Image Borders

[michaellinder]

how the artist wanted it to be viewed and experienced

 

I like your explanation, Phil. Does it follow in your view that the artist is somehow structuring the work?

[Norma Desmond]

I suppose if I ever wanted a print mounted & framed I’d do the same and rely on their judgement.

This makes a lot of sense (in a lot of cases). There's a reason people focus on certain tasks and become experts in their field. A good frame designer and frame maker is an artist in her own right. Why not let them use their expertise, especially if you don't feel inclined to make those decisions?

 

I have a couple of friends who've been curators and another friend who's made frames and is a designer. Because I have my own gallery at home and that's where I've shown most of my stuff, I like to choose the frames and even do the gallery layout myself because, for me, the presentation is so much a part of the art and I like that personal involvement. But I do run things by these friends who I consider more expert than me and I also seek advice from them. So far, it's worked out well and I've been pleased with how my gallery has come together.

 

Last time I had a gallery opening, I did completely farm out the food and drink, though my culinary friends might point out that’s part of the art as well! :) I have good friends who love entertaining and they put together a really nice spread, set it up, chose the wine and beer, and I didn't have to think about any of it . . . just paid the bill.

 

I did pick out my own outfit and dressed myself and everyone said I looked great, but that’s because I avoided harsh backlighting . . .

[Allen Herbert]

." There's a reason people focus on certain tasks and become experts in their field. A good frame designer and frame maker is an artist in her own right." Fred.

 

Like this bit of banality best.

 

"A good frame designer and frame maker is an artist in her own right. "Fred.

 

Okay, a good frame designer makes an Artist:))

 

Some folks should actually read what they write....,and think....I've just written a load of BS.

[Allen Herbert]

Hey, real Artists have borders to their photos done by special border Artist folk.

 

Sadly, most of you folk do not have proper borders to your photos done by special border artists.

 

There, that is why your photos are not properly loved.

 

Just a thought.

[Allen Herbert]

Sorry, Fred.

 

But a lot of the time I agree with you...how boring is that.

 

But, when you feel you are divine and write BS...well, I just have to disagree:))

[Allen Herbert]

I just cannot image, in my wildest dreams, a piece of Art...

 

Well if it had a nice border....hello, is there conscious life on this burning debris. .

[michaellinder]

Sadly, most of you folk do not have proper borders to your photos done by special border artists.

 

There, that is why your photos are not properly loved.

 

So, Allen, does it follow - according to your logic - that a photograph without any border at all is "...not properly loved?" If your answer is "yes," then you would seem to use a sort of logic with which I'm not familiar. (One more thing . . . . . . If you gift me with the same ad hominem you used to respond to Fred, I'll consider it an honor.)

[sandra_mccabe]

No frame - I would be mortified if someone preferred the frame to the image it holds :o))))

[Allen Herbert]

"So, Allen, does it follow - according to your logic - that a photograph without any border at all is "...not properly loved? "Michael'

 

It's called sarcasm, Michael. I could be rude...but I will pass for now. Educated to middle school English with a certificate...Hmm.

 

It seems to me some folk get all excited, ,....thrilled about a border from clever border folk...yes, a nice border is nice...nice....the end.

 

" If you gift me with the same ad hominem you used to respond to Fred,"Mi9chael.

 

I love Fred too. He plays the little bird with the damaged wing...reality check..... he is the most belligerent aggresive poster on P/N...loves folk to join him in the "we" and loves lots of attention...".Belle of the Ball" comes to mind..

 

Genuinely, ''I'm rather fond of "our Fred'....a character....few can claim than title.

 

 

.

Edited April 20, 2018 by Allen Herbert

[Allen Herbert]

. "Educated to middle school English with a certificate...Hmm." Allen

 

That was cruel

 

Apologize.

[Allen Herbert]

Nasty.

[michaellinder]

Allen, your sarcasm disguised itself as a self-referential ad hominem (or some other kind of weird linguistic creature). Thanks for responding, even though I still am befuddled.

[Allen Herbert]

""am befuddled. Michael.

 

Okay.

 

Sorry I failed to communicate to you .My bad. Nothing wrong with being befuddled,Michael....in time it happens to all of us.

