you to own my work and enjoy the image that you love. I can also arrange for your print to be exactly the size you need. I only use the best paper, made in Germany by Hahnemüle, and one of their Platinum grade print shops. This is the very best quality available anywhere. They scan, edit and exactly match the print to the original painting. Even I can barely see the difference.
Additionally, I am making a very special offer for owners of my prints. If the worst does happen to occur, I will authorise you to make another copy. You will only have to pay for the actual reprinting cost, with no additional fees to me whatsoever. I think this is very fair and transparent, and I challenge anyone to replicate this offer. It’s probably unique in the art world.
I hope you found this essay informative and interesting, and can see why prints are the economical way to buy into artworks worth over ~£1000. If you have any further questions, please ask. All of my work that is currently available to print can be found here.