The giclee debate
Given our sales growth every year and seeing how our vendors (who supply us with papers, inks and equipment) are doing, there is no doubt giclee is expanding at a very fast rate. We get calls from first time customers who never tried to print a giclee on canvas or watercolor. Once they do, they are amazed by the quality. Our customers are mostly professional painters and photographers; we really do not cater to people who want to print a snapshot. So, is it true that giclee is a sure way of increasing revenue? Well, our most successful artists definitely have the proof; but what is an essential component, is the willingness to market the art. No matter how good you are as a painter or photographer and how good we are at making the best prints, your art will not sell by itself!
Now to the debate issue: I see posts and especially one web site in particular saying that a giclee is nothing more than an inkjet print. OK, and…..? What is their point? Let me explain: their theory is that because an inkjet print is from a machine, it can’t possibly have any value as an investment. Wasn’t the Gutenberg Bible made with a machine? Just google “Gutenberg Bible” and see how much it costs to buy it (if you can find it being sold)! My point is simple: it is always about offer and demand. If people want something, no matter how low it is in intrinsic value, it is its rarity that commands price. Making limited edition signed giclee prints can be very profitable as long as you can build demand. Celebrity photographers, well known artists have been selling signed giclee prints at a high price point. The web site that is so against giclee as a valued process is doing a disservice to the people he/she is trying to elevate to an uncompromising “I-only-sell_originals” standard: the artist. In the process, he/she is hurting them: if he/she knew anything about how most artist live, he/she should should they spend countless hours drawing and painting. Once they sell the original, most are lucky if they worked roughly at minimum wage. Why not making giclee prints? Why not enjoying the fruit of labor for years to come? Why not having more people enjoy your art rather just just one individual or household? Giclee hater man, I am asking you, what is wrong with this picture?
