CANVAS VS METAL VS ACRYLIC FINE ART PHOTOS

Before you decide on which you are going to invest in, think twice! Did you notice that I did say the word “invest”? Ahhh… Yes, I did. While Metal prints are somewhat easy to come by and very inexpensive, be very weary. As the words “archival” and “metal print” will never be in the same sentence. At the very least, those two words should not be in the same sentence, as dye sublimation is not an archival process of fine art reproduction from a multi-generational point of view in any capacity. While metal prints can be very pretty and they do have the curb appeal of having a lower price tag, the saying “you get what you pay for” could come haunting you a lot sooner than you might come to expect! Oftentimes you will never find an artist offering metal prints openly admit that these prints are not meant to last for long. Just place a metal print in indirect sun for a couple of years in any normal home setting and compare it to a newly sublimated work and you will immediately see a significant degradation of the artworks vibrance, color and feel. This may come as a surprise and may shock you initially as many artists and collectors alike will have no idea why this is as no one speaks about it; however, the medium was never meant as a means of archival reproduction technology to begin with.

While Metal prints or Aluminum prints known popularly as dye sublimation prints are shiny, vivid and inexpensive, the luster is short lived and for those looking for a temporary, non-legacy, non-archival means of short-term display; they work great! However, being that the reality is that most no one would invest thousands of dollars in any type of artwork if they knew it would soon fade to a subdued tone before your children even get out of grade school, is a significant drawback to further exploring the medium if you are looking for longevity in any capacity!

Before we place the cart before the horse it should be stated that fine art is something that does have a responsibility to be of its nature and merit “fine” to a definition in my opinion. When I think Fine Art Photography or Fine Art in general, I tend to think of the very best. Whether the very best means the art, subject matter or reproduction method, many can deduce that some aspects are in the eye of the beholder, however there is one thing that cannot be out maneuvered or covered up. The reality is that if anyone expects to call art FINE in nature, I believe we can all agree that it should be made with the best ingredients available without question or hesitation. As artists I believe we should be held to a higher standard and not simply sell something with a sub level of quality index to make a profit and still call it Fine Art. I believe that we have a fiduciary obligation to our collectors to create the best we know the market to offer and certainly do not dance around the term “fine” as a means to dress something up that doesn’t fit the measure of responsibility, we owe to those who believe in our work enough to buy it with their hard-earned money. At the very least, I see it as imperative that when you sell a good, service or product that a full disclosure be made to the collector that they are in fact “not” purchasing a lifetime grade of archival reproduction methodology and as such it has a shelf life to it.

With that said, I will talk a little bit about Canvas prints, also known as giclee prints. These prints are very pretty and most often suited to oil painters rather than photography given its grainy, textured canvas appearance and feel. Canvas prints or giclée’s as they are known in the art world have been around for years, arguably much longer than acrylic prints or dye sublimation. However, over the decades my Mother Ruth Mayer has made her business of selling limited edition giclee reproduction prints. The truth is that you must be extremely smart about who and how you create these prints. If the weave is not tight enough or if it is too tight, it can cause sagging prior to stretching onto the frames. Additionally, giclee’s are printed onto a coated canvas substrate, then if done properly, they are spray sealed. I will caution that my Mother spent decades refining this process in order to achieve an archival level of reproductive quality that print makers these days simply do not understand, nor do they employ the correct technique and chemical composite blends. What can happen is that the sealers opaque, crack or yellow over time depending upon the environment that the final reproduction rests in. Now this can be very unnerving because unless you really focus on experimenting with longevity and elasticity in your sealer formulas, you will have significant warranty work in your future. With canvas, you won’t see as much fading as you will see sealer issues over time with your prints and for this reason, I simply warn those who use this method to understand the technology and question the print master in depth prior to the proofing process as not all giclée’s are created equally!

I will now talk about the acrylic print! Hands down in my opinion the best method of reproduction for fine art photography and unfortunately, also the most expensive substrate to print on. Now these prints also have their own issues, and I will discuss them here and the ways that you can work with your print master to ensure there are no issues moving forward. First, the prints and the inks are the most robust, with little if no generational degradation. Where you will see any issues is with backing laminates and frames. Most of all artists who choose to use acrylic as their chosen medium, congratulations, you have chosen the correct path for your name, your work and most importantly your collector! However, if you decide to shortcut and cut costs by utilizing dibond or comatex backers along with aluminum recess mount frames, here is where you will run into trouble!

First, acrylic is poured hot and has a denser composition and coefficient than both comatex and dibond. As a result, when comatex of dibond is laminated to the back of your acrylic face mounted print, you will absolutely have issues with the relative coefficient densities as they react to temperature changes through the seasons within a home, see impacts to the way the artwork will bow and warp! Often with these processes you will see a rejection ratio of close to 80% over a period of less than five years! Which means that many artworks will simply just fall off of the adhesive frames onto collectors’ floors! This is not what you want in any capacity and as a result, if you want to do this the right way, you must print using an acrylic face mount and an acrylic backer. If you finish all of your prints in this way, the relative coefficient for both sides of the laminate will remain the same and have the longest lifetime use case possible. Now fortify this with the knowledge that aluminum frames do not have the surface area required to properly adhere the final artwork to the frame for a guaranteed lifetime use case. In essence you must use kiln dried, heat treated sticks of molding that has at least 2.5 to 3 inches of flat surface area in order to have enough adhesive in order to facilitate responsible lifetime use case scenarios for archival fine art scenarios.
While there are many options available for you to reproduce your fine art editions, there is really only one way to do it with responsibility and should you choose any of the other alternative options, it should be made very clear to the consumer that these other forms of reproduction are not archival and as such will not do well over time in most use case scenarios. Even the best can have its flaws if attention is not paid to the details. The above-mentioned traits, qualities and attributes are only a rough guidance as to how these different mediums hold up to the test of time, however I believe they are very important topics to discuss when speaking about Fine Art Photography and the sale, selling or sales of your artwork!

The last thing that you would ever want is to have your good name tarnished because of oversight and once the damage has been done, in many cases it can be too little too late. So always make sure that you are informed and take a very hands-on approach to your reproduction methods. Make sure to create a bond and a close relationship with your print master, that way you can ensure your clients. That they are getting the very best from the ground up, which ensures that you are creating artworks deserving of the term Fine Art!