Prices

I have yet to be asked to use Belgian linen, as opposed to the honest American cotton that, as I hear, actually comes from Argentina, but if that happens, I guess I’d just go out and buy some and hope “Belgian linen” does not mean “gold leaf” in a foreign language. In the main, however, the price I quote for a painting will be considered fixed and not subject to personal caprice, change of government, or choice of food on that particular day.

10 x 14 $1,000.00
12 x 16 1,250.00
14 x 18 1,500.00
16 x 20 2,000.00
20 x 24 2,500.00
24 z 30 3,500.00
24 x 36 4,000.00
30 x 36 4,500.00
30 x 40 5,000.00

If a larger size is needed - man, have you got some wall-space!







A standard contract reads something like this:

I, Brett Busang, will do a painting of your house for x amount of dollars within a reasonable length of time not exceeding the present administration. You will advance me a third of the price before I start; a third midway between conception and conclusion – or whenever you can tell that it’s your house and not those people over there pulling out of the garage - and the balance when I’m done and you’re pretty well satisfied. In the event that you’re not satisfied at this point, you can tell me what you’re not satisfied with and I’ll try to do it the way you want me to. However, if your dissatisfaction springs from a personal caprice, change of government, or choice of food that day, I promise you I’ll know and suggest we talk later.

You know, I like the wording of this contract so much I’m going to use it. I mean, starting NOW!


2) GICLEE PRINTS

Sunset, Brown’s Island 14 x 20 w/border two editions of 150 $150.00 unframed
South Bank of the James 24 x 20 w/border two editions of 150 $150.00 unframed
Tredegar 14 x 20 w/border two editions of 150 $150.00 unframed


What Are Giclee Prints?

I’ve tried to explain to people what giclee prints are and always thought I’d done a pretty good job. Nobody ever said “Explain that again!” Or, even worse: “Explain that again or I’ll hit you!” However, I think the best way to explain giclee prints is to say what they’re not.

They’re not etchings, which are drawn into a copper plate; the plate is bitten, inked, and run through a press. They are not lithographs, which are made in a similar way, but with lithographic materials (crayons, brushes, funny quills, itchy fingers) on either a stone or aluminum plate, which isn’t as fun. The stone or plate is pulled through (you guessed it!) an old-fashioned litho-press and, if all goes well, you’ve got a lithograph. Both etchings and lithographs are individual works of art and not reproductions. Traditionally, they are signed and numbered by the artist. In the interest of artistic integrity, the artist limits the size of an edition to, say, 150. After that many are made, the plate or stone is retired or re-used. Other print media, such as linocut, wood-engraving and silkscreen are also highly individualized and result, like the others, in only one image. Most of these media were developed before photography was, and are not dependent on photography or photographers in any way.

Not so with giclee prints, which are high-quality, photo-mechanical reproductions of original imagery. (Giclee prints could be made of etchings or lithographs – but why would you want to?) Posters are made in a similar way, but with less durable inks and paper whose most remarkable attribute is its shredability. (I may have coined a new word here. Go look it up. If it’s not there, alert Miriam and Webster.)

Giclee prints are done on a computer using a slide or a transparency. The computer technician sees to it that not just the best possible facsimile of the slide or transparency is made, but that it will look good on the 100% rag (which means “archival” or, literally, “something that doesn’t ride up”) paper it will be printed on. As in etching and lithography, a proof is made, and is evaluated by artist and printer for quality and workmanship. Because of the highly personal nature of color perception, a giclee print can go through several proofs. Ultimately, however, it does get made and it looks better than either the artist or printer thinks it does.

A giclee print is desirable strictly because it is a high-quality reproduction, rather than a flimsy one. A lot of people may not want to invest several thousand dollars in one of my paintings, but may still like the painting and want to have, as it were, a piece of it. A giclee print allows them to have the picture without paying an arm and a leg for it. So far, it’s the best technology we have for the wider dissemination (not synonymous with “mass marketing) of a good image that will otherwise be stuck in a private or corporate collection and therefore inaccessible to almost everyone who either doesn’t know this or that person or can’t just walk into Lobotomy, Inc. and get a tour of its art collection.

I like giclee prints. I think if more office managers and stay-at-home moms (or dads) and customer service personnel had a few around, visual literacy in this country would soar and people like Thomas Kinkade would be modestly successful entrepreneurs and not the megastars they have unfortunately become.

Prices vary according to size.