Alternative to signed mat

[Jon Shiu]

Lots of great replies to this thread...

. If a Sexton print had a damaged mat corner, then the whole piece is done and would need a complete replacement. Alan's idea requires a little more work, but the logic is definitely there.

CH

Carlos, thanks for the all the info. Couldn't Sexton's mounting board be trimmed down and mounted in a handling mat like Alan Ross's?

Jon

[Carlos R Herrera]

Boards shouldn't be trimmed down. Sexton wouldn't allow it and if he heard that a gallery permanently modified one of his consignment prints (which still belong to him), it would get ugly really fast. He would just replace the whole piece and that takes time.

Sexton, Ross, Jablonski, etc...those guys want their fine print customers to get the best and that means a pristine print. That means perfect (or as close as any can get) with an archival slip sheet protecting the print surface.

There was a person selling an old AA Special Edition on eBay recently. It was initialed (so Ted Orland printed it somewhere between 1972-73). Those were 13x16 or so and this one had been ripped down to 11x14 to fit inside a cheesy metal frame. Unbelievable.

No...mounts being altered in any way is very much frowned upon. If the gallery owned that print, then they can do whatever they want and some do, but generally consignments shouldn't be altered.

CH

[Turner Reich]

Carlos, what's a like sized border? Is the image the same size as the board, I mean is the image flush mounted on the board or is there a white border around the image on the printing paper?

[Carlos R Herrera]

is there a white border around the image on the printing paper?

Yes that's it.

Alan prints his images WITH a white border, similar to how someone would leave a white border on their digital prints.

CH

[Jon Shiu]

Your right, Sexton would not allow it, on consignment. He has also had prints damaged by galleries and that's one of the reasons he doesn't do consignment.

Jon

[gregstidham]

QT,
I wouldn't sign the overmat because it is serves a function of protecting the print and can become damaged as time passes. Signing the front below the print area is up to the artist and I see it done about 50% of the time. I have signed prints on the front in the past, but I don't with current work.

Regardless of the front signature, I would sign the back of the print, or mat if dry mounted, with a studio stamp or simply hand print the title, edition, print type, date, etc. with a signature.
Greg

[Mark Sawyer]

Related question: for those of us who dry mount our prints, would a studio stamp and/or signature on the board the print is matted on, but covered by the hinged window matte be acceptable? Or would most galleries/collectors/etc prefer a visible signature?

(When I hang my own work around the house, I prefer unsigned, as it's cleaner and less pretentious. I'm always considering ways around the "in-your-face" signature presentation.)

[Brian K]

I dry mount and then float mat my images. I leave a 3/8" border showing the edge of the print and the mount mat and then sign in that border using a very hard pencil (which makes for a very fine and light signature to deflect how badly my handwriting is) To be honest I'd prefer not to sign the front but the galleries have always requested I sign the front so it's become my standard way of working.

It's all a matter of personal preference but I prefer the smoothness of a dry mounted print for my work and by float matting don't have to worry about the window mat making impressions on the print itself.

[heatherb]

I like the signed mats

[Darin Boville]

>>I think you may need to go back and read the bible, err "The Print" again

"..and then sign them lightly in pencil on the mount below the lower right corner of the print"
A. Adams - The Print - Chapter 7 ( not sure which verse)<<

Hmmm. But didn't Adams make clear that he expected his signature (on the mat) to be permanently affixed next to the print (dry mounted on the mat). What would he do if the print was not dry mounted (as is common today)?

--Darin