What is a Giclee´ and Recent Developments: March, 2002

Photographic Pigment Process © By Bill Marder

A certain category of fine art print is known in the art world as a Giclee´. "Giclee" (zhee-clay) is a French term, in this case meaning, "spray of ink".

With the advent of the Giclée, the art of fine art printing has become even more precise. Because no screens are used the apparent resolution of the digital print is 1,800 dots per inch, which is higher than a traditional lithographic print and has a wider range of color than serigraphy. Giclee´ prints render deep saturated colors and have a beautiful painterly quality that retains minute detail, subtle tints and blends.
More than four million droplets per second are sprayed onto canvas. Exact calculations of hue, value and density direct the ink of four nozzles. This produces a combination of 512 chromatic changes, (with the possibility of over 3 million colors.) The photographer or artist’s color approval and input are essential for creating the final artist’s proof or limited edition.
A variety of material can be used. These include archival watercolor paper (such as Arches, Somerset, glossy paper and cotton duck canvas.) The prints may be hand embellished by the artist, to substantially increase the value, using any of a variety of media such as paint, or ink for a mixed media effect.

Bill Marder’s © Photographic Pigment Process

The latest advancements in Photography in the last few years are due to vast technological changes in, digital cameras, computers, Inks and printers. The computer has replaced the darkroom and enlarger. I start off my process with an original digital photograph that I have taken. I use extremely fine nozzles with thin tubing to allow the pigment inks to be dispersed in a printer to give the highest resolution allowing the full color spectrum to be transferred to paper.
Pigment particles are now evenly isolated in a fluid instead of the older dye method of nontoxic water based inks, that were found to be susceptible to fading.
The prints now capture every tone of an original photograph, and have gained wide acceptance from many artists and photographers along with major institutions like the Chicago Art Institute and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The new wave of the future is here now with my combination of Digital Photography along with my Photographic Pigment Process. It is now possible to create a work of art or an exact reproduction of my photograph on all types of fine art papers. On canvas special varnishes are incorporated with the pigment inks for long lasting archival use. With this process it can be dusted or cleaned with a soft damp cloth.

Photographic Pigment Process
© By Bill Marder
7106 SW 115 Loop
Ocala, Florida. 34476 (352) 237-9650

For information or to order artwork
WILLIAM MARDER

E Mail : Sacrcir@aol.com