Wagging Tail, Severed Head
Is unscrupulous competition killing fine-art printmaking? Or has it killed it already, the movement we’re seeing today being just the tail wagging after the head has been severed? Either way, we are seeing the disappearance of the fine-art print as we know it. It’s being accosted on all sides by an insidious digital-copy business which has illicitly co-opted the language of printmaking and made it its own.
The digital revolution has given rise to two notable novelties which affect printmaking. Let’s start with the good news. Computers, clever image-creation/modification software and high-quality inkjet printers have enabled artists to create original digital images and print them with astonishing quality on a variety of substrates. These “digital prints,” did not enter into the generally-accepted definition of original fine-art prints elaborated by the French National Committee on Engraving in 1964, because they didn’t exist at the time, but today they have a legitimate claim to being considered fine-art prints.
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