The Impact of Giclée

James Faure-Walker's gallery representative points out, however, 'how a small limited edition of Giclée prints was more appetising to the client'.
Digital technology also makes it possible for artists to test the market by printing a few images before deciding on a full edition. The probable consequence is that more prints, with a variable quality, will be available at the marketplace, and probably lower the prices even more.

The value of a work of art depends, however, not only on the availability, but also above all on the quality of the artwork and the marketing skills of the artist and his/her representatives.

"Democracy" Via the Nozzles of an Inkjet Printer
Giclée and digital ink jet is the ultimate 'reproducible art' since it does not truly even begin to exist until it has been 'reproduced'. Walter Benjamin points out that the lack of 'presence' in reproducible art is made up somewhat by the reproduction's ability to be in several places at different times. Reproducible art can be energised by wide distribution and affordable prices. Based on the increasing use of computers, Internet and the World Wide Web art is now even closer to the people, artists and art works have the possibility to come into people's home. I would argue that we are now on the threshold of real democratised art.

An image being digitised, composed by the use of a computer, sent by Internet to another artist who works further on the image, raises questions regarding which image is the original and who owns the output.
Digital ink jet gives new possibilities to the existing art market as well as opening new markets, and digital ink jet can be a monoprint, a limited edition or an open edition. The potential for large numbers of people to collect and appreciate artwork created with a computer cannot be overlooked as a significant breakthrough for artists and the art market.

A Shift Towards Digital Print in Future Art
Digital printmaking, not unlike photography and silkscreen in their infancy, has been the target of scepticism. In this chapter it is examined if the scepticism is still extensive, with the intention to evaluate if there is a shift towards digital print in Fine Art. A shift is defined as a 'move or change or cause to move or change from one position to another' or 'change of direction' .

Artists and Digital Ink Jet
Historically artists have adopted or rejected new technology and new processes according to their vision, ideas and expressive needs. Already in 1968 Jasia Reichardt curated an exhibition called "Cybernetic Serendipity" at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London (I.C.A.), which explored and developed the relationship between technology and creativity, forecasting the prospect of outputting prints from a computer. Harold Cohen was another early entrepreneur when he displayed a plotter creating non-representational line drawings at the Tate Gallery in 1983, based on his mini-computer program called Aaron.

In the USA, Giclée and digital ink jet have developed at a faster pace than in Europe. Major print studios are dealing exclusively in the creation of digital prints, like Muse [X] Editions, established in 1995 'to meet the creative needs of the expanding synergy between the worlds of contemporary fine art and digital technology'. To get an indicator if a shift is occurring, digital print studios were asked who their clients are, and the replies shows that both nationally as well as internationally well-known artists use their digital print service.

David Hockney, Roni Horn, Vinca Petersen, Stephen Shore, James Faure-Walker, Catherine Yass, Sarah Lucas, Uta Barth, John Hilliard, Richard Hamilton, Matt Collishaw, Julian Opie, Catherine Opie, Robert Rauschenberg and Peter Haley were among the artists mentioned when museums and galleries were asked if they could name some internationally well-known artists using the inkjet technology.

Artists and museums were also asked if they had received any negative reactions or criticisms against Giclée or inkjet print. None of the museums responded that they had received any negative reaction, but one third of the artists had. As Pedro Meyer says: 'Very much so. Any change always creates a lot of negative reaction at first. It goes with the territory.' Paul Jackson's view is that:

Even though there has been scepticism regarding the use of digital technology among artists and curators, an increasing number of internationally-known artists are using this technology to create and print art. As Stephen Shore says: 'Artists use what works for them'.

Exhibitions
In the early 1990s, there were few exhibitions showing art created by digital technology. Some entrepreneurs like Martin Reiser, who curated the "The Electronic Print" exhibition in 1989 at the Arnolfini Gallery in Bristol, were active. More recently Sue Gollifer has originated and curated "ArCade I" in 1995, the first open International Exhibition of Electronic Fine Art Prints in Britain, and subsequently "ArCades II" in 1998 and "ArCades III" in 2001. In the USA, Diana Michener's "Solitaire" was exhibited at Pace MacGill Gallery in 1997, and at The Corcoran Gallery of Art Gordon Parks retrospective "Half Past Autumn" was shown in 1998. At the 21st International Biennial, at Ljubljana in Slovenia some computer prints were represented in the exhibition, and they were given equal status to etchings, lithographs and other original prints.

From May 2002 till March 2003 the "Design Now" space in the 20th Century Gallery at the Victoria & Albert Museum has been turned into a digital laboratory. Eighteen artists have been invited, and an on-line interactive exhibition digital responses will show new works every month to mirror the changes in the actual exhibition. The project is curated by Professor Paul Coldwell and is a contribution to a joint research project, "The Integration of Computers within Fine Art Practice," between Camberwell College of Arts and Chelsea College of Art and Design. Artists working throughout Britain at other centres of research including Goldsmiths, Gray's School of Art, University of Lancashire, Wimbledon School of Art, University of Plymouth and Norwich School of Art are included.

Since the beginning of the 1990's there has been an increase in exhibitions focusing on digital art and print technology. Some galleries like Colville Place Gallery in London specialise in exhibiting digital prints. There are also a growing number of web galleries like www.londonart.co.uk, www.podgallery.com and www.dam.org.

