Even as a printmaker I don't like looking at my old works for any longer
than 5 years or so. I know a friend that has drawers full of woodcuts,
shelves full of unfinished plates (carved blocks), unfinished, unprinted and
unsold despite being quite a popular printmaker in New York in the 60's
70's.
As an unknown (in the art world) artist doing art festivals for a living I
can sell out an edition of 100 woodcuts in about 3-5 years. As an artist, I
would barf if I had to go back to my old blocks and reprinting anything. In
fact, I sell my blocks as OOAK creations with a generous coating of
polyurethane to cancel them of course. If I were a known artist I would
probably let one of my agents decide such annoying things :-)
Warhol called his print-shop a "factory" and he hated it.but he raked in the
bux.
There are divisions on this issue even within printmakers.even within
WOODCUT printmakers, just to illustrate how strange this whole issue has
become. In the Japanese tradition, you make as many prints as there is
demand for them. In the tradition of division of labor, the designer creates
the image; working closely with a master carver and master printer, the team
produces the prints more as a printshop than as an artistic endeavor. If
blocks wear out and there is still demand for the image, the master carver
simply recarves a fresh set.
In the European, now "Merrican" tradition of woodcut printmaking, the block
is supposed to be scored or marred somehow and the last print taken from
that marked block effectively cancelling the edition. Thus the edition is
truly limited. Who or why started this is another interesting subject of
debate. Some camps claim it was all a marketing ploy in order to inflate the
price of a "rare" item, some camps claim that once a block is "done" the
"honest" thing is to cancel the edition and inflating and marketing have
nothing to do with anything.
I have always followed the application of this limited edition terminology
to photography with great interest because.it really doesn't apply. Then
again, the Japanese traditional woodcut printmakers think it doesn't apply
to them either. So it goes.
Personally as an artist I like to create new things all the time. Some
printmakers "suffer" with the question: how many do I make? My own reasoning
goes something like this: how much of that-there paper do I have right now?
Is my arm tired of cranking the press? Jesus, look at that pile! That's
enough!!!
Very scientific, I know I know.
Anyhoot, I know painters who scoff at photographs on canvas yet create the
same painting over and over because it sells so well. Oh, but that's a
"variation". I know painters who don't sell reproductions at all and follow
the great quote below "always creating new and selling new". That could
apply to photography too I suppose but were I a photographer I might be
tempted to sell and sell and sell that very popular image year after year.or
maybe not, I don't know. I get tired of looking at my booth showing the same
things so I change it around (sometimes during a show!) and keep creating.
So how does this apply to photography or the question at hand? I have no
idea, just some musings from a printmaker that may throw some light or
dimness into the pot.
I guess my whole point was that the issue is so convoluted that, well, cada
uno es cada uno (to each his own).
Pardon the intrusion.
Maria
[=o=]<>[=o=]<>[=o=]<>[=o=]
www.1000woodcuts.com
www.artfestivalguide.info
[=o=]<>[=o=]<>[=o=]<>[=o=]
Subject: [artshow_photo] Re: To do limited editions or not to do...
--- In artshow_photo@yahoogroups.com
<mailto:artshow_photo%40yahoogroups.com> , "Benjamin DeHaven"
<benjamindehaven@...> wrote:
> I would love some input from the group on moving into limited editions.
Thanks!
I see limited editions as a good thing, for a photographer. I don't want to
sit around, show and discuss old photographs with visitors. As a
photographer, I most enjoy creating new artwork instead of laboring over the
past. I know painters who create new original works every year with the
intent of selling what is painted in the winter and spring during the summer
and fall. Always creating new and selling new.
Maybe that is photographer's problem with sales. Many keep their very good
photographs for sale years after they started selling them which affects
what visitors think of their "current" or newer photos. Could you imagine if
Ford kept making a very good selling car from 1970 without modifications?
They don't. They sell their newly designed cars and turn over designs
yearly! :)
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