Selling Reproductions of Original Art

My years of experience as a printmaker set me up for a certain point of view that is very different from that which I now find myself interested in. The availability of websites that will print and sell original images on line is very tempting so it isn’t very hard for me to come around to the opinion that it is fine to reproduce original art and sell the prints just as long as the buying public knows the difference between original art and a reproduction. These web sites do all of the work. The only thing the artist needs to do is set up their own gallery on the site and upload high quality images. Fine Art America is one such site that specializes in printing art for posters and framed giclee prints on fine paper and canvas. Zazzle also reproduces art for posters and prints as well as for many other products I’ve mentioned previously. A new site I have just joined is Red Bubble. I haven’t set up my images on this site yet, but it looks very promising.

I do have a problem with artists who sign and number these reproductions and create the illusion that the individual who purchases these object is getting something special. It is special in that it is an image they like and want to decorate their home with it, but it isn’t special in terms of increased value because there is a signature on in. And the number don’t mean a thing. Unfortunately, there are some well known artists who have this kind of art on the market. This is where the deception can occur.

 

Beautiful and Affordable Art as Objects

For many years I had not been interested in using my art images as designs for products. But, ever since I have been publishing these images in Zazzle I have had a change of heart. It is very satisfying to see the flower images as cards and calendars and I believe the calendar on display here is a good representation of this fact. I also enjoy receiving complements and encouragement from viewers who see the products.

Orchids and Other Flowers
by
Julier
This custom calendar is available at Zazzle

 

Is Art a Product?

During the process of creating a drawing I don’t think of myself as a producer of a comercial product. I am so interested in expressing visual images in paint that I forget that the end product will become an object for sale. And, of course, I am happy to sell these objects. I’m pretty sure most artists are not consciously thinking of creating items for sale as they make the objects, yet, of course, that is exactly what we are all doing.

I notice that quite a few artists are taking matters intotheir own hands and taking charge of selling work on the internet, either on their own web sites or on ebay or on a site such as zazzle.com where you can even make a postage stamp out of an art image. I love to use these stamps on any letters or cards I send.

Orchid 40 Stamp
by
Julier
Get this custom postage at Zazzle

So, what differentiates between so called low art and high art objects? Is it the value the market places on the work as it enters the arena of commerce? Is it the value the artist places on the work? Is it the acceptance of an art viewing public? Is it representation in an art gallery?

 

From Abstract Shapes to Flowers

It is usually expected that an artist will have a consistent body of work. Visual artists create their objects using images that they internalized during their lives and these come out in the expression of their work. We all are influenced by what we see. We often emulate the work of other artists, yet turn it into something personal that is a unique expression of our own vision. In my case I was very influenced by the work of artists such as Kandinsky and Paul Klee. My paintings are usually abstract. I am not interested in figure drawing or landscape painting but still life paintings of fruit and flowers intrigue me.

When I was a child my drawings were flowers. I decorated the borders of all of my school papers with flowers. I drew flowers on the wall next to my bed. I wasn’t aware of these drawings as being “art.” They were an expression of my world. I had never been to an art museum and the only art I saw was in the movies and in the drawings found in children’s books.
There were printed fabrics in my home and I frequently went to fabric stores with my mother, who was a dressmaker. She used these yard goods to make clothing for herself, her customers, and for me. Many of these bolts of cloth were printed with all-over floral patterns but some of them were stylized abstractions.

Last year I returned to drawing flowers. These are not exactly still life because they are flowers  in my imagination located in no particular place.  I had the urge to make small drawings.

I had gone from a very large studio to one in my house that was quite small. The scale of my work needed to be reduced and somehow the subject of small abstract imagined flowers evolved from my pen. I have been working on this project for over a year and it continues to stimulate my imagination.
An idea that I’ve had for a long time is that it would be fun to have inexpensive reproductions of my work. I love the thought that my work could be available in a post card or greeting card or digital print. It would be exactly the same as products sold in an art museum where one can buy a post card of a Picasso painting. Why not? This digital era and the Internet makes this concept possible.

The following is one of my Zazzle products.

Orchid30
by
Julier
Get this custom card

from Zazzle. There are also lots more of my images printed on different products such as mugs and shirts and bags. This is my most recent watercolor drawing that I uploaded to Zazzle and made into a limited edition card. It is part of a series of small watercolor drawings I call “Orchids.” Putting my work on this web site enables me to realize my personal dream of making art very accessible and inexpensive. However, I seem to be my best customer because I buy them to give to my friends and family. The original art is larger, of course, but the reproductions are quite good and are fun to use.

 

Inspired by Music

Many of my paintings are inspired by the music I listen to and enjoy—often while I am working. Shostakovich Knew is the title of this painting. It is part of a series of paintings with the theme of music. Today, while listening to Chicago classical music radio I heard music being played that was inspired by art.

 

Weather and Mood

Today the weather was typical Chicago Spring. Damp, cold and dreary. The kind of weather that affects  my mood. This would ordinarily  be a non inspirational day. Yet, it turned out to be a great day because I visitied the current exhibit at the Art Institute of Chicago “From Cezanne to Picasso,” a very comprehensive exhibit of work collected and shown by the art dealer, Ambroise Vollard. Room after room of wonderful paintings from famous collections all over the United States were filled with paintings, drawings and some ceramics. Many of these were assembled together to represent how Vollard might have shown them when they were originally offered for sale. The exhibit was interesting, also, because it illustrated the interconnected relationship of art dealer to artist. Especially with regard to the fact that artists feel they aren’t getting what their work is worth, and dealers feel that because they are taking a chance on an artist, they deserve to earn a good profit from sale of art.

 

Making art

I spend a lot of my time thinking about what I am going to draw. I try to get in the habit of going into my studio and working. If I am in the middle of a project, that is very good. But if I am at the beginning where I am not sure where the painting is going, that is not too good.

I also talk to other artists about the way in which they work and how they discipline themselves to get a routine going that assures that their time is well spent and productive. Many times artists get into a mind set that I call diversionary tactics. That is, they may bake cookies, make ornaments, create web sites and blogs, anything except actually going into the studio and coping with a blank piece of paper or canvas.

 

 

Staying with a style

There is a generally accepted view among artists that it is important to stay within a particular style once you are recognized for that genre. When I found myself making small watercolor paintings of flowers, I knew I was running into a conflict of that issue. This is an example of the flower paintings I created in 2006. In fact, I spent the entire year making small paintings of flowers. When I look at the entire body of work, I see that the use of shapes and composition is not very different from that which I used during the 30 years of abstractions I painted.

 

From Black to Blue and onward

The series of paintings I created after the black series was blue. I called it“A catalog of Virtue” because these shapes and forms represented the images that I had been using in different ways for my entire art life.

 

 

Where the paintings come from

This is one of my favorite paintings. It was part of a series of paintings that I had decided to make using a black ground and a limited number of large shapes. The plan was to create an illusion of transparency and movement. More paintings in this series can be seen at my web site http://www.julierichman.com