Giclee Prints.

Giclee is a french word which means "to spatter out", a term that refers to the way ink is applied to paper by a special large-format, ultra-high-resolution (2880 x 1440 dpi) 7-color ink-jet printer. Giclee prints are the most beautiful and accurate art reproductions that have ever been made; and now, using recently developed archival inks and papers, they are also among the most archival.

The great benefit of Giclee prints compared with other forms of reproduction is the truly stunning accuracy of the prints. In traditional reproduction technologies, the print production-line is something like this: 1) Painting, to 2) large-format photographic film, to 3) scanner, to 4) actual-size reproduction film, to 5) press plates, to 6) final print. Even with the very best equipment and technicians, this is a lot of steps, and each stage of the reproduction process removes a little more of the original information in the artwork - the "photocopy of a photocopy" analogy describes this problem well. With Giclee prints (in association with other improvements in image-reproduction technologies) the print production-line now looks like this: 1) Painting to, 2) large-format scan-back camera to, 3) final print. This is an enormous improvement with half as many steps. Even under high magnification the dot pattern is virtually invisible and the image appears to be continuous-tone - like the original artwork itself. There are no intermediate steps between the high-resolution 200 MB scan (about 4000 times more detailed than the 50 KB image-files on this web-site) and the final print, and so there is always complete control over the value and chromatic architecture of the image. Giclee prints achieve near-perfect fidelity to the original artwork - from across the room even I have have a hard time distinguishing print from original!

Smaller paintings should not be reproduced at larger than actual size, and so are available in the small format only; larger paintings are available in both small and large format, plus the canvas format. Giclee on Paper prints have a beautiful satin-finish. The Giclee on Canvas prints have the look and feel of an original artwork and offer the finest reproduction of the painting. Giclee prints are shipped rolled, in very sturdy shipping tubes or stretched. Giclee on Paper prints are meant to be framed under glass with acid-free mattboards;

Giclee prints are a little more expensive than other kinds of fine-art reproductions (the unit cost to produce Giclee prints is 20 to 30 times more expensive than other kinds of reproduction), but I have kept the edition sizes very small and collectable, and these are the most beautiful art prints in the world after all...