NZ Photographer's "Winery Doors" poster series takes off

Nelson & Marlborough Winery Doors Poster

"Winery Doors" photographer Renee Dale

One of the things that perplexes us here at NZ Fine Prints is the comparatively small number of photography posters and prints by NZ photographers that are for sale in the New Zealand art market and the generally lacklustre level of sales - apart from the top selling poster of NZ tramping huts! New Zealand's other top selling photographic posters are the iconic view of Auckland's One Tree Hill (before the loss of the lone pine) and Rangitoto Island by Paolo Koch but apart from posters by Nelson nature photographer Craig Potton there is not yet a large number of well known (what we sometimes call "brand name") NZ photographers whose work is popular in a fine art print or poster format. The interest in collecting historic and contemporay NZ fine art photography that has led to some astonishingly high prices at auction over recent years has not yet translated into sales of posters of work by NZ photographers.

Recently however a young NZ photographer called Renee Dale (pictured above left on location) has put together a series of winery door posters that are chalking up an impressively large numbers of sales with over 100 retailers now carrying her posters across Australasia.  Renee Dale's "Winery Doors" concept has taken her from her first poster of cellar doors in Hawkes Bay and Wairarapa, through Central Otago and Canterbury and she has just released her newest poster in the series, this time of wineries in Nelson and Marlborough (pictured above right). Dale has also completed posters in this series showing doors of wineries in the winegrowing regions of the US and Australia.  We have been amazed at the popularity of these posters after sending them all around the world over the past few months - we agree with the sentiments of a Hawkes Bay winery owner who told Renee recently that he had "bought a box and thought I would just see how they went.  Well, I was completely wrong to be worried.  The first 10 sold out within the first week or so, so I ordered another 2 boxes.  Then they sold out, and so on... People just love these cellar door posters...".  It's a great concept and we look forward to the next project from this enterprising young NZ photographer.

NZ Art Print News: 2010 Year in Review

In one of our last articles for 2010 we look back at the big events of 2010 as covered in NZ Art Print News.

For NZ Fine Prints staff the biggest story of 2010 was the Christchurch Earthquake - all the articles covering this event and its affect on New Zealand's largest art print and poster store are covered here.

We can now look back and review the most important stories as judged by our readers and answer our annual question "What have been the most popular articles in NZ Art Print news in 2010?"

The top three articles by number of readers were our two longer essays on kiwiana in NZ art and New Zealand vintage posters written by NZ Prints' catalogue manager followed by our article on the use of the iconic "Four Square Man" in the artwork of Dick Frizzell posted when Frizzell released his Great NZ Songbook prints. 

By far and away our most discussed post (rated by the number of comments) in 2010 was the piece we wrote to launch the controversial Weston Frizzell Auckland Supercity poster and despite a less vigorous discussion our exclusive story of the eBay Colin McCahon painting has ended the year with a cliff-hanger after someone signing themselves as the original art dealer has just posted a claim that the artwork bought for just $US4500  might not be a genuine McCahon "Bellini" series painting after all!

Our most read and commented article of all time is still the piece we wrote way back in May 2009 on the debate surrounding the reproduction of Maori portrait paintings by NZ artists like C.F. Goldie. This continues to attract opinions both for and against over 18 months after the original piece was written!

We are now in the midst of our very busiest time of the year (all those gifts being bought for Xmas) - it will then be a short break until we are back to begin the release of many new and exciting prints from New Zealand's favourite artists in 2011.  Merry Xmas from all of us at NZ Fine Prints.

JK's Bike - Kiwiana artist Jason Kelly's Signature Explained

JK Bike Signature

Recently we asked the creator of some of the most popular new prints in the kiwiana art collection at New Zealand Fine Prints about his unusual signature. For Jason Kelly signs his humorous and quirky kiwiana style artworks not with his name but with one of two symbols. As the magnified pictures of his "signature" that accompany this article show JK's signature comprises a symbol that is his initials combined with a bicycle.

So before finding out why this artist used a symbol instead of a signature we first had to find out why a bicycle was so important to JK...

Jason wrote to NZ Art Print News:

"Re: My Bike. I have always ridden a bike from a nippa and had a bit of a love affair with them, always rode to school, first kid to wear a helmet back in the early eighties, it was some Italian hard shelled thing which looked like a cross between a peanut and a German helmet, I was severley grilled by my peers at school, them calling me peanut! Didn't bother me too much though. The love of bikes continued into Triathlon and now days having a small collection of oldies and a love of doing them up including English bikes, such as a BSA & Triumph"

Jason Kelly's "Flaming Bike" logo

We then asked Jason when he first started using the symbol/logo. He told us "The JK Bike is like a brand I suppose, it was modeled on an old Bicycle advertisement, I was never that happy signing my work as it didn't quite do it for me asthetically, so the Bike was born and I now stamp all my Art with it ( Art only) [Jason also works as a professional signwriter]. I always sign my work on the back along with the date and replaced the indelible ink stamp with the signature early on round 2000, there are some early works floating round though that missed the stamp.

The images are my artwork stamp and the "It's Hot" Bike, a bit of a piss take really, but I love flames, must be a bogan in me somewhere!"

We are delighted to report that Jason has just had the JK bike tattooed on his right painting arm four times going from my wrist small to my bicep large with the "It's Hot Flames" style logo coming out of the back wheel. Jason tells us that this was to show his "dedication to the love of what I do, my brand and my love of bikes."

Talk by Christchurch Art Critic Dennis Dutton

This is a superbly illustrated lecture from Christchurch art theorist Dennis Dutton, author of "The Art Instinct" in collaboration with animator Andrew Par.  In this talk Dutton discusses the role of beauty in art from a Darwinian perspective.

NZ Gift wholesaler Image Vault announces retail expansion plan

Widespread rumours that Christchurch publisher of NZ art gifts and decor products Image Vault are going to launch their own online store to sell directly to retail customers have been confirmed today by production manager Hamish Bayly.  In an email sent to New Zealand Fine Prints Bayly stated "all our products will be available for sale on line". He went on to say that "it will offer an on line option for people who wish to view and purchase from our complete range".

Image Vault, publisher of prints by some of NZ's top selling contemporary landscape painters like Diana Adams, Grahame Sydney and kiwiana art specialist Jason Kelly, has grown quickly to be one of the leading brands in the NZ gift market.   Launched by siblings Nathan and Jane Secker out of their Christchurch based family business Windsor Gallery (now sold) Image Vault sells a highly successful range of art cards, prints, canvas prints as well as decals and lampshades through a large network of retail stockists throughout New Zealand (including www.prints.co.nz).

This is a controversial departure from the business model followed by overseas art publishers such as Bruce McGaw or Rosensteils - or local design driven success stories like Icebreaker - who specialise in the publishing/manufacturing side and rely on a carefully cultivated network of retailers to get their products out to customers.  Do readers of NZ Art Print News think Image Vault competing directly with their loyal retail sales channel is good business or a bad idea? Leave your comment below.