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Gamut Control, a fine art reproduction publisher, printer and marketing company, who produce and sell high quality, limited edition prints for the many successful contemporary artists they represent, and Fine Art Registry™, online provider of secure art and collectibles identification and registration services, have teamed up to help provide standards of quality and authenticity to the field of limited edition fine art reproduction and the multiples market.
Gamut Control has revolutionized digital fine art reproduction by combining the use of available high end hardware and software with their own, proprietary specialized software and methodologies into a next generation process. This process begins with capturing each tiny detail in the original artwork and then transferring the image, pixel by pixel, to the final canvas (or other media) to create a completely faithful reproduction of the original in all its brilliant color and texture, stretching the gamut of the high end, wide format inkjet printer to ensure that each color is accurately portrayed. Their system has completely done away with the need for profiles and color correction. It simply takes the original and duplicates it. This proprietary system developed by Gamut Control is not available anywhere else. Archival pigment inks, highest quality canvas and a hand applied varnish, guarantee longevity and stability in the print.
Artists who had given up attempting to get their work accurately reproduced in print form have been pleasantly surprised and delighted by Gamut’s output. "I have been in the art business professionally for over 26 years, with my hands personally on all technical aspects of creating and reproducing original images. I believe the system you have assembled to capture and print high resolution fine art is the best I have ever seen… The entire system from preparation to final exhibition uses the most advanced technology available anywhere in the world today. Most importantly, you know how to use the equipment, software and chemistry to bring out the splendor of any work of art to its maximum potential. Thanks for all your good work," says R. Kastaris, a 2008 Beijing Olympic Artist and Gamut Control devotee.
Global Fine Art Registry, LLC, is the only provider of a U.S. patented system of secure tagging of artwork and other valuables with a unique identifier which offers multiple levels of security, and registration of these in a secure, central database along with photos and full description. The purpose is to help artists create a full, permanent record of their work, to prevent forgery and fakery, deter theft, prove ownership and create irrefutable provenance for art and other collectibles and valuables. Different methods of marking the item are available, depending on what the item is: a holographic, archival tag about the size of a quarter with unique embedded identifiers (human readable and covert) manufactured into the tag along with several other sophisticated layers of patented technology, is usual for flat art. A more covert tag, the Microtag™, about one sixteenth of an inch in diameter, can be applied and is virtually invisible. A third method of applying the identification information is by laser etching, suitable for smaller art objects, jewelry, gem stones, and metal objects. In each case the unique codes incorporated into the tag or mark are tied to a permanent record in the Fine Art Registry database where the object is described and photos are shown. The database can be searched, stolen or lost items can be listed as such and authenticity can be proven.
The use of digital technology and inkjet printers has changed the field of fine art reproduction forever. And although Graham Nash (of Crosby, Stills and Nash fame) and his staff had only the best of intentions for the giclée when they coined the term at Nash Editions in 1991, less scrupulous, less talented and less demanding individuals have, in the intervening years, muddied the field to a point where, when buying a giclée today, the collector often doesn’t know what he’s getting. Artists are dismayed by their own or others’ attempts to capture their masterpieces on film or in digital form. Poor quality materials result in faded, yellowed or cracked canvases in just a few years. “Limited” print runs are extended by the dishonest when they find a market for the item which exceeds the numbers of the initial run. Signatures are forged. There are no standards to ensure that these limited edition prints are consistent with the time honored requirements of the world of fine arts and art collecting.
These are the issues and abuses that Gamut Control and Fine Art Registry have joined forces to overcome. To this end they have formed an alliance to which they aim to attract the many reputable and quality conscious publishers of fine art around the country and the world. Gamut Control will export their proprietary process complete with materials and equipment, to publishers. Fine Art Registry will use its tagging and registration system to prevent abuses of limited editions and prevent forgery and fakes. Publishers will be able to concentrate on the task at hand of recruiting talented artists and marketing their work without the worries associated with quality, authenticity and security as these will have been taken care of by Gamut Control and Fine Art Registry. Print quality will be overseen and maintained by Gamut Control. Integrity of the limited editions will be maintained and assured by Fine Art Registry.
“We hope to create a whole new era for the legitimate, high quality, collectible digital reproduction market,” said Fine Art Registry CEO, Theresa Franks.
A great deal of hard work goes into the production of every single print, from the laborious image capture process on state of the art equipment to the painstaking clean-up of the digital image to remove any stray particles or artifacts which were embedded in the original under a variety of varnishes, all the way through to the deep saturation printing, the stretching and the hand varnishing of the finished print. The Fine Art Registry tag and registration guarantees authenticity. Edition numbers are permanently recorded by Fine Art Registry. But the possibility of human error in the areas of color balance and profiling have been entirely removed from the cycle. The colors are transferred accurately from the original painting or drawing to the final canvas or watercolor paper.
The new alliance hopes to attract the top artists and limited edition fine art reproduction publishers around the world, those who value the highest quality image capture and reproduction for their work and customers – those artists and publishers who see the importance of maintaining authenticity and provenance of limited edition fine art reproductions across all methods of reproduction technology. Already a number of publishers have expressed strong interest in the concept. As more and more publishers come on board, the confused world of photomechanically reproduced prints will become more regulated and standardized thereby making use of advances in technology while satisfying the demands of tradition in the field of fine art and collecting with regard to quality, longevity and authenticity.
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dphillips[.]fineartregistry.com, brian[.]gamutcontrol.c 
