New Blood Pop launches NZ Fine Prints' urban art collection.

Princess 1.1 by NBP (aka Brad Novak)

Not all contemporary non fine art is street art.  But there is a subtle change afoot when artists who have moved from Pop to Street to Urban Art like Brad Novak bring out new prints that have built on this progressive foundation to create something new.  Brad's new series under the moniker "New Blood Pop" takes iconography familiar to New Zealanders but not exclusive to us and shows these historical and cultural figures in a new light.

This is what Brad has to say about his remix of pop in a more urban art direction. “New Blood Pop is concerned with how we experience life itself, the 21st century issues we face such as inequalities in wealth and health, sustainability and globalization. I’m also interested in the idea of escapism especially through science fiction and the superhero franchise. Of the things we choose to believe, what’s real, and what’s not? These works are global, flagrant, iconic and ironic.

I endeavour to create powerful multi-layered works, with an emblazoned foreground overlaying a “veiled” background, to show that many of us are living life through a distorting veil, clouding our perception. Our awareness tainted by biases and judgments – a fantasy that we’ve created for ourselves – the practice of mindfulness promises salvation.”

We stock the new series of prints under Brad's moniker “New Blood Pop”, or “NBP76”,  all these new prints are hand-collaged and stencil-spray-painted artworks which involve the layering of popular imagery like the Princess Leia portrait shown here which is for sale at $695, available in an edition of just 35 signed and numbered screenprints.

From pop art to urban style: The evolving prints of Brad Novak

For so long pop art has been the genre that many contemporary artists felt comfortable being labelled with.  However with the pop art movement now nearly 50 years old there has recently been a shift toward a more urban feel in contemporary art, heavily influenced by the most exciting thing in modern art right now - street art.

Auckland printmaker Brad Novak's career has bridged this change of tone.  Novak's butterfly tiki prints were firmly in the NZ pop art tradition but he has recently taken on a harder, more urban edge whilst still retaining this strong sense of NZ identity.  

Brad Novak "Reservoir Birds"
Limited Edition Screenprint

His new Reservoir Birds print references both the cult movie "Reservoir Dogs" and the bird paintings of Christchurch painter Bill Hammond.  However he brings a grittier sensibility to this new print that is clearly post-Banksy - you could imagine this image stencilled onto the wall of an alleyway in downtown New Zealand.

Here is Brad Novak's video, "The making of Reservoir Birds" filmed at Artrite screenprinting studios in Auckland.  The print is available for sale here.  Please note the black paper version was not able to be released due to a fault with the batch of ink used, the white paper print is the only version that is for sale at New Zealand Fine Prints.

Artist Print or Reproduction Print? Spotting the difference in the era of Digital Printmaking

Are Prints by Digital Printmakers Reproductions or Original Artists' Prints?

Prints created on a computer or printed using an inkjet printer (the giclee process) can sometimes be classified as an "original" or "artists" print, just like a print made using a more traditional process such as etching or handmade silkscreens.  We agree with artist David Hockney who says bluntly "the computer is just a tool" and exhibits inkjet (or giclee) prints drawn on a graphics pad because clearly the image only exists in printed form, there is no "original" therefore it is an original work of art (in multiple form).

However many high priced digitally produced prints are not original prints, they are (albeit very high quality) reproductions.

When giclee/digital prints first appeared the high cost of materials and hardware created a blurring of the price signal differentiation between artists prints and reproduction prints. The print buyer was also paying for a higher quality product than an offset print (in terms of longevity of inks, colour fidelity and the option of reproduction onto canvas as well as fine art paper) but the prices for early digital prints were often further amplified by the premium for a more exclusive reproduction, the infiintely flexible "limited edition" being exploited by early adopters of the giclee printing process who were reproducing paintings.

Original digital print by NZ printmaker Alec Tayler

High prices being asked for  reproduction giclee prints has made the path for acceptance of pioneering digital printmakers like NZ's Alec Tayler just that much tougher. Tayler's work passes all the tests for an original artists' print but at $350 (for an edition of 180) they are still priced below some reproduction prints of a similar size.

There used to be an obvious distinction between prints created by hand (original prints) and prints made by machine (reproduction) and some straightforward tests for informed buyers to classify the value and rarity of a printed artwork they were purchasing.  But our conclusion is that the advent of digital printmaking processes is making some of the previously useful rules of thumb for making the distinction between "artists prints" and "reproduction prints" less useful and possibly obselete.


Why doesn't NZ Fine Prints call reproductions of other artworks "reproductions" and reserve the term "print" for original artists' prints, produced digitally or otherwise?

