Tuesday, October 20, 2009

"The images always look better on the screen than on the page"

By way of follow-up to Neil's earlier post about Hockney's experimenting with inkjet printing is an NYRB article on Hockney's iPhone sketches.

Among other things he says: "the images always look better on the screen than on the page."



So I don't know but it might just be the difference between my screen and my print of his sketches but I'm not sure about always.

My prints looked a bit more vivid and crisper than the displayed versions. But caramba was there a shift in the pastel colored close cropped portrait. The pale colors crossed color name boundaries and back again on the re-display. Finally, the deep black on warm black sketch of the purple flower in glass of water also came out better in print.

But then OK I edited the images before I printed them. So I suppose the above print should come with a warning on it. Attention: multiple color edits performed.

But certainly the comments on the immediacy of the medium and the instant distribution are substantial. And certainly from my experience the rough sketches that flow with the potentially lower bar of digital drafts can always be revisited with alternative media or reditions.

Score two for convenience and connection.

2 comments:

  1. Giordano Beretta20 October, 2009 15:02

    Did you print a giclée pigmentaire or a giclée dye — see http://www.mostlycolor.ch/2007/11/fine-art-ink-jet.html

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  2. That would be a giclée dye print shown above.

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