Buying art by price - pragmatic approach to the fore during the gift buying season

Here at Prints.co.nz we spend a lot of time learning about the different ways people use to discover art, and how people actually look for art to buy once they are browsing our online catalogue.  Back in the early days of putting our catalogues online (last century!) we had a very academic approach to classification.  Prints were catalogued by artist (to answer the question - what prints are currently available by NZ artist x?) and movement.  Yep, we assumed customers would narrow their selection down by first considering the place the print was going and then would say to themselves something like, "I think a post-impressionist print would be ideal above the fireplace in the living room". Reality is rather different!

However as we head into the busiest selling time of the year - due to the enduring popularity of prints as Christmas presents - probably the most unromantic and practical way to select art comes to the fore. When buying gifts (and obviously gift vouchers) the most common starting point is of course the budget so top of mind are the prices of the artwork for sale!

Our website offers the ability to sort any category of prints by price in the drop down menu at the top of the main product listing page.  However we have found that when, for example, buying a leaving gift for a work colleague etc sorting the entire range of art prints for sale into clear price points saves a lot of browsing time.  Unlike buying for yourself a gift purchase is sometimes more of an obligation carried out with a degree of grudging reluctance rather than the pleasure of dreamily browsing artworks picturing them on the wall of your home or office.

Purchasing art by price is certainly not the only way that we would like to present the range of prints we have on offer but prosaic as it is if you just want to get the Xmas gift buying done as easily as possible going to the search by price collections listed on the browse by categories page and selecting a print from near the top when sorted by best-selling is one of the simplest ways to keep to your budget and give a gift that will be popular with the recipient.  Using our sales figures means you are crowdsourcing to find the kind of art that more New Zealanders like.  Quick, easy and reliable way of ensuring a happy smile when the gift is unwrapped.

Over the past few days we have updated all of the search by price collections by adding the hundreds of new art prints published and printed over the past few months.

We are delighted to announce that you  can now check out NZ Fine Prints entire Xmas 2014 range of over 2300 prints for sale sorted by price below:

Under $30 | $30 - $50 | $50 - $100 | $101 - $500 | $500+

Current best selling prints in NZ priced between $50-$100 - Screenshot from Prints.co.nz

Two new limited edition prints from Shane Hansen

Artist Shane Hansen with
one of his sculptures

Pania & The Dragon
Edition of 50 prints

Hansen's two new limited edition prints make a compelling pair.  Both prints are semi-autobiographical, referencing the different strands of Hansen's genealogy, the Maori and the Chinese.  These artworks are about coming to terms with your cultural background, making sense of your ancestry.

Pania is a recurring character in Shane's work, in "Pania and the Dragon" she is depicted feeding a dragon from a bottle.  A poem accompanies the print

Oh bless the little girl who sits and feeds the little dragon
Does she not see the danger?
Look at his large toothy grin, his big greedy eyes
He will drink all her milk if she’s not careful
Why does she smile so?
What does she know that I don’t know?
Oh bless the little girl who sits and feeds the little dragon

Home Sweet Home is nostalgic but not sentimental, Shane says "No matter

Home Sweet Home
Edition of 50 prints

where we come from, what our heritage, we all have a place that is our ancestral home. Our distance, be it physical or emotional, holds no barriers, as all are welcome when the time comes to reconnect. This place, warmed by those who came before and those whom have kept the fires burning, waiting for our return. Home Sweet Home."

Both prints are in editions of fifty screenprints, individually lovely but we also think these look great as a pair of prints on the wall alongside each other.  Superb decoration for children's rooms that will become increasingly meaningful as they grow up alongside them.