Re: A last word on giclee

Guillermo,

"Giclée” has been in the common vernacular of printmakers for quite some time. I don’t know if it was first applied to inkjet in general or IRIS prints initially. The first I saw the term used was in 1992 or 1994 in a national print competition. I can assure you the prints were not IRIS prints. My belief is the term originated in academia assuming it would have taken several years for a large enough body of printmakers to embrace the concept that an inkjet image technically qualified as a print by fulfilling the requirement that an image must be transferred from a matrix (digital and not physical in this case) to the surface receiving the ink. Still today, not all printmakers consider inkjet/giclee a valid printmaking technique since there is no physical matrix.

That was certainly a time when concerns of quality and archival issues were obvious in the new technology. Print drastically faded in a matter of days in direct sun and a splash of water washed it away. Still today, not all printmakers consider inkjet/giclee a valid printmaking technique since there is no direct physical matrix.

>What distinguish giclee inkjet prints from non-giclee inkjet prints is the material used archival characteristics.

Guillermo, this assumption is the false logic that concerns me about the issue, because the term’s usage is not universal. Many who pioneered or use the term understand it to be pejorative synonym for the inkjet process. There is no implied quality or longevity.

Giclee is a term coined as a double entendre, used to hide the production method from the public while trying to mystify a most mundane process. I urge all not to embrace this nomenclature because it is based on deception, and exploited by charlatans.

I do not contest that inkjet printers are capable of printing photo quality images. Further, no matter how long Epson’s 100-200 year archival qualities eventually prove to last, there is no doubt they will extend far beyond the lifetime of photographic color prints.

>… So I'd say, that if people don't want to live in a dead end street, call it "Cul-de->Sac", if galleries won't take your high quality, archival ink jet prints. call them >"Giclee prints", hopefully once the "inkjet" connotation is removed from
>your print, people will judge your work by its own artistic merits.

Here we are now, in the photographic discipline, trying to overcome the technological stigma that printmaker have dealt with for nearly15 years. How do you establish credibility and imply inherent quality and value to your inkjet image, when the general public perceives that the inkjet printer on their desk along with their digital cameras are capable of making the same product?

Rather than sleeping with dogs, be forthright and call it what it truly is, a “direct pigment transfer archival print”.

Though 20 years old, inkjet technology may prove to be one of the most important inventions of the 20th Century far beyond art applications, but as it applies to general manufacturing, drug technology, fuel consumption, building construction, etc. If you haven’t read the following article, I highly recommend it. Many libraries have web sites that allow reading magazine articles on line through their websites.

Title: THERE'S A HERO ON YOUR DESKTOP
Authors: Daley, Jason
Source: Popular Science; Feb2005, Vol. 266 Issue 2, p53-57

Mike "Chrome Dome"

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