Not too long ago, I’d been getting enquiries about my work on paper ~ not the first of their kind in my somewhat long and modest practice. Reminds me of when a famous artist back here once told me that if I wanted to be ‘taken seriously’ by collectors, I shouldn’t do work on paper. This was back in 2021, so I had already been practising for some time (and the funny thing was, I wasn’t even asking for his advice lol). Throughout the years, I’ve understood how many collectors ~ in my corner of the planet, at least ~ tend to avoid works on paper. Many collectors regard art as an investment, and if diamonds are forever, so is a marble statue or say, an oil painting on canvas. And because these collectors are pretty much the hand that feeds for many artists, if the collectors don’t want art on paper, then… Anyway I’m not going to go down that rabbit hole; a Jedi’s gotta do what a Jedi’s gotta do to pay the bills. But I would like to spend this month’s post on putting my insignificant word in for works on paper ~ and not just because a hefty chunk of my own work is. It’s just, if you’re a buyer or collector or, maybe have a certain opinion about work on paper (that you may not even know you have), I’m hoping to maybe get you to start thinking differently. Here are the usual five main gripes I hear about work on paper and corresponding ‘counter-reasons’ for each of them. 1. It turns yellow with age.It’s true that paper does go yellow over the years ~ but it depends on what kind of paper it is. If the paper is made out of wood pulp or cellulose, chances are it’s chockfull of acid which is the main reason paper turns yellow. Since around the mid-1800s, people have added things to paper to make it whiter, sturdier or less absorbent, and those things made the paper more acidic. That’s why any paper you might see from around that time is yellow today, and that’s probably why folks who buy anything on paper now might think their art piece is going to look like that a hundred years or so hence. It was only in the late 1900s when people started making paper meant specifically for art (or special documents that they wanted to preserve) that had significantly less acid content. This drastically lessened the chances of the paper turning yellow over time. If the paper is made out of cotton, like a lot of watercolour paper is, the chances of it turning yellow are even less. Good quality cotton watercolour paper is also produced using acid-free processes. 2. It’s not sturdy (ya know).After paper turns yellow, it crumbles, or it tears easy ~ nobody thinks of tearing a piece of canvas like a piece of paper, amirite? Well, here’s the thing: paper (especially paper used for art) these days comes in different weights or thicknesses. I think when many people think ‘paper’ (and consequentially, works on paper), they subconsciously think of the kind of paper they usually come into contact with every day ~ like the paper in your printer or copier. That kind of paper is about 80 gsm (that’s grams per square metre). Me, I generally use paper that’s 300 gsm, so it’s not going to rip or tear just like that. I mean, you can rip it up, for sure ~ I personally know an artist who’s done that as part of his art, and I’ve done it myself (when something I was working on wasn’t working out LOL). But then, anyone can rip canvas up too if they were so inclined. The thickest paper I’ve ever used was 600 gsm and it was practically cardboard, lol. Artists will want their paper to be able to support the medium they’ll be using (or withstand whatever they’re going to do to it, like washes, scratching, sculpting or sticking lots of things (heavy, sometimes) to it). Weight aside, cotton paper is also a lot stronger than cellulose. And, when treated right (i.e. kept away from sunlight, framed and/or stored properly ~ as you would with a painting on canvas), works on paper can last a real long time. I mean, we all know how long papyrus has been around, and while I don’t know how many gsm those things were I guess we’re sure they weren’t made with fancy present-day acid-free whatevers. Papyrus of Hunefer, ca 1450 BC, photo by Pablo Crespo Sabaris b 1960 And what about everyone’s favourite woodblock prints, which were done on washi paper (made from mulberry fibres) ~ those are still around these days, too. Plum Garden, Kameido by Ando Hiroshige, 1857 3. It’ll get mouldy.A little leak can go a long way </3 I confess I find it a bit mind-boggling how some folks seem to think mould only happens to work on paper when canvas paintings have their share of mould, too. There’s no denying that any paper, whether it’s wood pulp, cotton or what have you is susceptible to mould formation ~ but then so is pretty much anything when there’s enough moisture around and it’s humid and so on. If it makes you feel better, though, much of today’s art paper is also treated with fungicide to prevent the formation of mould. On the whole, though, I think the way you would care for your art on paper is pretty much the same as how you’d care for your art on canvas, anyway ~ no sun, no leaks, upright, clean and dry… 4. It’s