Well, I've decided to jump on the train (driven it seems by Jen Bekman...) while it's still slow moving and before it picks up too much momentum.
This picture is the first of my affordable edition prints and is available for only US$25.00 until the edition of 100 is all sold out - This is art you can't not afford to buy
Willow #7, Tin Can Hill - from the Immersive Landscapes - Boreal Forest/Precambrian Shield Project - is an 7 1/2"x9 1/2" pigment ink print on Silver Rag paper, signed and numbered on the reverse.
I'm following Julian Thomas' model of 25x100 - only100 prints for 25.00 each. But there are of course the existing smaller "traditional" editions available in 11x14 and 20x24
This picture is already in a couple of major collections - The Getty Museum Research Institute in LA and the Provincial Art Collection of Alberta.
Simply click on the link in the sideabar to buy (25.00 + 10.50 shipping to wherever you are).
(If you are in Canada, email me at the link in the sidebar, as shipping is a bit cheaper. I will also take USPS International Money Orders - again, email for details. And let me know if the Paypal button isn't working - it seems a bit fussy to set up...)
Finally, it was a comment by the inimitable Luis Gottandi that got me going seriously on this:
"If for no other reason, this is a good idea in that it breaks through the dominant marketing conventions of the day. Yes, I hope it works and taps into a fringe segment of the market that has been waiting for a long time for such an opportunity.
A lot of potential buyers have had to make do with posters and/or sidewalk-show imagery, yet are educated, savvy and hunger for more.
The world of the arts merchants has encysted itself in its own drag shadow for decades now, and is, historically speaking, overly ripe for change."
And why Looking Glass Editions? Perhaps turning things topsy turvy like Alice... and of course every photograph is in some ways like a mirror - and sometimes we only see as in a glass, darkly.
9 comments:
Tim, I think you are going to have a blast doing this. I've spent the weekend printing and packing - just been to the post office to send the first batch. I've had contact with people I'd never comunicated with before, people who watch my site, but who I didn't know existed. It is really nice to find homes for prints. oh, and I got the paypal button to work..!
As a driver of the movement, I think Brooks Jensen of Lenswork deserves more credit. He has been pushing real people prices for a while, and many photographers debated and responded long before Bekman's move. Of course, her initiative will help, and is well timed.
I hope this works well for you!
I think the difference with Brook is he doesn't think ANY prints should be big prices. The difference with Tim's approach is he is till producing larger sizes at 'real' prices. The gripe I'm beginning to see about this is that we are enforcing the idea that 'expensive' equals big size.
Agree with Julian about the size issue. The way the Beckman project is structured it seems that small prints are defined as cheap starter art rather than as an aesthetic choice.
I suppose the other way of looking at it is small edition equals bigger price. I'd really like to do some small work, maybe polaroid size. I'm working on something which is small prints, maybe 2x4 inches, stuck on board to make a bigger montage, although i guess that is stearing away from photography and into the 'art' category where the issues are different
Yes, I think there is a significant and important difference between Bekman's approach and Brooks Jensen's. Jensen appears to believe that ALL photography should really be valued at this level, which I think is simply wrong headed.
(I think there's a sort of libertarian/live-in-the-woods/isolationist/faux egalitarianism that feeds into a sort of chip on the shoulder anti-Art stance that can be seen in a certain area of photography which appears in many ways to be a peculiarly American phenomenon. You can see it in the numerous posts at somewhere like Paul Butzi's blog
Well, I agree with your last paragraph, but I didn't interpret Jensen as you do. Looking at his web page, his statement includes:
"I applaud the expensive and collectible artwork found in typical art galleries and in no way exclude photography from this category. I do, however, still believe there is a place for affordable images in the everyday lives of all of us who love images."
Doesn't sound all that different to me.
well, that's certainly different from what I recall of his early statements on the idea. It's also different from what appeared to be his stance in several discussions on the concept.
But in the context of his overall approach, I still think it is different from Bekman's in a way which I don't find really helpful
Unless he has changed his tune significantly over the last two or three years
Hi Tim,
I had ordered a print earlier of your Willow #7, I really liked it, the composition and tones were excellent. I went out the other day and tried to shoot something similar, the pics are at http://www.pbase.com/anilwarrier/chaotic_landscapes , take a look when you get time and let me know what you think.
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