New Zealand Art Print News

This blog has moved

noreply@blogger.com (Antony Ellis) — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 04:18:00 +0000

This blog is now located at http://blog.prints.co.nz/.
You will be automatically redirected in 30 seconds, or you may click here.

For feed subscribers, please update your feed subscriptions to
http://blog.prints.co.nz/atom.xml.

Photography Prints & Posters by New Zealand Photographers

noreply@blogger.com (Antony Ellis) — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 23:29:00 +0000

As I catalogue new prints that come in I am continually surprised by how little New Zealand photography is available for sale. Some of our top selling photographic prints and posters were published last century!

To remedy this we are working with some well known photographers like David Kerr to develop (no pun intended) an initial range of good contemporary New Zealand landscape photography. We are starting with a series of limited edition photographic prints of David's favourite photographs from several decades of work - like his famous photograph of the Four Square store on Waiheke Island pictured at right.

I would love to hear readers of New Zealand Art Print News what kind of NZ photography you would like to have available as large format prints. Special places or typical NZ scenes? Famous New Zealand photographers like Marti Friedlander or Peter Peyer? Leave me a comment...

Peter Lambert writes about his Taranaki Surf Prints series and other recent artwork

noreply@blogger.com (Antony Ellis) — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 22:09:00 +0000

I recently asked Peter to tell us more about his original prints - what is he trying to show and what inspires his most recent series of prints. Have a look at the main listing page for each of the screenprints listed in the Peter Lambert gallery to learn more about what Peter has to say about the new artwork from this popular Taranaki artist.

Coromandel series art prints by Rosemary Mortimer

noreply@blogger.com (Antony Ellis) — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 23:02:00 +0000

Rosemary Mortimer is an artist whose work is both political and decorative. In her paintings she juxtaposes classic New Zealand landscape scenery (of eg Coromandel's Matapaua Bay) with subtle tiles of subdivision plans for the same pristine areas of New Zealand coastline. Rosemary prints her limited edition works using the giclee method with museum quality inks onto archival quality 310gsm Hahnemuhle German etching paper.

Mortimer (1959 - ) graduated from Wellington Polytechnic School of Design in 1977 and has exhibited widely in solo and group shows including the Goodman Suter Biennale, Wellington City Art Gallery, Downlands Art Exhibition (Queensland) and the Pataka (Porirua Museum) Opening Exhibition. Mortimer was an 'Artist in Residence' for the QE11 Arts Council in 1988 and has won a number of prestigious awards including the BNZ Art Award for Printmaking. We have three prints of her Coromandel series of paintings in stock this afternoon.

Artist Tony Ogle sells out one print, two more about to go

noreply@blogger.com (Antony Ellis) — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 01:07:00 +0000

Tony Ogle is producing the best prints of his career. We are astonished at how fast print collectors are snapping up Ogle's editions in a matter of months. In recent days we have sold out of Sunset Piha (one of my all-time favourite New Zealand prints - it was a real wrench to part with the last one which I had actually put aside for my own collection when a colleague sold it!). Still in Service (the artwork of a tractor parked on a beach) and the classic kiwi bach picture Fisherman's Cove are now down to the last print of the edition. Once these last two prints have sold these editions will be gone forever. As always we put a print in the endangered prints gallery when it is about to sell out. Don't say we didn't warn you!

Wellington Prints from Liz Kerr and Ernest Papps

noreply@blogger.com (Antony Ellis) — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 23:34:00 +0000

There are more Wellington prints than prints of any other city in New Zealand, and our collection of pictures of Wellington is the largest range in the country. It takes up quite a lot of space in our warehouse! However there was a noticeable gap for contemporary views of the city - the venerable and popular print "Summertime Wellington" by Marianne Muggeridge is now nearly twenty years old. Anyone who lives or visits Wellington on a regular basis will have noticed some changes over this time! Wellingtonians love sending prints of their city to friends and family as gifts - perhaps because it looks so beautiful if you can't actually feel the wind that is probably blowing.

With this in mind we are delighted to have new modern prints of Wellington by artists like Ernest Papps and Liz Kerr in stock today.

Pictured here is Kerr's print of Wellington Harbour and Oriental Bay in summer.

Steve Hikaiti - contemporary Maori artist releases new print

noreply@blogger.com (Antony Ellis) — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 02:09:00 +0000

Steve Hikaiti released a new edition - called "Kia Kaha" - which translates from Maori as "Be Strong" in late 2009. Hikaiti has printed this contemporary tiki print in a very small edition of just 40. Under half of the prints remaining (I am writing this in late January). Steve's first series of prints are also selling well so we are looking forward to his first completely sold out print within the next few weeks.

