Embracing Giclee Printing
Understanding the credibility of Giclee printing can be quite be quite complicated within the realms of the art world for a variety of reasons, which often relate to judgmental assumptions. So I want to explain why I chose this method of printing for my work. Which relates to why other artists such as Warhol embraced screen printing, why Albrecht Durer chose etching and why Picasso used lithography amongst other techniques. And that is because artists choose methods and techniques to enables the realisation of their unique brand of imagery.
Printing itself is a means to realising an image and in my own case the Giclee technique feels like the only legitimate way I can realise my imagery on paper. The only technique that can pick up the detail, tone, hue and colour of my imagery with a permanent light fast product. The range of this technique even inspires me to take my imagery to the extremes, just so that I can see what is possible.
The limited edition prints I offer here are not reproductions of existing works, instead they are the true product of my creativity, each one as much the original as any other, just like Warhols screen prints. They are authentic works of art at an affordable price that can be printed in a variety of sizes. Prints which have evolved through years of development from over 4000 drawings and 8000 digital images. Prints of imagery which could not be made by any other technique and would not exist without the giclee process. A process which has allowed me to continue with my somewhat eccentric approach to art in which I do everything my way, by myself.
I first started workings on these print ideas about twenty years ago as a means of exploring my creative potential, not realising that one day they would become central to my artistic odyssey. Because back then I had no idea that they would lead to a unique form of artistic enquiry. The result of my search for imagery which could express the evolving possibilities of my creativity. However this work has met with resistance and is not accepted or embraced by those who represent my work, meaning that I as an artist am censored. Which is why I'm trying to promote my own work so that it can be seen as opposed to being hidden away like some guilty secret. And while I'm on this point, I must share with you the fact that I'm still meeting total resistance with regards help to the exhibiting my work. Yes I have 400 images proofed, ready to print and nowhere to exhibit them. And that is due to the crazy nature of society in which the true nature of art is all too often sacrificed.
In spite of how my work and ideas are received I continue to pursue what is a very important part of my oeuvre. And through the techniques of giclee printing I've found my way into understanding that my only obligation and responsibility as an artist is to realise the imagery which is unique to my own set of circumstances, no matter how I arrive at it. I've also learned to fight for what I believe in and to commit myself to making the art which I believe in. Yes I could have been a contender had I not discovered that true art was far too important to sacrifice. So whilst I think that techniques and traditions are all well and good, there's really no need to be a prisoner to them, as they can be an irrelevance in the development of imagery, as one searches for the freedom of expression without boundaries.
So when you look at the prints here on my website I would be happy if you could see them in the light which they were made and not with the prejudice that comes from the snobbery of the art world. The result of my polite and respectful enquiry into creative possibility, evolved through a growing understanding of my humanity. Works of art which are accessible and affordable for almost everyone apart from people who are as poor as me, who I'd gladly donate a piece to, as fellow victims of the economic tyranny delivered by capitalism.
Please have a beautiful day :)
