The Big Picture - May 2013 - (Page 22)

Taking the Fine-Art Plunge Four companies embracing ﬁne art and artists. by Adrienne Palmer “Fine art is that in which the hand, the head, and the heart of man go together,” said John Ruskin, the leading English art critic of the Victorian era. Similarly, ﬁ ne-art printing involves the hand, the head, and the heart as well, but also the scanner or camera, the printer, the media, the laminate, and the right team for the job. If you have the tools and the team, and you’re looking for a way to expand your shop’s oﬀerings, ﬁne-art printing is an output niche to consider. It can develop into a lucrative specialty if you’re willing to master the craft, understand the subtleties of the artist’s eye, work the details, and realize that there may be speed-bumps along the way. Some of these bumps might include: precise image capture; ﬁ le manipulation; color matching and management; and, of course, output that has to meet sometimesunrealistic customer expectations. The four companies we proﬁ le here have managed to ﬁnd ways to address and balance all of these challenges and others in unique ways in their operations. As a result, they have succeeded in their embrace of ﬁne-art printmaking and serving their respective clients. Eye Buy Art: Art for the masses Eye Buy Art’s strategy is to “reach large, uncontested markets with aﬀordable editions, and to appeal to the sophisticated collector of emerging art,” says Emily McInnes, 22 THE BIG PICTURE MAY 2013 director of the Toronto-based business. “We want more people buying art.” The carefully curated online art gallery represents emerging photographers from Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. More than 50 artists regularly work with the company to have reproductions of their artwork created and then sold, plus Eye Buy Art has shipped to 22 countries and continues to expand. The buying customers at Eye Buy Art – the consumers purchasing its artists’ works – are “seeking a reliable source for emerging art, that want guidance on how to build a collection,” says McInnes, so the company is picky about the artists they choose; they have to be invited just to send in an application. “We look at photographers who have won the annual juried Flash Forward Competition, or who have been recommended to us by a team of insider curatorial advisors,” says McInnes. “This is an important aspect of what we do. We oﬀer ﬁne art that is aﬀordable and that has a high degree of integrity and potential to increase in value. We do this by working with a jury of professionals in the ﬁeld of art and photography who are at the leading edge of what they do – they are on the ground and in the know.” Eye Buy Art does none of its own printing, instead choosing to serve as the liaison between artist and print provider. About two years ago, the company made a printprovider switch to Toronto Image Works (torontoimageworks.com), founded by photographer Edward Burtynsky. http://www.torontoimageworks.com http://www.torontoimageworks.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Big Picture - May 2013

The Big Picture - May 2013
Contents
InSight
Wide Angle
UpFront
Graphics on the Go
Textile Printing’s Transformation
Advances in Rollfeds
Taking the Fine-Art Plunge
Ink Quest 2013
R+D
Explorer

The Big Picture - May 2013