Editioning

[Willie]

Thomas Kinkade, who once did a "limited edition" print run of 34,000. Even hit a finger with a needle to get a drop of blood for the ink he used to sign the prints so they "would have his DNA" on each one.

https://thomaskinkade.com/education/limited-edition/

Then there is this: "Bev Doolittle’s most recent print, Music in the Wind, has an S/N edition size of 43,500; however, this is the only print she published during the 1997 year."

Even if that's the only one she published all year, she would have to sign more than 119 a day just to get them all done in one year.

Marketing... it is all marketing.

[Tin Can]

Judging Art and Artiste honestly

Authentic

Avant Garde

Money changers

Modern...

who invented art

sing for your supper

birds

work their art real hard

Dancing with the Birds is a wonderful movie

https://youtu.be/Eg0iSIHIK34

[John Layton]

I have an acquaintance who creates editions of one...at which point his many collectors fall over themselves to purchase it. Brilliant! Especially as he now does this digitally, and typically will photograph many iterations of a single subject during one (still life) session. Subject might be a dried up leaf, which he will photograph in many different orientations...each one being unique to the others - and each being printed as an edition of one. Or sometimes the (still life) subjects will vary, but he will photograph many of these during a single session. Of course...having more than one collector is what makes this (marketing/sales) process work. It also helps that this particular photographers prints are absolutely stunning.

I've had a small number of collectors of my work over the years...some of whom have either passed on, others who'd only collected certain types of images which I no longer create, as I've moved on and generally won't keep repeating work just to keep collectors "happy." ("hey...got any more pictures of hermits? What...you don't do hermits anymore? See ya later!").

A "good" collector is one who will stay with an artist for a number of years...because they value that artist for the entire "arc" of evolution of their work. I currently have but one collector, who's been with me for awhile because he simply likes my work, and who could care less about editioning!