 

Perhaps a nice tree photo....our Prince Charles felt a spiritual connection when he talked to a tree....true. Myself I think just a tree.

 

Hope you like my tree photo taken on a sunny day.

Edited April 24, 2018 by Allen Herbert

[Allen Herbert]

[Jack McRitchie]

Yeah, but don't you think it would be better with a border?

[Sandy Vongries]

Except for Nations, I'm not much into borders, (mattes something different) sorry, Jack! Long time - hope you're doing well!

[scott_eaton5]

Lately I've been selling a lot of metal prints, and for the longest time couldn't figure out why they bugged me in some way. It was because I'm used to framing my higher end prints I've sold with a typical matte and frame. With metal and acrylic prints becoming so popular I had to wrestle with the notion I was complimenting somebody' s furniture in some fashion because there rarely is a border.

 

I compromised by promising myself some images I just won't put on metal and some will stay on cotton/rag and framed accordingly.

 

Then there's the onslaught of 4x5 polaroid transfer prints in the 80's and 90's with two feet of white matte on either side of the image..........I know what that says about the artist, but this is a family friendly forum.

[Norma Desmond]

Scott, there are actually some interesting frames and display boxes being made for metal prints. Some are pretty nice looking but not cheap. Google and ye shall find.

[michaellinder]

Google and ye shall find.

 

A proverb for the ages, Fred . . . . . . .

[scott_eaton5]

I've seen them....but most of the people I sell metals to don't want them. They cost more than the print.

 

I know a lot of people who work in framing and matting and if you talk to them it's surprisingly a science from their point of view. Second primary color in the image is supposed to match the outside matte color, etc. Or do I have it backward.

 

Period in the late 90's when minimalistic euro type framing was the thing. Basically you sandwiched your image in glass panes with no border, so you had negative space. It tended to work well with full frame 35mm B&W where you showed sprocket holes, but then digital shooters started added shredded/faded edges and it all kinda went to heck at that point.

[Sandy Vongries]

Professional framing is costly - I have a few decent antique Japanese prints - even there, the frame often costs as much as the artwork. Attractive DIY framing is well within reach of anyone with manual skills - mitre box & saw, frame clamp, glass cutter and matte cutter plus care and patience! Edited May 1, 2018 by Sandy Vongries

[Norma Desmond]

it's surprisingly a science from their point of view

I'm not surprised by it. Framing is a craft. Science and details should matter, as it does to most craftspeople.

 

Everyone I've ever sold a print to has paid more for the framing than for the print. It's a bit of an irony, but one most people are used to by now, especially those who buy art and photos.

 

Just as there's often a qualitative difference between, for example, DIY wedding photography (why pay pro prices when I can get Uncle Henry to take the pics for me) and professional wedding photos, there's often a noticeable difference between a pro framing job and a non-pro job, to discerning eyes. No one should buy what they don't want. But we often get what we pay for, in many walks of life.

 

Those who will inevitably be tempted to misinterpret any of this as my saying that the frame is as or more important than the art . . . well . . . go right ahead. I won't bother to set you straight! :)

[Allen Herbert]

'The frame can be seen as an invitation to a more immediate kind of relationship to what we see and hear than what would typically be allowed by a necessary filtration through already-known categories". Fred.

 

Sometimes you just have to wonder that if the frame is so important it must become….for some part of the Art....the better the frame the better the Art. Jeez,, just imagine a piece of Art without the frame enhancement by a master framer. There's a thought.

 

"Consider Warhol and his soup cans or Duchamp's mustache on the Mona Lisa. They actually defied the category of art itself". Fred.

 

Folks can create their version of Art by painting/photographing a tin whistle....but bottom line the money decides what is Art or not.

 

Some folk follow the herd without a mind of their own just to please the crowd.

Edited May 23, 2018 by Allen Herbert

[Allen Herbert]

So, lets hit the bottom line here.

 

Does a frame enhance the Art....

 

And create superior Art which would be lesser Art without the frame.

[Vincent Peri]

My view is that a good frame accentuates the art (or lack thereof). Whenever I get a photo/painting I'd like to hang on the wall, I frame it (depending on size - for example, one of my daughters is a part time artist, and she painted herself and my other daughter and son as they were when they were small children. They're pretty big paintings, so they're not framed).