It’s not often that you see anything other than small prints taken from books, or postcard prints and such from Mark Ryden on eBay. But right now there are two very cool prints on auction.
First one is a framed “Regina Gloriae Naturae” giclee print. It’s around 30″x22″, and looks great.
Auction here
The second one is the Christina Ricci portrait name “Christina”. It’s an artist’s proof #7. This one is inframed, and also looks great. I wouldnt mind having this one.
Auction here
Besides buying art off of the original creators website, or even through a gallery, another potentially good resource of buying art is through auction sites like eBay or Etsy.
Along with the good deals, is also the probability of problems. So this lil article is basically just giving readers a heads up on what to watch out for.
1. Its ideal if you are given the provenance of the art, or the origin or source of where the art is coming from. This is also very helpful when the piece is quite expensive. Provenance is one of the perks of buying from galleries, since you know who had it before you. Many artists also sell their art directly through eBay or Etsy for example. So if you know its the actual artist selling the work then you know your safe.
2. Watch out for print auctions, where the print might have been made from a photograph of the work. Ive seen it a few times where the seller had simply taken a photo of the work, and then have prints made. This is a waste of your money, and it doesn’t help the artist out at all. This goes along with copies of prints. Its good to know if the print has a number attached to it, as in #24/100. If you can, check the artists site and see if a limit has been put on the print your looking at.
3. Another type of auction that I have seen quite often, is prints that are being removed from books or publications. I’m not quite sure how the artists take this, since it does come from a book that was sold, but as a buyer you are not getting a nice large, collectible print.
4. On eBay especially there are many art specific sellers, try to stick with them if you can. Or make sure you check out the feedback of the seller, and take a look at what they have sold. If they have sold art before, you know they hopefully know how to treat art.
5. Finally, make sure you can really look over the art. Nice clear pictures of the “actual” art is ideal, not just pics of the art taken from other sites. It’s always nice to see the art in person such as in a gallery, but if you are using auctions sites ask the seller for better pics of the work. If they wont give them up, then be wary, don’t waste your time.
Image: Print “The Gambling” by Alberto Cerriteño
Vinyl Pulse has pictures and a video covering the opening of the “I am 8 Bit” show. Looks like it was something not to be missed, of course I did. But by the looks of one of those pics, the line was pretty hefty.
If you live in San Francisco, or need a great excuse to visit, there is going to be some cool things happening tomorrow.
The 2007 Alternative Press Expo will be going the 21st and 22nd. This looks like it will be fun:
A.P.E. 2007
The grand opening of the SF Gallery 1988 will kick off tmw, with an art show celebrating A.P.E artists:
Gallery 1988 SF
There will also be two receptions. One at Giant Robot and 111 Minna Gallery.
Giant Robot will feature work from husband/wife duo APAK (Ayumi and Aaron Piland): Giant Robot SF
111 Minna will have a group show called “Suite Jesus”, with work from six artists and live music: 111Minna
Looks like a great day to see some art, the weather might include a lil rain, but looks to still be nice.
Tara McPherson’s Decoder Ring print “The Idealization of Asymmetrical Thoughtâ€, sold out in minutes I think. There are only 100 of these prints made. Its a beautiful 18 layer silkscreen print and would look quite nice next to one of her “Isis” prints (or on my wall for example).
Here’s Tara going through the lengthy process of making this print over at Juxtapoz: Silkscreen Process Pics
And here’s a link to an ebay auction for the print. The last print went pretty high, likely this one will as well:
Auction
If you missed the opening night of the I am 8 Bit show (like I did) you now have an opportunity to get a taste of the art thats being shown there, as well as even buying something.
Gallery 1988 has the available works section open now for the show. Here. By the looks of it, alot of work has already sold.
The show itself still goes on till May 12 so you have some time to still see the show.
Ben Templesmith, the artist that has done work such as 30 Days of Night, Fell, and most recently the very cool “Wormwood: Gentleman Corpse”.
Ben has an original page for sale up on ebay right now. So not only can you get the original page, but also a “signed 8 x 12 inch artist proof giclee print of final page on 310 gm satin photo rag”.
Sounds like a great deal to me.
This is sold from Ben directly
Ben Templesmith Auction
Ben Templesmith Homepage
Michael Hussar has a print, preliminary sketch and original drawing of “Daddy’s Girl” up on ebay right now. This image is amazing, and now is a good time to score this. 100% of the proceeds from all three of these auctions will go to help Lithium Picnic in his legal battle. So your gaining cool art, as well as helping someone out.
These auctions are from Michael Hussar directly.