Digital Art on Giclee

So, you think you can paint? No, i didn't. I never thought i could, or ever would. My life's been thrust all over the place, by every circumstance, folly and mistake. Woe is me? No way! I owe up to everything. Maybe, maybe, every experience was all necessary to hone my person, and to bring me to where i am meant to be. Don't most artists share a unique difficult and creative journey?

'Dream on', and never say never! I like to say that to anyone who have yet to realize his or her life's ultimate passion or ambition. "Camera to Canvas" was the title given for my first art exhibit, featuring 100 of my photo-digital art work. It was a feat, a milestone for a late bloomer and artist wannabe. It was a dream come true. I am not your traditional artist who paints with brush, using oils and acrylic on canvas.Thank God! I am not good at cleaning up mess. I would probably kill myself mixing paint, or drown in my own pile of canvas! My tools include cameras, computers and various programs to produce digital artwork. Still, I remain an avid lover of old art by the worlds celebrated Masters. It does not matter that my art will never measure up to theirs. Their lives and artistry will always serve as my inspiration. Like them, i will be true to myself and my craft. The history art revolutionaries that they were, i feel very much connected, especially with the group called, the "Impressionists" who fought a daunting battle for recognition. Given, we face the same challenge as modern day digital artists.

The very first time i saw my artwork printed on a Giclee canvas, i felt like i had painted a masterpiece of an art. I cannot forget that 'rush'. I cried.

Today's artists have every reason to celebrate technology, and how it has opened up so many avenues and possibilities for the art we so love. The well to explore is so wide and deep, personally, i know i have barely scratched the surface with my medium. Already it thrills me to no end. Digital art is an amazing field, a new revolution, and i feel very fortunate to be part of.

Thankfully, and finally, Digital Photography, Digital Art and digital printing has become an acceptable medium of creation and presentation by major museums and galleries. The work of digital artists has definitely gained ground, through robotic installation, net art, immersive virtual reality and software art. But the work of artists who produce digital paintings and digital print makers is beginning to find acceptance, as the output capabilities advance and quality increases. Many museums around the world are now beginning to collect digital art such, as the San Jose Museum of Art and the Victoria and Albert Museum.

They say, the reason why the established art community is finding it difficult to accept digital art is the 'erroneous' perception of digital prints being endlessly reproducible. Many artists though are erasing the relevant image file after the first print, to make it a unique artwork. "The availability and popularity of photograph manipulation software has spawned a vast and creative library of highly modified images, many bearing little or no hint of the original image. Using electronic versions of brushes, filters and enlargers, these "Neographers" produce images unattainable through conventional photographic tools". Also, digital artists are able to manipulate scanned drawings, paintings, collages or lithographs, as well as using any of the above-mentioned techniques in combination. Part of my art process involves the use of many sources of electronic information and programs to create my work.

Traditional artists paint on canvas with either oils or acrylic. Canvas is an extremely heavy-duty plain-woven fabric typically stretched across a wooden frame. Today's Digital artists are using what is called, Giclee.

Numerous examples of giclee prints are found in New York City at the Metropolitan Museum, the Museum of Modern Art, and the Chelsea Galleries. Recent auctions of giclee prints have fetched $10,800 for Annie Leibovitz, $9,600 for Chuck Close, and $22,800 for Wolfgang Tillmans (April 23/24 2004, Photographs, New York, Phillips de Pury & Company.)

What is GICLEE CANVAS? (Info c/o gicleeprint.net)

The Definition: Giclee (zhee-klay) - The French word "giclée" is a feminine noun that means a spray or a spurt of liquid. The word may have been derived from the French verb "gicler" meaning "to squirt".

The Process: Giclee prints are created typically using professional 8-Color to 12-Color ink-jet printers. Among the manufacturers of these printers are vanguards such as Epson, MacDermid Colorspan, & Hewlett-Packard. These modern technology printers are capable of producing incredibly detailed prints for both the fine art and photographic markets. Giclee prints are sometimes mistakenly referred to as Iris prints, which are 4-Color ink-jet prints from a printer pioneered in the late 1970s by Iris Graphics.

The Advantages: Giclee prints are advantageous to artists who do not find it feasible to mass produce their work, but want to reproduce their art as needed, or on-demand. Once an image is digitally archived, additional reproductions can be made with minimal effort and reasonable cost. The prohibitive up-front cost of mass production for an edition is eliminated. Archived files will not deteriorate in quality as negatives and film inherently do. Another tremendous advantage of giclee printing is that digital images can be reproduced to almost any size and onto various media, giving the artist the ability to customize prints for a specific client.

The Quality: The quality of the giclee print rivals traditional silver-halide and gelatin printing processes and is commonly found in museums, art galleries, and photographic galleries.

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