Artist's multiple
Encyclopedia
Artist's multiple is a series of identical art objects produced or commissioned by artist
according to his idea, usually a signed limited edition made specifically for selling.
Multiples have been called the most accessible and reasonably priced contemporary art
on the market, value for money and fun. They could be multiples of a 2D print, 3D sculpture or installation piece. The multiple offers artists a way of selling work without compromising their artistic integrity and makes their work accessible to a wider market.
Multiples are united by their lack of uniqueness, usually regarded as a prerequisite in a work of art. Many are by artists who work solely with the concept of the multiple. The challenge to the artist is in finding ways of realizing an idea that can be repeated time and again. Thus part of the creative challenge comes in researching new methods and sourcing new materials, leading to some unlikely collaborations between artist and fabricators.
's ready-mades, the multiple became a subversive art-form. Hand-made, limited edition books
were around long before that - William Morris
and Walter Crane
were using mass production
method
s to take art to the masses true to their socialist ideals in the 19th century.
It was Josef Beuys (1921–1986) that really took the multiple idea further. Disillusioned by the approach to everyday objects manifested by Fluxus
, Beuys wanted to reclaim the role of the object as art. He felt that as an artist he could channel energy from everyday objects and inbuke them with new powers and meaning. His political stance against the Vietnam war brought him to cult status in mainland Europe. His felt suit (left) was mass-produced for years.
In 1993, artists Sarah Lucas
and Tracey Emin
took over a disused shop in London's East End and, with other artists friends including Damien Hirst
, sold T-shirts, mugs and other customized items as works of art. This artist-led approach to selling art directly to the public not only re-popularised the artists multiple, but was a key moment in the subsequent Young British Artist era, culminating in the Charles Saatchi
collected "Sensation" exhibition.
Artist
An artist is a person engaged in one or more of any of a broad spectrum of activities related to creating art, practicing the arts and/or demonstrating an art. The common usage in both everyday speech and academic discourse is a practitioner in the visual arts only...
according to his idea, usually a signed limited edition made specifically for selling.
Multiples have been called the most accessible and reasonably priced contemporary art
Contemporary art
Contemporary art can be defined variously as art produced at this present point in time or art produced since World War II. The definition of the word contemporary would support the first view, but museums of contemporary art commonly define their collections as consisting of art produced...
on the market, value for money and fun. They could be multiples of a 2D print, 3D sculpture or installation piece. The multiple offers artists a way of selling work without compromising their artistic integrity and makes their work accessible to a wider market.
Multiples are united by their lack of uniqueness, usually regarded as a prerequisite in a work of art. Many are by artists who work solely with the concept of the multiple. The challenge to the artist is in finding ways of realizing an idea that can be repeated time and again. Thus part of the creative challenge comes in researching new methods and sourcing new materials, leading to some unlikely collaborations between artist and fabricators.
History
Multiples are not a new idea. Many artists in the 20th century tinkered with the concept. Spurred on by Marcel DuchampMarcel Duchamp
Marcel Duchamp was a French artist whose work is most often associated with the Dadaist and Surrealist movements. Considered by some to be one of the most important artists of the 20th century, Duchamp's output influenced the development of post-World War I Western art...
's ready-mades, the multiple became a subversive art-form. Hand-made, limited edition books
Limited edition books
A limited edition book is a description of a book which is released in a limited print run quantity, usually much smaller than publishing industry standards, and connotes a level of scarcity or exclusivity...
were around long before that - William Morris
William Morris
William Morris 24 March 18343 October 1896 was an English textile designer, artist, writer, and socialist associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and the English Arts and Crafts Movement...
and Walter Crane
Walter Crane
Walter Crane was an English artist and book illustrator. He is considered to be the most prolific and influential children’s book creator of his generation and, along with Randolph Caldecott and Kate Greenaway, one of the strongest contributors to the child's nursery motif that the genre of...
were using mass production
Mass production
Mass production is the production of large amounts of standardized products, including and especially on assembly lines...
method
Method
Method may refer to:* Scientific method, a series of steps taken to acquire knowledge* Method , a piece of code associated with a class or object to perform a task...
s to take art to the masses true to their socialist ideals in the 19th century.
It was Josef Beuys (1921–1986) that really took the multiple idea further. Disillusioned by the approach to everyday objects manifested by Fluxus
Fluxus
Fluxus—a name taken from a Latin word meaning "to flow"—is an international network of artists, composers and designers noted for blending different artistic media and disciplines in the 1960s. They have been active in Neo-Dada noise music and visual art as well as literature, urban planning,...
, Beuys wanted to reclaim the role of the object as art. He felt that as an artist he could channel energy from everyday objects and inbuke them with new powers and meaning. His political stance against the Vietnam war brought him to cult status in mainland Europe. His felt suit (left) was mass-produced for years.
In 1993, artists Sarah Lucas
Sarah Lucas
Sarah Lucas is an English artist. She is part of the generation of Young British Artists who emerged during the 1990s...
and Tracey Emin
Tracey Emin
Tracey Karima Emin RA is a British artist of English and Turkish Cypriot origin. She is part of the group known as Britartists or YBAs ....
took over a disused shop in London's East End and, with other artists friends including Damien Hirst
Damien Hirst
Damien Steven Hirst is an English artist, entrepreneur and art collector. He is the most prominent member of the group known as the Young British Artists , who dominated the art scene in Britain during the 1990s. He is internationally renowned, and is reportedly Britain's richest living artist,...
, sold T-shirts, mugs and other customized items as works of art. This artist-led approach to selling art directly to the public not only re-popularised the artists multiple, but was a key moment in the subsequent Young British Artist era, culminating in the Charles Saatchi
Charles Saatchi
Charles Saatchi is the co-founder with his brother Maurice of the global advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi, and led that business - the world's largest advertising agency in the 1980s - until they were forced out in 1995. In the same year the Saatchi brothers formed a new agency called M&C...
collected "Sensation" exhibition.
External links
- Two articles by René Block and Barbara Heinrich providing a historical overview of Artist's Multiples and Editions