Blog: A Guide To Collecting Fine Art Prints: Types And Where To Buy
Starting your art collection can be intimidating and overwhelming at first, especially if you are a newcomer to the world of art. If you don’t know where to begin, then you may consider kicking off your collection by acquiring fine art prints.
Why Should You Collect Fine Art Prints?
Fine art prints are not just reproductions of original artworks. What makes these prints one-of-a-kind is that they are produced from a close collaboration between artists and print studios. In essence, these hold potential for innovation and offer a unique creative outlet to the artists’ primary medium.
What Are the Types of Fine Art Prints?
Giclee
Giclee is the French art term for inkjet printing.
Contrary to popular belief, inkjet printing is more than just your average home or office printing. Fine art landscape photography prints that use this type of printmaking technique is at par with the quality of artworks showcased in galleries and museums.
Lightjet
Lightjet art prints are characterized by their ultra-smooth texture. This printing technique involves spraying millions of small dots onto the paper and continuous tone prints from a laser.
Museum-grade cotton rag
Museum-grade cotton rags are considered the most archival type of fine art paper. They are generally thicker than most fine art photography papers.
Canvas print
Museum-grade canvases are heavily textured, which means they can obscure minuscule details.
While this printing method can be used for wide landscape photography prints, this is not recommended for art prints with intimate elements.
Metal dye-sublimation
Fine art prints that were printed using metal dye-sublimation are produced through a high-pressure thermal transfer process on thin sheets of aluminum. At present, this type of print substrate is the most commonly used and considered as the most durable.
Acrylic face mount
The acrylic face mount is a luxury fine art printmaking technique that is most suitable for colorful fine art landscape photography prints. This involves dry mounting the fine art print flush against a plexiglass acrylic or museum-quality “glass.”
Where Should You Buy Fine Art Landscape Photography Prints?
Art fairs
Arts and crafts fairs allow artists and photographers to set up their booths to sell and promote their art. This type of event is perfect for newbie art enthusiasts so they can explore different types of art, buy unique artworks, and support artists.
Online stores
Some online stores offer mass-produced artworks for affordable prices.
If you are looking for cheap decor, then you can shop at these sites. However, keep in mind that the quality of fine art prints from these websites is often sacrificed to meet profit margin targets.
Photography galleries
If you are serious about investing in fine art prints and have the money to shell out for artworks, then you can head to photography galleries.
Since galleries have overhead costs for maintaining an art space with framing and lighting, art pieces in galleries are usually more expensive than in art fairs, stores, and other sources.
Conclusion
Collecting fine art prints is an enjoyable hobby, but the process of searching for the perfect type of print and knowing where to look can be daunting. To jumpstart your journey of collecting art, you can look for a talented artist or photographer to buy their artwork and ask for advice.
Whether you are a long-time art collector or a new art enthusiast, you can turn to me for help in collecting fine art landscape photography prints. Reach out to me anytime, and I will get back to you as soon as I can!