What is an Original Giclée?
The Digital Alchemy artwork shown here in the online gallery displays a series of Original Giclée prints. Reflecting the ever-accelerating pace of technological change, this body of work has the unique distinction of having evolved simultaneously with the medium in which it was created. The prints are ‘original’ in the sense that they are not reproductions of a single work of art from a traditional medium, such as a painting or a photograph. Since a term that accurately describes the medium I work in has yet to become standard, I feel it is important to offer the following description.
The Process of Digital Collage
I believe the term “Digital Collage” best
expresses the process I use to combine elements from my original photographs and
paintings in a virtual space where they can be further integrated with material
that could only be created using high end computer graphic software.
While working in a digital medium, I employ a detailed process of
layering, altering and composing. During this process I use a digital projector
to cast the image onto the type of watercolor paper to be used in the final
print. When I feel the piece is ready, the precise process of printing the
artwork on archival ink jet printers begins.
My experience of working in this way can range from
magical euphoria to complex frustration. But it is important to understand that
whether I am painting with pixels digitally or with pigment on canvas, the
essential inner process of creativity is the same.
When I started this work years ago, the process of
making archival prints of digital work had not been fully established. Now a
renaissance in print technology is expanding the potential of fine art printing.
Looking over my Digital Alchemy prints now, I realize that this work mirrors and
comments upon the birth of a new medium.