Sold out prints by NZ artists & publisher deletions

noreply@blogger.com (Antony Ellis) — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 00:28:00 +0000

Keeping prints of paintings by NZ artists in print can be a juggle for art publishers and galleries because of the size of the New Zealand art market. Prints done in a tiny edition on a world scale can be in stock for years. It is only the very top percentage of sellers that get re-printed into a second edition. This means that although prints are technically "open edition" - in that they are not numbered and can be re-printed they are really a "limited edition" of between 300-1000 prints. This means that once a print sells out it is most often never available again.

Once a New Zealand print is deleted (sold out) that's usually it because the original plates used for printing the print are probably lost.

Christmas/New Year has seen New Zealand Fine Prints sell out of several prints from our endangered prints gallery (the place where we list all editions that are about to sell out). Including one of the last Menzies kowhaiwhai panels from our Maori art and design collection, a Jane Evans print (only two prints left in stock of two different paintings by this popular Nelson artist) plus several Matisse prints are no longer available.

Since I wrote this post a couple of days ago we have since sold out of a popular Pasifika image from Valerie Beale called Friendly Disagreement and after sending prints of a sketch by Kathe Kollwitz that we happened to end up with all remaining stock when the US publisher deleted the image all over the world this edition has finally run out completely (we still have another deleted title from Kollwitz in stock). Like prints by Graciela Rodo Boulanger it is an amusing quirk of the internet's reach that we are sending these prints back to where they were originally printed but are now unavailable.

New Zealand Fine Prints re-opens for 2010

noreply@blogger.com (Antony Ellis) — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 02:24:00 +0000

We are all back in the office after the Xmas/New Year holiday. Thanks to our warehouse manager who popped in over the holidays to make sure that we could keep the orders shipping! I have a large pile of new prints to catalogue for 2010 plus lots of new New Zealand artists starting the process of getting prints listed with us.

New Prints in Stock Today

noreply@blogger.com (Antony Ellis) — Wed, 23 Dec 2009 01:51:00 +0000

After our busiest ever Xmas I have finally got some cataloging time to process some of the dozens of new prints that have arrived at our warehouse over the past few weeks. It has been all hands to the deck to get prints shipped around New Zealand and the world in time for Christmas day.

Summary of new prints added today.

Keith Haring pop art prints from a leading French publisher
Print of the famous Charles Ebbets New York depression era photograph of Lunch atop a Skyscraper 1932
A couple of great posters by Klimt - also available framed
Tony Ogle sold out print called Still in Service - Tony has found an artists' proof when he moved from his long term residence in Bethels Beach to Gisborne
Dick Frizzell - several new original prints including Overnight Success (the print of Frizzell's mum's pavlova recipe) and Leger Demain III
A large good quality poster of a painting by master American abstract expressionist Jackson Pollock for just $20

Queen with Moko Print

noreply@blogger.com (Antony Ellis) — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 02:44:00 +0000

One of our prints - Queen with Moko by Barry Ross Smith has hit the national news via the Manawatu Standard's article that has been picked up Stuff.co.nz - the main news website for Fairfax media. Over 60 comments on the article already - mostly positive so far. We'll see where this goes...

Very special limited edition print from Otis Frizzell

noreply@blogger.com (Antony Ellis) — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 18:50:00 +0000

After a much longer than expected journey from Wellington thanks to CourierPost I have finally been able to catalogue this morning a much anticipated print from one of our favourite contemporary artists, Otis Frizzell. This large and colourful print is both an exciting visual treat and an opportunity to raise money for our disaster relief in Samoa following the devastating Tsunami early this year.

In October 2009 Otis Frizzell (pictured left) was commissioned to complete an artwork to capture the generosity and response of donors to the New Zealand Red Cross Samoa Tsunami Relief Fund with the encouragement of New Zealand’s online giving website Givealittle.co.nz

The large mural, entitled "God Bless Samoa", was created by Otis in the foyer of Wellington's Te Papa over four days with members of the public watching the progress unfold. The resulting 8m by 2m artwork will be gifted to the people of Samoa once a suitable home is found. To keep a slice of this unique work in New Zealand a very small run of limited edition prints are now available with 100% of the proceeds being donated to the New Zealand Red Cross Samoa Tsunami Relief Fund. New Zealand Fine Prints are also donating all credit card transaction fees to ensure that the Red Cross Samoa Tsunami Relief Fund gets the full amount from each sale.

