“Giclee” is a style of fine art, which incorporates the use of modern day printers, predominately 7-color to 12-color format ink jet printers and digital art work. The process is becoming more popular amongst modern day artists who regularly paint in digital format; hence there is no “original” artwork as such. It can also prove very beneficial to artists working on a tight budget, as they are able to reprint copies of the digital original on demand hence less wastage. The Giclee style is also being used to produce enhanced prints of older original artwork, which is digitally scanned as a starting point of the process.
The beauty of Giclee art is the fact that any digital artwork can be reproduced on a number of different media, including canvas and specialist papers giving a very professional look. The quality of today’s printers is such that rather than the old dot patterns the flow of coloring and texture is very smooth, offering an excellent finish.
While the Giclee procedure can be transferred to any style and format of fine art, it has become particularly prevalent in the tropical regions, with Hawaiian Giclee prints becoming much sort after in the art world. While initially the Giclee format had received a luke warm welcome from the more traditional of the art world, it has now taken a firm place as a modern day art form. Galleries are now accepting Giclee artwork into their shows, and the collectors are showing a real interest, resulting in the emergence of a Giclee market place.
In an art world often set against any new styles or procedures, which go against the traditional methods, Giclee is starting to make a big name for itself and is becoming more and more popular. This really is a case of traditional art embracing modern technology.