In showing your prints for the first time to a gallery owner (or other person you might want to impress), is it OK to present the 'bare' prints, say in a nice fabric-covered archival box ?
Or, should they be professionally matted (and in a box, or not) ?
What 'outer packaging' (album, box, etc.) gives the best impression ?
(In this instance I'm talking about small prints, 8x10" or under.)
Thanks for any advice.
David
With regards to matting your prints I think the answer is obvious. Just ask yourself if you like better the way your prints look when matted. I think the box doesn't matter as long as it's clean and shows just how careful you are with those precious prints. That being said, I'm just in the midst of consolidating my prints to do the same as you... show them for the first time! Did I mention I stayed at a Holiday Inn last night?
Mat prints no bigger than 11x14. Box presentation is good. Be sure that the backing and overmat are glued or taped together so they don't flap when being hand held. Don't protect then with tissue paper or put them in individual plastic covers. You want the viewer to see them as easily and painlessly as possible. Good luck.
Wilhelm (Sarasota)
David,
You know the saying, you only have one chance to make a good first impression!
Mount your prints to high quality board ( I like bright white for neutral tone B&W and "gallery" white for warm tone B&W), make sure the prints are free of any defects, make sure the printing quality is consistent from image to image, cut a window mat to go over them, tissue between the prints is a good call as it protects the print surface from rubbing on the board above and getting small scratches, and place them in a nice quality portfolio box.
A good source for materials is Light Impressions, but there are of course others.
For full size 8X10 prints, I like 16X20 board as the image will not feel to "tight" to the sides of the mat.
Also, I recommend picking no more that 10 of your best images to take in with you. If the gallery owner likes what they see, they will ask to see more.
Best of luck and hope this helps.
David,
You only have one chance to make a first impression. How do you feel your work looks best? mounted and presented nicely or loose and unprofessional......
Also very important, remember the time of a gallery owner is short, they may not want to look at your work at that moment. They may ask you to leave behind a CD of samples or a sheet of slides of your best work.
Its best to ask a gallery how THEY like to review work from new artists. Some have rules and procedures to drop off work. Some galleries post these things on their website, others will tell you with a simple phone call.
Hi David, in my experience bare prints are fine, as long as they are the best prints you can make (e.g., no proofs, damaged prints or any defects that you would need to apologize for). Gallery owners are good at making the mental leap from seeing a bare print to imagining it framed on the wall in a show, and for them the most important thing by far is the images themselves. So show them your best prints and don't worry about all the little details like whether or not you have a leather box embossed with your logo that matches your letterhead or whatever. All of that extra "chrome" will not make someone like your work if they don't like the images, and conversely, if they do like the images then it won't matter if you have all the extra stuff or not. Plenty of famous artists got their start in the gallery world by walking into galleries with loose prints in banged-up cardboard boxes. Remember: it's all about the photographs.
Good luck,
~cj
www.chrisjordan.com
i'm starting to agree with Chris ... I always used to show the big fancy box of matted prints, but more and more i sense that people see this as a pretense and an inconvenience. bare prints allow people to put more on a table at once and look at them in groups and shuffle them around.
i'm more likely now to show a couple of matted, exhibition prints, and a box of cheap inkjets or laser prints. it makes it a lot easier for people to really dig in and lay the work out without fear of damaging it.
John Szarkowski first got me thinking about this ... the first time i showed him work it was with all the fanfare and big window mats and a presentation case. the second time he left a message saying "a simple box with prints in it is all i need." the message i got was: the man's desk space is valuable, and looking at my work is not worth a trip to the chiropractor!
by the way ... as George said, it helps to just ask. people have diferent preferences. next time you make an appointment, ask how they like to look at work, or see if their website specifies.
a gallery consultant that i know recommends always having work that you can leave behind in three forms ... print, website, and CD ... because different people within the same institution often like to look at work in differnt ways. putting together folders that have a selection of reproduction prints, a CD-ROM, and other supporting materials that include your website, lets you cover all the bases.
I've always gotten better response when I've left some kind of physical printout behind ... even sheets with small thumbnails of the images on them.
Wow, I love this forum! Thanks everyone for your very helpful and positive feedback.
Cheers,
Dave
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