Technorati Verification Code

noreply@blogger.com (Antony Ellis) — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 21:41:00 +0000

ZHH6AW2JEYMU

Canvas Prints - New Zealand range expands

noreply@blogger.com (Antony Ellis) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 00:30:00 +0000

An increasing number of New Zealand artists like Diana Adams are making prints of their paintings available on canvas. At New Zealand Fine Prints sales of canvas prints have tripled over the past year now that we have finally been able to offer New Zealand prints printed on genuine artists' canvas rather than the canvas transfer system we tried a few years ago (and dropped as some of our customers weren't satisfied with the results).

Canvas prints can vary widely in quality from a plastic "poly canvas" which is just plain horrible through to extremely high end archival standard canvas. With canvas prints you truly get what you pay for - the cost of good quality materials (canvas and ink) is very high per canvas print partly because there is no economies of scale as each print is printed one at a time. Our studio uses an acid free canvas with a neutral pH factor. The canvas has great colour gamut and low dot gain. Based upon laboratory testing it is estimated that pigment inks will last 35 - 100 years without noticeable fading.

We have listed all canvas prints at the price for the loose canvas ready to carefully rolled in acid-free tissue and delivered in very sturdy packaging anywhere throughout New Zealand or around the world. We also offer a stretching service where the canvas prints are wrapped around a wooden stretcher frame with the border of the image going around the edges. This is ready to hang on the wall - finished with a clear lacquer across the print's surface and with a hanger on the reverse of the print. Stretched canvas prints can be ordered by calling us toll free on 0800 800 278. Shown here is the new canvas print of the popular painting by contemporary artist Diana Adams of New Zealand's highest mountain Mount Cook/Aoraki.

Art Deco Prints

noreply@blogger.com (Antony Ellis) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 01:38:00 +0000

Today we have been putting together the start of a collection of Art Deco prints. We used to have an Art Deco gallery but it dwindled to an embarrassing small offering of prints. However recently we have got new prints in stock by Rita Angus and Hamish Allan that have been enough for us to at least offer a few works from this popular style. We also hope to source some more Tamara de Lempicka prints shortly.

Antony Ellis

noreply@blogger.com (Antony Ellis) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 01:25:00 +0000

Antony Ellis (who occasionally writes for us here at New Zealand Art Print News) has a new website at www.antonyellis.co.nz. At Antony's website you can more learn about what he does apart from the work he does for New Zealand Fine Prints. Antony has been at the core of our online marketing strategy for over ten years and we wish him well as he continues to broaden his base of clients.

Do prints typecast painters by freezing their artwork in time?

noreply@blogger.com (Antony Ellis) — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 01:58:00 +0000

Christchurch artist Hamish Allan is well-known for his weatherboard houses and contemporary landscapes and in an article in the Press promoting his latest exhibition of paintings he made some comments about his work that are similar to the sentiments expressed privately to me by many artists over the years. His latest exhibition was described as featuring a variety of paintings that follow "Allan's signature themes of nostalgia and New Zealand icons with some updated twists."

However I noted with interest that Allan is quoted as saying he doesn't want to be "pigeon-holed as a painter of weatherboard houses or bungalows in a landscape setting, so there is an [increasing] awareness of that which makes New Zealand buildings within the local landscape unique, such as their architectural details, and I've introduced vehicles and the like". This highlights a conundrum for artists - art buyers want their work to stay the same (eg Stanley Palmer's prints of Nikau Palms on the West Coast are what we are always being asked for with hardly any enquiries for his other paintings and prints) whereas the artist wants to keep progressing - or to simply change the focus or theme of their painting.

Prints exacerbate this dilemma when an artist finds their lifetime's artistic output represented in the public's eye by reproductions of paintings that they have moved on from both through time passing and in terms of the development of their artistic style. Print buyers keep buying prints of the paintings that they are best known for (eg Bill Hammond's paintings inspired by Buller's Birds of New Zealand) when they may represent just one phase of an artists career. Jane Puckey even had to be dissuaded from shredding her popular prints a few years ago so eager was her desire to not be frozen in time in the public's eye with a certain style of painting!

Is Hamish Allan afraid of being typecast like an actor who plays one role so convincingly they are forever forced to re-hash their performance in similar roles? If he is I hope he succeeds in evolving from his current style and would personally be delighted if his portraits of Captain Cook etc sell as well as his Robin White inspired landscapes. We have never understood why prints of famous New Zealanders (or people connected with New Zealand) are not more widely available. It is only recently that we have started to sell portraits of eminent kiwis like Ed Hillary and Barry Crump - good on you Fane Flaws for seeing that New Zealanders are just as interested in pictures of important historical figures as eg Americans are in hanging pictures of George Washington. Now if only we could find a good re-print of that famous photograph of Michael Joseph Savage that used to hang in sitting rooms across New Zealand....

