What is a print?
The most common question I’m asked when I tell someone I’m an artist is, “what kind of art do you do?”
When I reply, “I’m a printmaker”, the most common reaction is a nod of feigned understanding.
Printmaking is the least known fine art medium, even though it has been sitting right under our noses for millennia. It has industrial roots, and was used to create everything from literature to wallpaper, long before the dawn of computers. The revolutionary invention of the letterpress is a more famous example of how printmaking has impacted history, but it’s played a huge role in the everyday for centuries. Propaganda posters, fashion catalogues, design; printmaking has had a hand in it all. It was even used to illustrate our cereal boxes!
But, what is it?
Printmaking is the process of creating multiple identical images, using what is called a “matrix”. No, we’re not talking about the Keanu Reeves movie. We’re talking about a flat surface that’s been manipulated to hold ink to create an image. The matrix can take many forms (I swear, we’re not talking about the Keanu Reeves movie!!) depending on what type of print is to be created. In the fine art world, a group of these identical images is called an “edition”. Each image in the edition is considered an original piece of art. Traditionally, the matrix is destroyed after the edition has been completed to ensure the integrity and value of the prints in the edition.
Hand pulled, fine art prints are often confused with industrially produced prints. The latter are high-quality copies of original images, yet not original pieces of art themselves, like the former. It can be hard to spot the difference without training, but there are a few dead giveaways:
The amount of prints. Hand pulled prints take time, and the matrix can only survive so many printings before it deteriorates. If a print is numbered in the hundreds, it is unlikely to be a fine art print.
The signature. Most industrially reproduced prints are copied from paintings and drawings. If you see a signature on the image itself and not below, this indicates that it is a copy of an original, not an original itself.
The quality. Does it look like a poster? Is the paper shiny, like a photograph? That’s likely because it’s been produced by a computer printer.
Printmaking is an intricate process and is definitely my favourite medium. I’ll be sure to talk about it more another day, but in the meantime, check out this quick little video about printmaking!