Why I Do Not Offer Limited Editions on My Digital Works

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          I simply offer all of my prints (standard photo prints, fine art Giclee paper prints, metal prints, posters, Giclees canvases, and greeting cards) as open editions. Here is why:

 

        Let's face it, if it’s digital art, I can reproduce that image limitless times and with no variation. The only "original" of digital art is on my hard drive and it will always be that way. When I photograph my original, real-world drawings and paintings with a digital camera, and create Giclee prints, they become open edition digital prints, because that is what they are, a digital file, just like my digital art.

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         Back in the day when limited editions originated, the term "Limited Edition" meant just that:  those items created, made for and pulled by the artist on a press, be it etchings, stone lithographs, linoleum or wood cuts, silk screenings, or serigraphs. Each "pull"  had unique variations and characteristics, because of the process. After the edition was created, the plates used by the artist were destroyed, and the edition was, in fact, truly limited. 

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        Today, with everything processed digitally, creating "limited editions" of digitally created and printed reproductions has become a marketing tool used to add urgency to a sale, or prestige to the product. It boils down to the process. No intelligent person believes more couldn’t easily be made. 

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        I do believe that a digital work produced in a small edition that has been made special by the artist (remarqued, hand-embellished, use of special printing techniques, mixed media, etc.) has a place in the market, and that its uniqueness can hold special meaning to the purchaser. But, garden variety digital prints should be unlimited.

 

                                                  If you love it, buy it. and enjoy it.

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