New Prints in Rick Edmonds' Marlborough Sounds Series

noreply@blogger.com (Antony Ellis) — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 02:16:00 +0000

Peaceful and contemplative views of water, hills and sunlight playing on natural surfaces - it is no wonder that Rick Edmonds' prints are so popular with New Zealanders. Rick confesses that he is "mad about sailing" and sea scenes dominate the views that he paints from his studio at Moenui Bay in Queen Charlotte Sound. Rick grew up in Pelorus Sound, after graduating with fine art and teaching diplomas Edmonds spent seven years teaching Outdoor Education & Art and a further ten years as a Senior Conservation Officer with DOC. He is now a full time professional artist.

Rick writes "After having sailed many seas, and scaled many summits, a calm day with clear skies and bright light, still sets my heart yearning to be out on the Sound. There is nowhere else that so compels me. This sense of longing, and of belonging, motivates my art. It is an attempt to celebrate the unique combination of light, land, wind, and ocean. In this sense my paintings are not "scenes", though they are of recognizable features, but rather a statement, each in its own way monumental, of what is the Marlborough Sounds."

We have a whole bunch of brand new prints by Rick Edmonds in stock this morning. Photo credit: The Marlborough Express.

New Zealand Xmas Gifts

noreply@blogger.com (Antony Ellis) — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 01:38:00 +0000

We can't believe that our warehouse staff are already seeing the first orders coming through in mid-October for prints being sent as Xmas gifts. Admittedly these are for non-New Zealand delivery but Xmas does seem to have arrived early this year. I am personally amazed at how organised some people are to be arranging their xmas presents so far in advance. Many years ago we use to offer delivery by "surface" rather than "airmail" outside of New Zealand so maybe some people don't realise that we always "ship" (what an Americanism!) their prints by air in around 10 days!

We are working on special collections of prints for customers to browse when they are looking for presents - however this can quickly descend into cliche... Eg maps for guys, Pop Art for under 30s and a nice bird print for Grandma so we are not advancing very far without getting into arguments about stereotyping. We'll have to get this finished before Christmas actually arrives!

Artist on £500 000 a year drops Art in Motion as distributor

noreply@blogger.com (Antony Ellis) — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 23:23:00 +0000

Here in New Zealand we are at the receiving end of Jack Vettriano's decision to drop his Canadian distributor Art in Motion in favour of setting up his own publishing company. Some of New Zealand's best selling imported prints are by Vettriano - eg The Singing Butler, Elegy for a Dead Admiral and Dance Me to the End of Love and these popular prints are now suddenly no longer available.

Just like a band who dumps their record label so they can have complete creative free reign on their next album we wonder whether this short-sighted decision portends a steep decline in the fortunes of this artist... We have only two or three copies of the prints shown in the Jack Vettriano gallery left as there is now no distributor for this artist in Australasia.

Dick Frizzell's book inspires new print

noreply@blogger.com (Antony Ellis) — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 23:47:00 +0000

A new Dick Frizzell print arrived this morning. It is a collaborative work with Fane Flaws called "Cover Art". It celebrates the fact that well known artist and designer (and good friend of Frizzell) Flaws worked on the design for Dick's new book "Dick Frizzell: The Painter".

We are really looking forward to buying our office copy of "Dick Frizzell: The Painter" as soon as it is released on October 2 2009. From the publisher's blurb it promises to be a great read:

"Dick Frizzell's images populate our world - you find them on t-shirts, on TV ads, in shop windows, on wine bottles, on cushions and t-towels, and in art shows. People appropriate (or borrow) his images in much the same way that he too appropriated many of the images he has painted over the years. He's reached iconic status in NZ - we love him, he's one of our own. As Dick himself says with a surprised chuckle, "I'm just like the Topp Twins now - I can do no wrong, they all love me!"

Dick has a great story: After going to art school he found himself in his 20s married and with a young family to support. He worked in advertising until 1974, when his artistic urges made him leave the ad agency to take up working in the vege markets in the early hours of the day so that he could pursue his art.

His paintings combined the pragmatics of an adman's need for a compelling motif with the visceral pleasures of expressive modernist paintings. His first images of gaudy fish-tin labels and comic strip characters caught everyone's imaginations. Dick's talent, energy and his deadpan humour meant that his art was highly successful.

