Fanatical Reproduction

Written by James Whitehead:

The temptation after Andy Warhol’s Silver Factory in the 1960s is to cast mass-produced silk-screens and prints as the art market’s in-joke, that artists have tricked the market into treating their works like commodities, valued only through speculation and hype. If one juxtaposes the naive concept that somehow mass-production ‘democratises’ art and the economic reality of supply and demand, it is possible to see merit in this argument.

To be sure, Pop art was culturally relevant in the 1960s, but the question remains why are silk-screens still exchanged in the contemporary art market? Are we still capitalizing on an idea from half a century ago?

The difference between prints from the past and those of today is the impermanence of the original. Street artists such as Banksy realise that their works are fundamentally unstable. The ‘democratised’, freely accessible art form is transient. This is why the act of institutionalising the medium of graffiti is essential to its continuation. The pieces on display at our December show transcend the boundary between the original work, with the authentic ‘touch’ of the artist, and the limitlessly reproduced work, as documented by photography and film. With the eradication of the original, then surely the print is the only remaining link between virtual and actual art-object.

Furthermore, one has to bear in mind that art of all ages is subject to reproduction. The printing press, the bronze cast mould and the stamp are but a few examples. Nor has the art market ever held prejudice against the master for hiring studio assistants. The stigma against high-end reproductions is unnecessary, for it works within the traditional framework of art production, and in the case of street art, immortalises a craft subject to iconoclasm.

It is no small wonder that the average price of a Marilyn Monroe silk-screen shot up after her death in 1962.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 5th, 2011 at 2:51 pm and is filed under December Show. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.