The Print is the Performance - A lot of heat but not much light
The American master of photography, Ansel Adams, said "The
negative is comparable to the composer's score, and the print to
its performance." That holds true today as much as it did
when first uttered. Although in the digital age the discussion
about the print generates more heat than light.
Artists have been producing prints for eons using a variety of
techniques. Etching, lithograph, mezzotint and more recently
serigraph (the fancy name for silk screen printing) have been
used by the likes of Rembrandt through to Warhol. Each used the
best technology available to them to transfer their ideas on to
their chosen paper support.
Today in the 21st Century as the internal combustion engine has
replaced the horse and buggy as a preferred means of transport
so digital printing has replaced its predecessors. From the
glicee to the home printer the quality and the supports
available has blossomed in the past few years. Now artists and
photographers can print on canvas, watercolour paper and papers
specially designed to compliment the technology to mention a
few.
The quality of their prints will rival if not surpass those that
have come before, even those printed on the humble home printer.
Yes, it will change its appearance over time but then so will an
oil painting. The occupation of painting conservation is a long
and honourable one.
One web site I visited whilst researching this article offered a
life time guarantee against fading. Great marketing hype and a
pretty safe bet. Fading will happen very slowly and over a
considerable length of time. What you will compare the fading
against if you even notice it has me beat.
Pollution, ultra violet light and changes in temperature extract
their toll on any artefact. If a few common sense precautions
are taken, your grand children will be admiring your choices as
they contemplate their mid life crisis. Protect them from
accidental damage, framed under glass is a good bet. Keep them
out of harsh light and extremes of temperature, your car's
dashboard is not a good place for any work of art, not too good
for anything come to think about it.
If purchasing via the internet a no questions asked right of
return your purchase if it doesn't meet expectations is
reasonable. The item you hold in your hand will differ from what
you saw on the screen. For starters it is a different medium and
a monitor's calibration will vary in accord with its user's
preferences. What you see on your screen is bound to be
different to what I am seeing.
With myriad of printing choices out there today, there are many
ways a print may strut its stuff. That it will do so for an
acceptable length of time is a given. The life of the subject
matter you choose is an entirely different question.