This writer has previously been taken to task for New Zealand Fine Prints' policy of calling copies of artworks in other media (such as oil paintings or watercolours) "prints".  For instance Kerikeri printmaker Mark Graver took exception in both an article in the Artists Alliance Magazine #76 and in his book "Non Toxic Printmaking" (you can read a copy of his article here) when he was told by me in an email exchange that he was ‘fighting a losing battle’ in terms of trying to educate the public, and that ‘the terms art print and art reproduction, even poster are seen as pretty much interchangeable by the general public’.

Our response is that because the terms are used interchangeably it does not make sense from a business perspective to fight this battle.  Our artists and publishers rely on us to get sales and we operate in a competitive marketplace. Mercedes tried for years to promote "pre-owned cars" but nobody was looking for them, they now call them "used cars" like everyone else.

In our catalogues we have reproductions alongside screenprints or giclee prints next to limited edition reproductions of antique prints if they have a common theme or topic as we believe clear labelling, detailed descriptions and expert articles in NZ Art Print News will keep print buyers educated and informed.

"Cracker Biscuit"
Screenprinted reproduction of a
 painting by Michael Smither

[However as the series of prints by famous NZ artist Michael Smither we are cataloguing at the moment demonstrates classifying prints is still no easy task - Smither's range includes original prints AND handmade (screenprinted) prints that are based on original paintings].

As the shift to digital printmaking by fine art printmakers gathers pace it is more useful to ignore calls by printmakers like Graver for government regulation and to instead listen to his more sensible advice based not on regulating the process but on understanding the artist's intent. As Graver himself concedes "A Giclee… can be as much an original print as an etching or wood cut, it depends on the artist’s motive."

Black & White Editions from Dick Frizzell

Mince

Domestic Bliss

7 Minutes

In 2011 Dick Frizzell completed a series of black and white prints celebrating the every day domestic objects that you can find in a typical kiwi home.  These are very similar in style to Frizzell's first experiments with fine art printmaking, at Paul Hartigan's Snake Studio off Queen St in the late 1970s. As Frizzell explains about these early forays into printmaking "I still had a roll of clear acetate from the animation days and used it to make my separations. Black enamel paint brushed directly onto the plastic gave a lot of painterly control." It wasn't until almost two decades later than Dick returned to screenprinting (many of his editions during the 1980s and 1990s were lithographs) working with Don Tee of Artrite studios.  We have in stock good numbers of these editions as due to the disruption following the Christchurch earthquakes we have had these prints stored in drawers waiting to be catalogued for over a year.

How Robin White learned to make prints

Robin White Self-Portait Print
This is me at Kaitangata | Screenprint
Credit: Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki 1979/66

In 1981 Dame Robin White was living near Dunedin at Portabello on the Otago Peninsula.  The series of silkscreen (screenprint) prints that White was in the process of completing are now some of NZ's most famous and valuable editions (see  previous article on the record price for a NZ print at auction) - a roll call of instantly recognisable works such as "A Buzzy Bee for Siulolovao" (1977), "Florence and Harbour Cone" (1975)  and "Mangaweka" (1974). In addition to her reputation as a painter White's silkscreens, taken together with the prints of E. Mervyn Taylor and Gordon Walters, are the most significant bodies of work by New Zealand artist printmakers.

In part of an interview she gave with Alistair Taylor for the long out of print monograph Robin White: New Zealand Painter published in 1981 I was delighted to find White telling the whole story of how her printmaking progressed from where she had just "mucked around around with a few things" at teachers' college to producing what are now among the most sought after editions for collectors of New Zealand prints.  

The story of how her printmaking practice evolved was recounted in such illuminating depth (and with plenty of fascinating detail for printmakers about the technical challenges of mastering the screenprinting method) that I asked Dame Robin her permission to re-print verbatim the questions and answers from the interview in NZ Art Print News. She very kindly gave me her permission and I am extremely grateful to her to be able to share this unique insight into NZ printmaking history with our readers.  I hope publicising this wonderfully candid discussion of how she began and developed her printmaking pratice will be an inspiration to other NZ printmakers because through reading this discussion you quickly realise that even for such a revered printmaker in the NZ canon the journey to artistic and technical mastery of the printmaking medium had to start at the very beginning - and cross many practical and inspirational hurdles along the way.

Perspective: Robin White talks to Alister Taylor* 

Alister Taylor: And then, in 1970, you began producing editions of screen prints. How did all that come about, because in some circles you're best known for your prints?

