The size of the work should be driven by the content rather than the market. Right?
The fact is, in the art industry where selling work and getting gallery representation drives many artists’ working methods, working either very large or very small seems to be the shtick. It would seem there is no in between.
Size can be a very powerful tool, one that can affect our experience when viewing the final print. Scale can upset our preconceived ideas and change our perspective. Very large works of the human form allow a greater detail of self-examination, very small works of the same subject (the human form) remind us of our infinitesimal existence within the larger context of the world.
As technology in output equipment advances and prices continue to drop, large-scale photographs continue to increase in both size and frequency. The envelope is every expanding, pushing the boundary line of the possible further and further away from the impossible. It has become commonplace to see a building fully wrapped in a photograph, or an advertisement aimed at arresting our gaze for a few brief moments.
The question one begs to ask is: Why the large scale prints? Is it because the content of the work dictates the size? Or is it because we can? (more…)
