A Bloomberg article today detailed the surging auction market for prints. They’re designed by an artist and often signed by the artist, but they are, by definition, reproductions.
I don’t understand this section of the market that pays $15K – $1MM for a signed poster. I look at photographs differently, a print is their natural medium. I had a signed Annie Leibowitz poster of a picture of Steve Martin from an exhibit opening I attended in the early 90s and I think I gave it up at some point when I began to think of it more of an autograph than a piece of art. I even loved the picture part with Steve Martin, but something was missing.
I understand that it’s a way to have a Warhol for $20K, but it also feels like a constant reminder that you DON’T have a Warhol. Every time you have to explain to someone “well, it’s a limited series reproduction” I think you die a little. I want to touch it and not have it be smooth.
My walls are covered by Vockell Boy originals, no reproductions or prints.