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Publishing
State of the art rendition
What is a
VirtualOriginal™
Giclée?
by
Erik Ciel
Publisher/Art
Consultant
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In one sentence: An uncompromising reproduction of an original
painting. When I coined and trademarked the name
VirtualOriginal™, my
purpose was to characterize both our proprietary printing
process and its end result. My goal and that of the artists I
represent was to give their collectors reproductions so true
that the prints were 'virtually' indistinguishable from the
originals. |
 any
people felt this was a silly, purposeless goal; even some artists
and printmakers said, “Why waste your time? They’re never going to
see the original; they’ll never know the difference.”
What they didn’t get then, and many
still don’t, is that unless they are striving to give you as much of
the magic of the original as possible, then what they are selling
you is a glorified, watered down copy. As my friend,
Academy Award winner,
David Coons said recently, “Many printers know what to do, they
just don’t do it.”.
The Difference
The difference between giving you “just
a print” as opposed to a VirtualOriginal™ hinges upon factors too
numerous to mention and bore you with. Yet still, even though all
the elements in theory are equal, some are more equal than others.
Foremost among the equal is putting the best technology into the
hands of a printmaker who has absolute command of it and is also
possessed of an unwavering commitment to excellence.
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'High
level, fine art print making is a profession, not a hobby.' |
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The Printmaker
We live in a day and age where
technology is often seen as a panacea rather than a tool – the
answer to everything that ails you almost. Of course fine art print
making is a technology top heavy business, but all that
technology is like a ship set adrift without a master print maker at
its helm. It is the printmaker who must steer a work of art through
the technological labyrinth that can lead to a riveting giclée. It
is his job to balance a subjective awareness of an artist’s intent
with totally un-subjective, unforgiving hardware and software that
cannot understand art.
A printmaker must push the technology to
its limits, yet keep his role transparent. The best see themselves
as an extension of their artists’ arsenal of tools; helping the
artist bring a level of quality and power to their prints that would
be almost impossible for them to achieve on their own. More about
that later; first though, you need a little background.
What exactly is a Giclée? –
pronounced "zhee-clay"
Jack Duganne, the renowned print maker,
coined the term Giclée in the early 1990’s. Just to be sure of my
facts, I asked Jack personally how he came up with it.
Here is his reply, and I quote: “The
word giclée is based specifically upon the French word for ‘nozzle’
which is ‘gicleur’. The verb ‘to spray’ is ‘gicler’
and the direct object of spraying is ‘giclée’, or ‘that
which is sprayed by a nozzle’. It was created to separate fine
art digital prints from commercial digital prints – much like
serigraph is used to separate fine art silk screen prints from
commercial silk screens, like signs and banners.” End quote.
The second need giclée
addressed was to give you and me a short name for the process with a
nice ring and bit of mystique.
And finally, Giclée helped differentiate
this new generation of fine art prints from previous print making
methods; most notably four color offset lithographs. A giclée’s
image was the result of ink being sprayed, almost painted, onto
canvas or paper – with continuous tones and no discernable dots.
They yielded a richness of color and resolution no offset print
could match. Theoretically, the only limits being the color range of
the inks, the print heads, the quality of the scan, the substrata
used and the software running it all. What was truly exciting was
that even in 1991 the prints produced by Jack Duganne and fellow
Giclée pioneer David Coons were handily outstripping the old method
and pointing to the coming revolution in digital fine art
printmaking. Thus, a special name was justified, called for, sought
and found: Giclée!
Fast Forwarding to the Present
Where it is now possible for anyone with
the price of admission (and in many cases no experience) to buy
printing equipment capable of exceeding anything previously
available in history. Unfortunately, the equipment still can’t run
itself regardless of its potential.
And therein lies the rub; because today
many artists are hearkening to a siren song
(see: Circe
warns
Odysseus).
The lyrics go
like this: “Make the art, print the art and keep all the
money for yourself. We’ll show you how. We’ve made it so easy
anyone can do it.” Yep, sure they have.
High level, fine art
print making is a profession, not a hobby. Mastery of the
complexities and variables involved, and yielding exquisite results,
cannot be attained using a “systematized” approach designed to
submerge variables out of sight.
The Secret is the Same
The secret to producing a superb work of
art and a superb Giclée are exactly the same. In both cases, it is
not the ingredients you may have on hand; but rather, knowing how to
combine those ingredients creatively, intelligently, technically and
artistically in a way that transports your work beyond ordinary to
extraordinary.
Success?
It took a tremendous investment of time
and resources to enable us to produce works we finally felt
qualified as VirtualOriginals™. Was it worth it and did we succeed?
They say seeing is believing. If that is
so, then seeing so many people over the past year or two (including
experts in the field) literally mistaking our Virtual Originals™ for
originals tells me we did something right.
An Exciting Time to be an Artist
Today is one of the most exciting times
an artist could hope to live in. For the first time it is possible
to take all the talent, effort, sacrifice and suffering that go into
the creation of an original work and share it with many collectors.
Unlike the past, where too often a well heeled person bought the
original for a pittance and then carted it off; possibly never to be
seen again, while the artist went back to the drawing board and
starving.
True, exceptional art is not a
reflection of any one person or artist, but goes beyond
individuality and the finite. The best art can transport us beyond
ourselves and help connect us to the infinite. Such power, such
grace is meant to be shared, enjoyed and loved by the many – not
just the few, and today it can be.
Additional
Pertinent Information
What
is a “litho” or lithograph?
Please do not make
the mistake of grouping or associating Giclées with the old four
color offset litho (lithograph) of the past – the process still used
today for most printing we see, i.e. catalogs, newspapers, posters,
etc. Even a poorly done giclée usually has better color and
reproduction quality than an offset print.
How
long can I expect my Giclée to last?
Our Giclées are
produced with archival, pigmented inks. Pigmented inks are the most
stable of inks and are rated to last over 100 years.
What
do Museums think about Giclées?
Giclées have been
shown in museums and galleries throughout the world. Listed below
are a few of the museums that have shown Giclées and/or have Giclées
in their collections:
The Metropolitan
Museum (New York)
Los Angeles Museum
of Contemporary Art
The Corcoran
Gallery (Washington DC)
The Los Angeles
County Museum
Philadelphia
Museum of Art
Laguna Art Museum
San Francisco
Museum of Modern Art
Zimmerli Museum –
Rutgers Univ.
The New York
Public Library Collection
The Washington
Post Collection
The Butler
Institute of American Art
The British Art
Museum
Copyright © 2006 by Erik Ciel,
Publisher/Artist’s Representative.
Artists interested in having
VirtualOriginal™ Giclées of their works should contact Erik Ciel for
details and pricing, email:
Erik@VirtualOriginals.com.
Phone: 610_933_3380 East Coast.
VirtualOriginals™
is a trademark belonging to Erik Ciel. Only works published and
overseen by Erik Ciel and his associates may bear this trademark.
See also:
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