As such, they are often considered to be ‘the’ best print of the given artwork, they are rare, only one per edition and very valuable. A printer will also refer to the BAT print to quality check the prints as the edition is being produced. A ‘BAT’ annotation signals that the conditions for, State, and quality of the print are now right, and that the printmaker and artist have agreed that the commercial edition can now be printed. Bon À Tirer prints are labelled as such from among the many test prints a printmaker will make, in the process of perfecting the print for the artist. The addition of detail by hand doesn’t immediately mean the print is an AP, however, if it is not labelled as one.įrom French to English, this translates as ‘good to print’. Because of this, and because of the many colourways Banksy’s APs present, despite their annotation by the artist, these prints are closer in function to other artists’ Trial Proofs (see later).Īrtists may also add to the exclusivity and value of their artist’s proofs by taking the effort to add hand-detailing to them, such as adding watercolour. Part of Banksy’s practice as an artist will always be trialling artworks in a street art setting-most of his prints were created this way. But what does this large number of Banksy artist proofs mean to their value? His Gangsta Rat, has corresponding artist’s proofs in as many as 6 colourways and a total number of 257 artist proofs (compared to a total main edition, of 500). He produces quite an extreme and certainly unconventional number of artist proofs, well over the conventional 10% of the total edition. Banksy, for example, has capitalised on his artist’s proofs in order to offer more colour variations of his prints. Many artists will have added further desirability to their APs by making them in unique colourways. Artist proofs are still generally more valuable, because of their exclusivity. ![]() Because print technology has evolved, and print-runs are largely consistent in quality, for some artists, the only difference between their main edition and their run of artist proofs will be in the little ‘AP’ annotation - and the price. Now that printmaking has evolved, artist’s proofs take on a simply formal role, but are also a means for the artist to create a more exclusive, more valuable version for sale. Often, artists will also mark the number of these prints in a different manner, such as roman numerals, or alphabetically, to differentiate them from the main edition and clarify how many were made. For this last reason, artist’s proofs have traditionally been limited to around 10% of the total number of prints (edition + proofs). They were often saved by the artist for friends and family, or to be sold at a higher value than the main edition. ![]() ![]() Traditionally, they were a form of quality assurance, and sometimes payment, for the artist-coming from the beginning of the print run, they tended to be better quality, crispy clean prints. A print annotated ‘Artist proof’ or ‘AP’ corresponds to a certain number of prints reserved for the artist, aside from the edition that was produced for sale.
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