Robin White: I'd done a little bit at school, but not very much, so it was at teachers' college that I explored screen printing in a little more detail. Not to a very great extent, but I mucked around with a few things, then thought nothing more of it. I was at Bottle Creek doing a series of drawings and watercolors and oil paintings of state houses surrounding the school. At 3.30pm school would finish, and I'd stay on, after all the kids had left. School was empty, and I used to sit in the grounds and draw the hills surrounding the school, for a couple of hours until the sun went. Then I'd go home. Initially the hills were bush clad and parts of them were being bulldozed and in square geometric kinds of shapes. The hills in Wellington are very sensuous, much more so than the hills down near Dunedin. These hills where I live now are ancient looking, whereas the hills in Wellington really go up and down, they're very lively-looking. And the stark geometric houses in front of the hills had quite an attraction for me. I began drawing them and painting. It struck me that these images might work well as a mass produced kind of item. Just as the houses themselves were mass produced. And that got me thinking about how you would reproduce an image:  what's the best way? From there, I thought I'd look into screen printing again. So I did that. But in fact the first print I did wasn't one of those Porirua things, it was the Boatsheds at Paremata, which presented quite a simple format. Just a plain hill, a very lovely kind of simple solid shape. And then the elongated shape of the boat sheds in front. So that was my first print. And then I did the Mana Railway Station after that, and then went back to Porirua, and did some prints of the houses and shops there.

Alister Taylor: Did you do the prints as a completely separate thing from your painting, or complementary to it?

Robin White: As a completely separate thing. I've always thought of prints being completely separate. Initially, there's an idea; it may be the Mana Railway Station. If I do a drawing of it, or a painting, or a print, they're all separate, even though they're of the same image. They're all different inasmuch as each medium requires a different approach, a different way of translating the image. I conceive them separately; like the Mana Railway Station. The first image I produced of that was a screen print, then about eight months later I started a painting.

Alister Taylor: So the drawing isn't necessarily a preparation for the painting?

Robin White: In some ways it's a coming to terms with it, but always the painting presents its own battle, its own requirements. And a print is never a reproduction of a painting. It makes its own demands, it has its own life, its own thing going for it. This whole idea is becoming more and more pronounced in my work. Like this latest print I've done - Mere and Siulolovao - there was no preparation for that, the print developed almost as a painting. I did a linear drawing, a sort of basic format for the print, but I didn't do a complete drawing, not did I do any colour rough for it; the print was worked out as I went. When I started off the initial planning for that print, it involved something like 32 colours. It ended up with an awful lot more, because I changed the colours as I went. I overprinted and I reprinted some of the areas as I saw the print develop. So the prints are becoming more and more like paintings in a way.

Alister Taylor: Have your prints changed all that much technically since you started?

Robin White: Very much so. Well, obviously to start with, with the very first prints. I was not only trying to put an idea down on paper, but I was also trying to find out how to print. I was restricted by my own limited knowledge of screenprinting.

Alister Taylor: You hadn't learned that at Teachers' College as part of the course?

Robin White: Only the very basics. What I hadn't come to terms with at teachers' college was the problem of precision in registration. Nor had I bothered about the kind of paper to choose really - that sort of thing. So my first prints were pretty hairy, technically. I was using cotton organdie stretched over the screen, and cotton organdie is pretty coarse; and I was using Heatset dye, which is a water-based screen printing dye for printing onto fabric. The effect was really nice, but it had certain disadvantages. The coarseness of the cotton organdie on the screen, and the kind of semi-transparency of the ink I was using gave a really nice feeling of the screen on the paper; you can see the grain of the organdie. That was rather nice. But I was working with a very limited range of colours because of this problem of registration. I hadn't really figured out a good system to use, it was really just a trial and error thing. I was just making mistakes and figuring out how to put the mistakes right, and that's how I learned. The first print, that one of the Boatsheds at Paremata, had only about six colours, I think, and the Mana Railway Station had about seven: they got a little bit more complicated as they went along. As I solved some of the problems with registration, I started to use more colours, but this provided a problem, because the ink I was using was water-based - it tended to soak into the paper and I got problems with shrinkage, which again presented more problems with registration. So I had to devise ways of placing objects side by side, and using lines to cover the inevitable discrepancies in registration I was getting. Generally I was very limited, so I did two things to solve these problems. I really looked into the business of the kind of paper I was using and started to use a much heavier paper, and I also changed to using Morrison's oil base screen printing ink, which is more stable on the paper - it doesn't make the paper buckle or do funny things; it has a much more bland kind of finish, sort of opaque. Its finish is not as lively, perhaps. It's different, much thicker and more 'painted'. But the result was that I could increase the number of colours, which in turn means the complexity of the print increased. I was given a lot more freedom.

