When you decorate the walls in your home, there are a number of facts, that support you should buy paintings directly from an artist, instead of buying reproductions in online shops or physical shops.
- You get an original, unique painting that no one else has
- The painting is carefully created, down to the smallest detail
- You get a quality product, made of excellent materials
- You get the most bang for your buck – no commission to online or physical galleries
- The selling price is higher when you want to make changes in your collection
- You get a better service, the artist will answer any questions you have
You get an original unique painting
When you buy an original, unique painting from an artist, you get a unique piece of art, there is only one of one-of-a-kind.
And you can use the artwork to design the decor in your home with your own special touch, without any fear that your family, friends or neighbors already have the same painting or can imitate your decor.
If we look at the definition of the word “original”, The Danish Dictionary says it is an “object or phenomenon that is the basis for a copy.”
Be aware that many online and physical stores that advertise with “original” paintings, actually sell reproductions where the artistic value is practically non-existent.
Copies are typically made at art factories in China and other Eastern countries. The workers there doesn't always have the best working conditions. Employees work many hours a day without any breaks, and the production is made in buildings, that lack basic needs such as glass in window and heating during winter.
There is also a couple of Danish mass producing art factories, which employ Danish artists who produce copies under pseudonyms.
It may be difficult to spot whether it's a real or fictitious artist and if it's an original painting or a copy – here are a few tips you can use, factors that indicate it is a real artist:
Start by Googling the artist and see what information comes up. Does the artist's contact information appear, is he having his own website, does the search show earlier exhibitions?
- If there is an artist profile on the store's website, and it shows a photo and a biography of the artist.
- If an artist profile with biography is attached to the painting, and there is shown a photograph of the artist.
- Things that indicate it is an original unique painting:
- If there is a real artist behind and not only a pseudonym.
- If the painting is signed with the full name, title and year on the back of the canvas.
The painting is created with great care
Unique paintings, made by real life artists, are characterized by the artist using hours and hours of work on composition, texture, color composition and color blending. The result is an artwork with endless small details, beautiful colors and great depth, which means you will continuously discover new details, textures, and details.
Initially the artist plan the composition, style, subject, and medium. After that, the process of creating the painting consists of a series of different steps: priming of the canvas, applying texture pulp (1-3 operations), painting the subject (1-5 operations), top finish and at last, a topcoat.
It varies a lot, how many times an artist must work on a painting before it is ready for the public, but typically it's worked over 5-10 times. Especially when the creation requires many thin translucent layers and transparent colors, it has to be worked over many times.
Characteristic for the production of reproductions is, that there is very little time for producing each painting, normally there are only 15-20 minutes available.
This means, that it is only possible to make a painting with a maximum of three layers before it is ready. Often the painting will be manufactured in one process, and the employee is parallel working on up to 50 copies of identical paintings. Therefore, reproductions are often missing details and depth.
You get a quality product
Many artists take pride in using paint, materials and tools in a very high quality.
Basically, a distinction is made between three different qualities within artist paint: School quality, student quality, and artist quality.
What factors do determine the quality of the painting? It's a question of the pigments being used, the proportion pigments have relative to the fillers, and the bindings.
The highest quality paint is using the most expensive pigments, the largest share of pigments and contains little or no fillers.
School quality is the cheapest and is used for training in school classes. It's not suitable for a real painting, used to decorate your home with, since the poor quality means difficulties in mixing with other colors, the paint can not maintain the texture and dries to a flat shape, and lack colors fade resistance, opacity, tinting strength and transparency.
Student quality is a basic paint, which is used for priming of paintings and opaque surfaces. It is a sound quality, that has some good characteristics so the colors can be mixed, and they keep the texture to an acceptable degree. The only problem is, that these colors have trouble showing transparency without the use of mediums.
Artist quality is top of the line with high lightfastness, high opacity, strong color tinting and high transparency. All in all, it gives the possibility of making paintings with very fine details, brilliant colors, and great depth. And the high proportion of pigments secures that the paintings will have a long shelf life, without the colors starting to fade away or paint flaking off.
The professional artist uses canvas in good quality, made of cotton and/or linen.
The vast majority of artists always finish the process with a layer of protection in the form of varnish or gel. It secures a painting that will last for many years, and also makes it easier to clean.
Reproductions usually use artist paint in school quality and student quality – the outstanding artist quality will not be used because of a high price. And copies don't get the topcoat that protects against UV rays and sunlight and provides durability for many years to come.
The canvas they use are often made of 100% polyester, providing a rigid surface, that is unable to stretch with the paint under various humidity conditions.
You get the most bang for your buck
If artists are selling through online or physical galleries, they often must pay up to 50% of the sales amount to gallery owners.
Obviously when you are dealing directly with the artist, there is no paid commission, and there is thus no costly intermediaries to monetize on the artworks.
The selling price is higher
When you want to sell a painting you initially bought from a professional artist, the prices keep a higher level, compared to copy paintings you buy online and in physical stores.
Generally, you can get approximately the same amount as your buying price for paintings purchased from an artist, whereas reproductions fall drastically in price, so you only get about 25% of the amount you originally paid.
And if you spot a talented artist, you can make money when you sell again.
It requires a lot of practice, and that you know what to look for when buying art.
You get a better service
When you deal directly with a professional artist, he or she will answer any questions you have. Whether it comes to design, materials, maintenance or otherwise.
And you have of course also the possibility of letting the artist creating a unique piece with your own colors and designs.
Many artists also offer to help with transportation.