not ‘serious’ art, not like, say, an oil painting.This is just me, but, I think what many people have in the back of their minds as regards work on paper is the stuff they used to do back in school, which is drawing on paper. (Or, maybe they have kids of their own and they see their own children doing this.) Doing art on paper is for kids, so anything on paper is probably on the same level, anyway. Since a lot of my work has been associated with this sort of thing (art for kids, I mean) (even if I didn’t mean it to be), I wouldn't dare use anything of mine here. But here are a few works on paper that might change these folks’ minds: The Red Canoe by Winslow Homer, watercolour on paper, 1889 Portrait of the Artist by Mary Cassatt, gouache on paper, ca 1878 The violinist Niccolo Paganini by Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres, graphite on paper, 1819 But don’t just take my word for it, of course ~ here are a few of many, many things you can read that’ll give you an idea of the *legit-ness* of works on paper from Artsper magazine, Sotheby’s and Christie’s. 5. It’s ‘cheap’. This chalk on paper drawing of a Head of a Young Apostle by Raphael went for GBP 30 million back in 2013 Again, this is just me, but in my experience there’ve been people who wouldn’t touch a piece of art unless it cost an arm and a leg. I admit this is pure speculation on my part, but I suppose ‘check out the 300-year-old oil painting I got at [insert auction here]’ might be more impressive than ‘check out my 300-year-old watercolour on paper’ or something. Artist or age aside, while works on paper generally don’t cost as much as works on canvas, that doesn’t necessarily mean that work on paper is cheap. If you’ll excuse my referring to my other job, it’s kind of like how people think they won’t have to spend much for digital marketing versus traditional trimedia advertising. I mean sure, you probably won’t (or don’t have to) spend as much as you would on a SuperBowl or any TV ad, but it doesn’t mean you’ll be spending peanuts. I wrote an article for work about this once where I said something like it was like buying a Volks and a Jag ~ sure, the Volks won’t cost as much, but it’ll still cost you something. (Probably more than the average bicycle, anyhow.) (If you checked out that link from Sotheby’s I shared a while back, you’ll see for yourself how much a ‘simple’ pastel drawing on paper can set you back.) Why I *insist* on working on paperThe gripes or opinions people might have about works on paper have never stopped me from loving paper as my favourite support for my favourite mediums. Even after not a few requests that I do on canvas what I would much rather do on paper. Not that I haven’t tried ~ but as you can see below, canvas (on the left) just isn’t the same. I think the best way I can explain my own penchant for working on paper is likening it to tennis. (No, I don’t play it; I just used to hang out with my grandparents (God rest them) who did waaay back in the day.) Think about it: Why do they play tennis on different surfaces like grass and clay?
You can get an expert explanation about that here, but in a nutshell the surface matters because it changes the game. For me, the surface of canvas (or wood or burlap or what have you) is different from paper, and that changes the game for me. Now, if you were to say, yes but you can prepare canvas to be as smooth as a baby’s bottom ~ but the irony is I’m actually not a huge fan of smooth paper. For me, the surface of cold-pressed paper (my personal ultimate favourite) is different. The flow is different. That said, I’m sure you can understand how it’s different on different kinds of paper, too. My personal favourites (all cold press) are Arches, Fabriano and Canson’s Montval Torchon. (Fourth runner up in the pageant is St Cuthbert’s Mill (not a patron of the arts but a real saint).) I’m just not as good as I’d like to be on paper (will probably be working on that till the day I die) in terms of control. ~ The best way I can explain that is my inability to drift (as in Initial D) (I used to play a lot of racing games back in the day, Virtua Racer, Daytona, Mario Kart, that kind of thing.) I’m still something of a control freak and I have trouble cutting loose because I’m still somewhat afraid of things getting away from me. (Yes, these things reflect themselves in a painting, and I’ve got a jillablog post about that.) But see, cold press paper lets me cut loose (at least as much as I’d dare without things like masking fluid or tape anyway) without feeling like I’m losing control and ‘ruining my painting’. (Honestly, I literally can’t afford to do that because watercolour paper doesn’t grow on trees.) In any case, I hope this latest in my series of incoherent ramblings has managed to help you appreciate (if you didn’t already) works on paper a little more. I guess I just wrote this, really, in response to people out there who have made those requests I mentioned or asked after my works on paper. If you’ve got further questions, I’ll be right here.
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