Alister Taylor: And how did you solve the problems of registration finally?

Robin White: Well, the problem of shrinkage almost vanished. However, unless you've got a temperature-controlled working area (which I don't have), your paper will vary in size according to the temperature and humidity of the day. You anticipate these kinds of things happening. So when you cut the stencils you allow for the colours to overlap in some places, and you put a few lines here and there where you might have trouble, and you hope for the best. The results are never perfect. There are always some mistakes.

Alister Taylor: And they add to the individuality of the print anyway.

Robin White: Right. I mean, you just have to be philosophical about certain things. You've got to say this is a hand-produced item which is bound to have certain defects which are consistent and therefore an acceptable part of the print. When I became more confident I upped the number in each edition. The first edition had about 15 prints, and now I produce 50 - well, I aim at getting about 50 good prints from an edition, usually. I don't always make it. Depending on how complex the print is and how many mistakes I anticipate in the course of the print, I choose somewhere between 80-100 sheets of paper to start with, so I'm printing about 80-100 prints and from these I try to get 50 good ones.

Alister Taylor: That must take a hell of a long time to produce, in terms of hours, apart from the pre-production work and conception.

Robin White: Some more than others. This last one I started in the beginning of March and worked on it full-time and finished it about the first week of April, so it took me well over a month - working every day, eight hours a day or sometimes more.

Alister Taylor: Why do you spend that amount of time on a print?

Robin White: Once I start on a print I've got to keep going. It's not like a painting. I can't stop and go and do something else and then come back to it. What I do is have the whole thing basically worked out in my head, but I make a note on a piece of paper of more or less what each run will be. In order to keep that sense of consistency going in my head, I've got to work on a print from beginning to end without a break, otherwise I'm afraid of losing the thread of what I'm doing. A decision you make about one colour at the beginning of a print may not have repercussions until towards the end of the print, so just to keep that thread of consciousness - and to keep control of it - I've got to keep going with it. Especially considering the complexity of some  of the ones I'm doing now. That last one I did was a hair raiser! If you make a mistake with colour you can go over it and reprint it but if you get one colour off register it throws the whole thing. You build up a sense of tension, and that tension in itself creates a kind of close relationship between yourself and the work, which is good.

Alister Taylor: And the sort of decisions you make along the way means that you wouldn't want it to go to anyone else to be printed?

Robin White: No. One print has been printed by someone else (the Print Club edition of Allan's Beach) and I still don't think of it as my print.

Alister Taylor: It's a basically simple print too, in terms of numbers of colours and complexity.

Robin White: Yes. The kind of print I've just done could never be printed by anyone else but me, because decisions are being made as I go. OK, I have the basic scheme in my head, but there are a million minor decisions which are continually being made and changed and redone and rethought as I go. 

Alister Taylor: Any other reason why you prefer to make your own prints?

Robin White: Yes, for example in prints involving large areas of landscape sometimes I paint directly on to the screen with shellac; when I'm building up textured areas, like the large Hoopers Inlet print, there are areas on the print where I paint directly on to the screen; that's something no-one else could do for me really.

Alister Taylor: What's the purpose of painting directly onto the screen, to change the image as you go along?

Robin White: One of the technical advantages of painting directly on to the screen is that you don't have to change the stencil. If you've got an area with three different colours, you can print the first colour over the whole area, block out parts of it, print the second, block out a greater part, and print the third colour. The alternative is to produce three separate stencils, but by painting directly on to the screen, somehow the effect is much more together. And it's also that you feel very much closer to the whole process - to what's happening. The final image has a sense of immediacy and closeness. Screenprinting can be repetitive, boring work. What makes it interesting is this kind of close contact with the final image. The fact that you're seeing it evolve, not as a preconceived idea, but as something growing organically of its own accord as it goes.

Alister Taylor: So in effect you'll carry on making your own prints rather than getting someone else to do them?

Robin White: I think so.

*Excerpt from an interview with Robin White by Alister Taylor, published in Robin White, New Zealand Painter, 1981, reproduced with the kind permission of Robin White 2012.

Blockbusters Exhibition: Promotional screenprint signed by Dick & Otis Frizzell + Mike Weston

A promotional screenprint has been released for the "Blockbusters" exhibition of new work from Frizzell and Son (Dick and Otis Frizzell) and Weston Frizzell (Otis Frizzell and Mike Weston in collaboration).