Dick Frizzell: The Painter contains all of his major paintings, the story of his life in his own thoughtful and highly articulate words, and an essay by Hamish Keith on Dick's work and its place in the New Zealand art world."

We'll post a review as soon as we get our hands on a copy!

Weston Frizzell - New Prints by Mike Weston and Otis Frizzell

noreply@blogger.com (Antony Ellis) — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 00:29:00 +0000

Weston Frizzell is the collaborative identity of artists Otis Frizzell and Mike Weston.  

Art and branding collide again with Weston Frizzell's new series of prints. According to Mike and Otis their new prints represent "the next level of the Weston Frizzell strategic evolution applying a combination of approaches, styles, and ideas to explore the iconography of NZ fine art art and popular culture." Subversive commercialism and the outright audacity of their appropriated subject matter in their latest prints shows the fearlessness that the Weston Frizzell brand has come to signify.

In nine years of working together Otis Frizzell and Mike Weston’s creative partnership has evolved from celebrity artist and his art dealer into a full blown art collaboration.

Described by Artnews as "a high performance art partnership", their Warhol influenced production line methods and an entertainment industry honed promotion and management strategy has taken Weston Frizzell from the street art and pop culture melting pot of Auckland's K Rd into the fine art world. Their output draws heavily on appropriated imagery, style and content presented with satiric and often ironic subtext - Weston Frizzell prints challenge notions of authorship and originality.

Both artists have their roots deep in New Zealand's counterculture . The range of skills and influences they share is diverse and eclectic. The Weston Frizzell partnership equally acknowledges contribution of ideas, craft, celebrity, management, and labour in the production and marketing of shared output of works and in the division of the proceeds.

According to Mike Weston and Otis Frizzell their combined skills and the diversity of influences express an aesthetic that is positioned at the "very high end of the low brow".

We were delighted to receive three new prints, Aotearoa, Aroha and World of Love from Weston Frizzell's latest series this morning.

Tony Ogle Print of Matheson's Bay

noreply@blogger.com (Antony Ellis) — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 22:07:00 +0000

We have just listed another great new Tony Ogle print this morning. It is of a homestead overlooking Matheson's Bay - a popular holiday spot just north of Auckland.

New Zealand Contemporary Landscape prints by Hamish Allan

noreply@blogger.com (Antony Ellis) — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 05:05:00 +0000

We are noticing an exciting new trend of New Zealand prints being produced both on fine art paper and printed directly onto canvas. (Although it does make it harder to catalogue new artwork though because we don't want to clutter up our galleries with multiple images in different formats. We have therefore decided to catalogue the prints on paper and add the information about canvas availability, price etc to the main image page).

Christchurch contemporary landscape artist Hamish Allan is part of this trend releasing a series of six prints available both on fine art paper and printed directly onto genuine artists' canvas in the same size.

Allan worked as a physiotherapist before working initially as a sculptor before starting painting fulltime in 2002. Hamish writes that his "approach to painting and design is clear - less is more. Keeping imagery clean and simple, use deeply contrasting tones and texture to add natural quality and visual impact. Local stylised landscapes are integrated into blocks of colour and texture and lifted by perspective and detail. The horizon is used with striking effect as a focal point from which the painting emerges. Horizontal and vertical plains are integral and emphasized, drawing the viewer into the work."

Shown is the delightfully named print "Yawning" by Hamish Allan - another print featuring New Zealand's iconic cabbage tree...

Rita Angus' Painting of Cass - Who is the person standing on the railway station platform?

noreply@blogger.com (Antony Ellis) — Fri, 14 Aug 2009 01:28:00 +0000

The question of who was the model for the lone figure standing on the platform of Cass railway station in Rita Angus' famous painting may have been finally answered by a recent letter to the editor published in "Your Weekend" Magazine on August 8 2009 in response to an article on the settlement of Cass that was published the previous week.

"I read with great interest your Heartland column on Cass. The man on the station in the painting by Rita Angus is my late father, Percy Harold Morey. He was District Engineer for Railways from 1924 - 1945, in Dunedin, the West Coast and Canterbury. He travelled the lines inspecting washouts and slips, and frequently stayed at the Railway House at Cass. During the 1940s he build a bach that still stands to the right of the gate as you enter the settlement, and I have wonderful memories of exploring the surrounds while staying there during school holidays - Pamela Gray, Rolleston."

Are there any other candidates that have been put forward over the years?