Today’s art market is broad and the most accessible it has ever been. In terms of understanding, not everyone is in the know about the different art genres, other than that people create them. Either by hand painting, drawing, or shooting, editing and printing.
The most affordable will always be prints, commonly known as posters. If you only look for posters though, that is all you will find. Posters lack the same quality as art prints. Niche prints are referred to by artists and printers as prints, and they are different because they are giclée.
About Giclée Prints
When sourcing niche prints, the quality differs greatly by supplier. The term used to define a high-quality print is giclée. This method of printing requires four components.
- A high-resolution digital copy captured at 300 DPI (dots per inch)
- Specialist printing paper
- Pigment-based archival inks
- An inkjet printer, which can have as many as 12 ink cartridges
Giclée prints, done right, can last for generations. They are pricier and that is because they are professionally printed. They are not reproductions that an artist can just do a print run on their home printer to create the same quality repeatedly.
3 Not So Common Niche Prints for Affordable Statement Art
Textile designs
Textile designs are staple in the fashion industry and in interior décor, however, for home furnishings, these are usually reserved for soft furnishings rather than framed pieces, but you most certainly can frame and display them. However, much simpler is to shop for prints of textile designs and frame those for display.
This is an entire niche in itself and can be dated back centuries. Common design patterns include checkered, chevron, and damask. For tall narrow spaces, trellis designs tend to act as an anchor, which is why it is a popular design pattern for curtains.
Impressionist prints
The term ‘impressionist’ in art is a unique style. It refers to how artists capture the scene they are seeing in their painting, similar to what we have come to expect from photos.
This style dates back to 1874 when it was first exhibited in France by a group of (now famous) artists, although at the time they were considered “lunatics”.
Impressionist artists would travel around and create their paintings on the go. Paintings of people at the beach, cafes, theatres, and resorts. The key distinction with impressionist art is that it captures the essence of the everyday life of the working and middle class. Before 1874, much of the real-life paintings were portraits portraying the upper class. In that respect, impressionists paved the way for the modern art we experience today.
Famous impressionist artists include:
- Camille Pissarro
- Claude Monet
- Edgar Degas
- Édouard Manet
- Pierre-Auguste Renoir
Floral Prints
Floral prints are popular choices for statement pieces. In days gone by, it was difficult to pull off because the trend used to be to use floral wallpaper.
Now though, walls are more neutral, toned down and prime backdrops for a statement floral print that is bursting with colour.