In the vocabulary of graffiti art the term Blockbuster refers to a piece where one word occupies the entire wall. The outlined text is predominantly defined by the blacking out of the gaps and negative space. Parasitic of the underlying work, a BLOCKBUSTER envelopes and consumes the surface.

A Blockbuster is also the biggest thing of the summer, the thing everyone has to see.

The Blockbusters screen print is large (A1 size) numbered and signed by Dick Frizzell, Otis Frizzell and Mike Weston.

Just $100 each, edition of 100 - available here (for a very limited time!).

Two New Editions from Tony Ogle

Tony Ogle Print Hammock and Bach

NZ Printmaker Tony Ogle

Reputedly "Cathy's place at Bethell's [Beach]" "Hammock and Bach" was Tony Ogle's last print of 2010.  As with all of Ogle's fine art prints "Hammock and Bach" began as a detailed painting on board from which each individual colour is then hand separated. These separations became the stencils on the screens through which each colour is printed (some Ogle prints have up to 25 individually printed colours). The printing process involves a careful alignment and registration and constant checking for quality problems. The colours of all Tony's prints are hand-mixed and give the image a very real handmade feel and quality.  Hammock and Bach is an edition of 200. (NB for readers outside of NZ "bach" is the coloquial New Zealand expression for a holiday home).

Caravan Window, Tony's first print in 2011

Tony's first print of 2011 is "Caravan Window".  Here the kiwiana style beachside scene is cleverly framed by an oval window that echoes the shape of the caravan windows in the foreground.  A tyre rope swing hangs from the branches of the pohutukawa tree.  Edition of 180, image dimensions 450 x 180mm.   Tony subscribes to single edition productions only, he says "a true Limited Edition Fine Art Print [should be] limited to one edition, each being numbered and signed individually by the Artist. Once the Edition has sold out it should not be repeated otherwise the value of the works is compromised."   In the long term this is what gives the artworks value over time.

Auckland Printmaker Brad Novak Edition Sellout

Brad Novak with his print Tiki with Danaus Plexippus Wings 1.1

Auckland printmaker Brad Novak's print Tiki with Danaus Plexippus Wings 1.1 was the first edition by this talented NZ printmaker - and now it is the first print edition by Novak to sell out. Just two prints from the edition are available nationwide this morning, one of which is in stock at New Zealand Fine Prints. 

Brad's first art print, this image of a Tiki with Monarch Butterfly wings was completed at Artrite Studios in 2008 (see picture of Brad celebrating the completion of the print at right). The artist says "screenprinting is a great process - took me a while to get my head around it but Tony Ogle and Michael Smither were kind enough to have me learn from them for a few days and that helped a lot!" At the time of the prints release Brad told us that "This image [Tiki with Danaus Plexippus Wings 1.1] has been one I have envisioned in my mind’s eye for a while and I am very pleased with the final results. Inspiration came from my own education as an adult about the history of Aotearoa/New Zealand before and after European settlement. I chose to name the Monarch Butterfly, introduced to NZ in the late 19th century, by its scientific name (Danaus Plexippus). This is a nod to my own background (and ongoing work in medicine/science) and a tribute to the often overlooked or misrepresented facts regarding Maori history (and indeed the history of all NZ). This butterfly and Tiki motif represents the growth in my own personal knowledge about Maori culture (and the opening of my own eyes to the many truths that history portrays) and the determination of Maori to continue sustaining and cultivating their culture and language in Aotearoa/NZ in the face of colonisation. And finally – I really thought it would make a cool image!”

In May Novak completed his latest print "Reservoir Dogs of NZ" - an idea that came to him while on holiday in the UK. Brad says he is really happy with the final artwork for Reservoir Dogs of NZ - he "tried lots of different birds before settling on the combination I did" - deciding on the Tui, Kiwi, Whio, Huia, Shag and Albatross in a print that also references the Waiting for Buller series of paintings by Christchurch painter Bill Hammond.

Artist Tony Ogle returns to Matapouri Bay with new print

Tony Ogle (1959- ) is almost certainly New Zealand's favourite contemporary printmaker.  This morning I am delighted to announce the release of Tony's latest print - a superb edition that is in my view quite simply the quintessential Tony Ogle print.  It's an original handmade screenprint titled "Midday Matapouri" - a sun drenched image of a bach and caravan overlooking this beautiful sandy Northland beach.  In this print Tony is returning to the roots of his artistic practice - just after completing his Graphic Design Diploma at Auckland Institute of Technology Ogle and fellow print-maker Tom Burnett established one of New Zealand's earliest fine art screenprinting workshops in Matapouri Bay.

