Developments in the digital production of High Quality Original Art – A case study

Abstract

The Centre for Fine Print Research at the University of the West of England Bristol undertakes collaborative projects with a wide range of artists to disseminate the results of the Centre's research. These projects in themselves often generate new ideas and further research.In the past twelve months the Centre has commenced a major project with the Internationally renowned artist Richard Hamilton, who is perhaps the UK's foremost painter and printmaker. Now in his eighties Hamilton has recently embarked on a new series of digital canvases with various degrees of over painting for a major exhibition. The paintings have developed over four years and during this period Richard Hamilton has tried a number of different methods to achieve a high quality photographic image on canvas. His aim had been to find an inkjet canvas that had similar qualities to the high quality linen he used for painting, no suitable canvas existed so he approached the Centre for Fine Print Research for assistance. The Centre has also been discussing with other artists the lack of a good quality canvas that met the requirements of the professional artist who wished to paint on top of a digitally printed surface with oil paint.For this project the Centre has worked closely with Hewlett Packard to develop a special inkjet linen canvas that strives to meet the exacting requirement of the artist and conservators at the Tate Gallery and Getty Museum. In addition the canvas coating had to be receptive to a twelve-colour ink set and maintain good gamut and smooth transitions on the irregular surface.The paper will document the reasons for the artist's choice of canvas and demonstrate the differing surface characteristics required. It will also follow the path of development from an early canvas in the series through the inter stages to the final product