To not see the point?!

[Sallzanne]

First post.

Now it may be me who is U and in fact just the uncultered idiot i suspect myself to be and id love to be corrected if thats the case.

Concerns art. Mate (good job but not mega rich) has bought a piece of art. I commented that it was v nice and asked how much she paid. £1000 and a further £150 to frame it!!!!!!!

Its a print so not even original! I asked why she wouldnt have just tried to get it printed herself and frame it with nice frame? Same thing surely? She said that it wouldnt be a "collectable" then and didnt really understand my point? She is buying a second one in a few months.

Aibu to think she has flushed £ down the toilet effectively?!

[ilovesooty]

What an unpleasant attitude. You don't seem to like your friend much.
Do you usually sneer at people with a different viewpoint to yours?

[ladymalfoy]

AIBU in thinking my friend shouldn't say she can't afford to buy her bridesmaid out fit and accessories for my wedding when she's just splashed out on an expensive print?

[FringeDivision]

I think that if you love something and seeing it on your wall brings you joy, then it doesn't if you got it from ikea or paid a fortune for it. I'd never buy anything I didn't like, just because it might rise in monetary value but I would definitely pay quite a bit for something I loved (finances permitting).

[mousmous]

I bought a print last year for 100.
it's a limited edition, and as it's handrinted no 2 are entirely the same.
I love the picture/artist and it looks really nice in my living room.
same print-run now is sold for a lig more...

[Viviennemary]

I don't think £1000 for a print is a very good investment even if it's a limited run. And a professional framer does a lot better job than doing it yourself. And it's illegal just to take copies of an artist's work and hang it on your wall. Personally I agree with you but it's up to your friend what she spends her money on.

[MrsSchadenfreude]

Really Vivienne? We have a couple of limited edition prints by an artist who is now pretty famous. We paid about £20 each for these prints in the 1990s (and still have the receipts, handwritten by the artist, which adds to their value). They're now worth around £5000 each. The artist is now in his 80s, so when he dies, the value will increase even more.

[squoosh]

Banksy's prints have done okay value wise.

[Sallzanne]

Mrs Shade - which artist?

[Viviennemary]

You were very lucky then and or had good taste. At £20 you can't go wrong even if they don't increase in value but you like them. I was saying I didn't think £1,000 for a print was a good investment. It's only a matter of opinion. I would risk £20 or a bit more but certainly not £1,000 on a print.

[Nomama]

Well, if she sells it through Rennies and many other galleries, she will double her money!

Myatt's story is about as fascinating as you can get... YABVVU... and maybe lacking in taste ??

[SquinkiesRule]

We have a numbered signed limited run print, bought already framed from the artist. We love it, paid a reasonable amount back in the late 80's. It now no longer available and selling for about 5 times what we paid. We'd have been better investing in something else probably, but we bought it as we liked it and it's bought a lot of joy over the years.

[pinkyredrose]

For a print?

I doubt it. A print can be reproduced endlessly if it becomes popular...and every additional reproduction will lower the value of those knocking around

Chessie00 artists prints don't work like that.

[LineRunner]

I know. It's like no-one reads the information on the thread.

[Pipbin]

I asked why she wouldnt have just tried to get it printed herself

You do understand that proper prints aren't just done on the office printer don't you?
Buying a print isn't like getting a poster of a man with a baby from Athena. There aren't countless copies of them.

[The80sweregreat]

I felt the same when someone i knew blew loads on a diamond ring when she is always moaning about money usually.. Reakons its an investment too. I would rather pay bills and have food on the table ..but there you go. We are all different. Maybe they have more vision than me!

[wriggletto]

I bought a couple of limited edition prints from a well-known artist about fifteen years ago for around that amount; they're now worth five or six times what I paid for them. More than that, they've been in my house making my heart lift every time I walk past them. Limited edition prints have the artist's personal involvement in the process, hence the reflected value - they're like the next best thing to having an original.

I've also got a limited run giclee print of an Eve Arnold photograph that probably hasn't increased a huge amount on what I paid for it, but again, it's been a wonderful presence in my house, and I love the sense of seeing through Eve Arnold's eyes when I look at the print; and, since you mention Lowry, I've got the cheap Lowry reproduction my godfather had in his room growing up, which started his admiration for the real thing. Prints are a great way of bringing inspirational, beautiful images into your own home; there's really no need to be snobby, or reverse snobby about it.

[MrsSchadenfreude]

Salizanne - he's African, you possibly won't have heard of him.

[wriggletto]

squoosh and I totally agree about paying for creativity! Music, art, books, journalism... It's not just about the cost of the paint and the frame.

[UptheChimney]

I have decorated myhouse with several cheapy prints (costing no more than £30 each inc IKEA frames) look just as good!

Ha ha ha! That's a good joke, OP

[UptheChimney]

I collect the lithos of a favourite artist of mine, and do so through a small regional gallerist she was showing me the different print numbers on a run from which I'd got an earlier numbered print. Really interesting to see the difference and also how the price had gone up in the couple of years since I'd bought that particular print.

[UptheChimney]

We have a stall in town, where the man makes frames to measure for a fraction of the price.

In non-reflective glass, with acid-free mounts? And so on and on.

Poor old artists if the opinions on this thread are anything to go by: people happy to rip them off, and not conserve their work ...

[Pipbin]

Poor old artists if the opinions on this thread are anything to go by: people happy to rip them off, and not conserve their work ...

I seemed to feel that most people on the thread were explaining to the OP why she was wrong.

[88blueshoes]

Well I'd never choose to spend my money that way, but if she likes it and can afford it then I don't see the problem.

[Viviennemary]

I think the problem is that she is looking on it as an investment with the certainty that it will increase in value. Artists go in and out of fashion and there is no guarantee those limited edition prints will hold their value. It's the amount that I wouldn't be happy with. But that's her decision but it's not one I would make.