With well over two decades of printmaking experience Tony Ogle's prints are extremely confident and fluid in their depiction of what Tony sees as the very essence of the New Zealand landscape. There's a great quote from Tony on his page in our catalogue "Screen-printing allows me to express my love of the New Zealand landscape and ocean environment with strong colours in a direct and graphic manner".

Technical Information: Matapouri Bay is a handmade original screenprint. Edition of 180 printed, signed and numbered by Tony Ogle. Image size 400 x 260 millimetres.

Who is Arty Wright?

Arty Wright is the pseudonym for the artist who is probably New Zealand's most experienced printmaker. With over 50 years experience in the art of screenprinting Arty has collaborated with New Zealand's leading artists including Gordon Walters, Pat Hanly, Michael Smither, Dick Frizzell and Stanley Palmer. Here at New Zealand Fine Prints we are really excited that after all these years Arty has finally decided to put his thoughts and vast experience into producing a unique series of screenprints - the Trademark Series.

Wright tells us "the Trademark series brings to the public at large a glimpse of New Zealand nearly forgotten. The images on this series of prints date back to an era when the designs used on our manufactured goods were drawn by artists with pencil, pen, brush and ink. The artists largely remained anonymous, working either as employees of advertising companies or within the manufacturing company itself." In the spirit of the earlier anonymous artists Arty Wright has chosen to keep his identity secret as he salutes their bygone skills by producing this very special series of limited edition screenprints which are released today. Shown here are two of Arty Wright's new art prints, Salesman Tiki and All Backs.

Auckland Printmaker Mark Compton releases prints

Auckland printmaker Mark Compton works for one of New Zealand's leading fine art screenprinters. As a major part of Artrite's production team Mark has had the pleasure of working with some of the great names in contemporary New Zealand printmaking and producing many fine prints.

As a result of more than ten years experience producing screenprints Mark has a great technical and artistic understanding of the production process that informs the creation of quality prints of his own. We are delighted to stock all prints from Mark including the popular Recession and two brand new Tiki prints, Red Hot and Amigos.

Tony Ogle Prints

Tony Ogle is one of New Zealand's most popular contemporary printmakers. In his original prints Ogle shares his love of natural New Zealand - his view coloured by a childhood spent near the sea at Castor Bay on Auckland's North Shore where his enthusiasm for surfing and sailing developed. We are delighted to show Tony's new "Surf series" prints for the first time. There are more prints in this series plus all Tony's other prints here.

What is an original print?

I have been having an interesting discussion with Tony Ogle and Brad Novak about how we can best explain the differences between original prints like screenprints and reproduction prints. They have come up with some suggested additions to our FAQ.

What is an original print?
Original prints encompass different media such as screen prints, lithographs, etchings, woodcuts, linocuts and monoprints. Within an edition, each print is individually pulled from a screen, plate, or block. Generally created as limited editions of archival quality, and because of the skill and effort required to produce them, original prints potentially have a high investment value.

What is the difference between a giclee print and an original print?
Giclee prints are created using the Giclee printing process which uses a very sophisticated digital printer to deliver a fine stream of ink onto archival paper. Original prints differ, encompassing several media such as screen prints, lithographs and etchings (amongst others). Each print is individually pulled from a screen, plate, or block to create limited editions of archival quality.

How is an original print produced?
Original prints are produced in many different ways, generally as limited editions. The main techniques include screen printing and lithography. Each print is individually pulled from a screen, plate, or block. Their creation involves the mastery of a printing press with the artist often solely or heavily involved in the process.

Brad Novak Prints

Stunning new screenprints by Brad Novak arrived this morning. Brad Novak (1976- ) is an emerging New Zealand painter and printmaker born in Auckland with Croatian heritage and he explores the relationship between colour, shape, and contrast through a fresh and distinctive style. He is following in the footsteps of several senior NZ artists like Tony Ogle and Dick Frizzell by creating archival quality limited edition fine art screen prints through collaboration with the Auckland-based printer Artrite. Brad is also a practising medical doctor, specialising in Public Health, and much of his artwork is inspired by the strong ethical basis underpinning this. Brad writes "I am extremely passionate about the prevention of illness, the importance of The Treaty for the reduction of health inequalities in Aotearoa, and the need for our heath system and wider society to focus more strongly on the upstream determinants of health."