Museums
In summer 2002 Tate Gallery had around 50 Giclée or ink jet works, Victoria & Albert Museum around 12 with more acquisitions likely and Museum of Modern Art in New York about 55 works - so far most of the art works are on paper. The Summer Exhibition 2002 at Royal Academy of Art in London had 17 Giclée and digital print works on display. While artists are gaining acceptance in certain museums, others still resist digital prints. B. Allen Bayard, argues:

There is still a tendency for many collectors and printmakers to be cynical about digital processes. The Museum of Modern Art states however, that:
digital processes and ink jet printing are becoming increasingly utilised by artists and increasingly accepted within the art world.

Many US curators today will say: "Yes, I would purchase a digital print for our collection, but not because it is a digital print."

Tate Britain has a policy on display or purchase that is not process led.
"If a work is considered worthy of our attention then it is considered regardless of media," they say.

Medium and Technique are Increasingly Secondary Issues
Instead of a question of medium and technique, it is more a question about the appropriateness of the technique, the quality of idea and materials chosen to support the artist's vision. According to The Museum of Modern Art Ink jet printing is by now fairly well accepted as just another tool or medium available for artists to use.

This opinion is shared by Helena Chapellin Wilson who is a member of the Committee on Photography at The Art Institute of Chicago, and on the acquisition committee for the Museum of Contemporary Photography at Columbia College Chicago. "My experience has been that the digital work from all media have been accessioned into museum collections."

Southampton City Art Gallery informs that among others the Guggenheim, Museum of Fine Arts, the Kennedy Centre for Performing Arts, the National Museum of Mexico, the San Jose Museum and The British Museum have mounted exhibitions or purchased Giclée/digital ink jet for their permanent collections.

Other Shift Indicators
Recently, the British Standards Institute (BSI), in collaboration with groups such as the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers, has included digital ink jet in its categories of prints in section A.8., "New Technology Processes." The Fine Art Trade Guild Court approved a new print standard on 22nd of March 2001, incorporating Giclée standards for the first time. The International Association of Fine Art Digital Printmakers (IAFADP) offers information and working on standards for digital ink jet. Originating in the States, it now has become a worldwide organisation; the IAFADP Euro chapter was inaugurated in 1998.

The EU, through the European Commission's "Culture 2000" initiative, supports a year long project, 'The Digital Surface within Fine Art Practice', and Tate Britain will host an international conference in summer 2003 to disseminate the results.

Digital in the Marketplace
Another element in evaluating how well digital ink jet and Giclée is accepted is how the market accepts these works. According to Hunter Editions, USA, the Giclée market is growing at more than 60 percent annually. In a $2.8 billion print market dominated by lithographs and serigraphs, Giclée sales now total $160 million annually. Brad Faine at Coriander studio in London says that the future will be digital: "In our case, already about twenty per cent of our turnover is created by inkjets."

Sources report that, in the USA, approximately 80 % of new images are now being produced by digital print technology with stagnation of traditional print methods, especially lithographs and screen prints.

PODGallery, however, predicts a different digital future and believes that:

And Pedro Meyer asserts: "Information technology is going to be the way fine art is going to be printed."

Conclusion
It is evident from the discussions in the previous chapters that Giclée and digital ink jet have had, and will continue to have a significant impact on fine art. Digital technology can be used to produce Giclée as a reproduction of art originally created by traditional methods. The term 'digital ink jet' should be used for original artworks created by the use of a computer and digital print technology.

Art is about ideas, and technology gives new possibilities for ideas. The medium has always been closely linked to the idea and intention of the work. Digital technology requires, however, another set of skills than those traditionally associated with being an artist. Managing these skills opens up new process routes and enables new ways of thinking, increasing the scope of art and contributes to its diversity.

A work of art is basically defined by its content, form and context. By use of digital technology the content can be broaden by 'synthesising', hybridisation and global collaboration between artists. The form of the image can be altered by new printing possibilities and substrates, and the context widened by the use of global electronic media.

The computer technique significantly speeds up the process of moving an image from the artist's mind to presentation. Digital technology offers the opportunity to manipulate, control and re-digitise for further creative development. Digital images have the potential to become 'indefinite images' open to revision, evolution, collaborative manipulation and cross-disciplinary utilisation via the Internet. Images can exist as both printed and electronic data. Virtual museums and galleries open new opportunities for exhibiting, marketing and selling digital ink jet and Giclée.

The challenge now is to move on from the legacy of traditional art to a broader definition of its possibilities, creating a synergy between old and new processes, opening new areas of freedom and diversity. Instead of replacing traditional media, it seems that digital technologies are giving some of these media new life and encourages new process routes.

Giclée and digital ink jet can be regarded as a print, a photograph or as a painting depending on the artist's vision and intention. In the evolving development of digital technology, artworks can now be duplicated, distributed, and transformed quickly and easily. Rules and regulations cannot fully resolve the complex issue of originality, authenticity and ownership that digital art raise.

Walter Benjamin's essay, "The work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction," is essential when discussing the consequences of reproducible art. It can be argued that with digital print there is no physical original, and digital print might be seen as the ultimate reproducible art, having a 'presence' both as a physical object and virtually on the World Wide Web. The "aura" has diminished, and with Internet and World Wide Web there is a possibility of real democratised art. The art market's prevailing concept of limited editions is also influenced by the inkjet's ability to print unlimited numbers with the same high quality.

Digital ink jet is being used by many internationally known artists, exhibited and bought by internationally well reputed museums and galleries, accepted by international standards and taught at many art schools all over the world. Based on these facts it is evident that there is a shift towards digital print in future fine art.

Our profound thanks to Mamta Herland for this fundamental contribution to the World Printmakers archives.

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