Hi friends, I was just tapping out an e-mail to a friend on the subject of limited editions and I thought I'd share part of it here in case it might be helpful to someone. These are just my own opinions of course, but I do know that this is how many people in the art world think about this subject. This is written to a friend who is offering his B&W prints in editions of 100:
One small point of suggestion: I think an edition of 100 prints is too big. The most successful contemporary photographers in the world can't (and won't) sell 100 prints of an image, unless it's cheesy wall art for the masses, which your work definitely isn't. I think making the edition that big can take the magic and power away from the limited-edition concept. If the edition is five or ten or fifteen or whatever, that can carry a legitimate sense of scarcity, urgency and substance to it because the edition is likely to sell out. But a limited edition of 100 is kind of like a limited edition of 25,000-- it poses as a limited edition but there is no real sense of added value in it because it will never sell out, so practically it is the same as an open edition.
I think doing small editions can also convey something about how you value the work-- it suggests that each print is precious to you, and also that you trust yourself to move on to other work once these ones are sold out and done with. Limiting your editions to small numbers that will sell out within a year or two is a way of pushing yourself artistically, almost like a discipline-- cutting the safety net out from under you and forcing you to keep creating, which people will respect you for.
There is also a tremendous value in selling out the editions of your best work-- that instantly makes all of your work more valuable. To have some of your editions sold out can infuse a show, and your career, with a sense of electricity and life, which in the long run is far more valuable than whatever amount of extra money you might have made with larger editions (which probably is an illusion anyway).
Just my $0.02 for the day.
Cheers from Seattle,
~cj
www.chrisjordan.com
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