It should be no surprise that how you present your work affects the impact it has on viewers. The more impressive and unique the presentation, the greater its perceived value.

Each of these steps would inspire viewers to take your work more seriously:

— Print your work …
— Print your work LARGE or in a cool format …
— Frame (or package) your work in some way …
— Sign and number your prints …
— Add a formal certificate of authenticity …

Those are all pretty obvious. But beyond that, you can carry it further, making your work truly stand out:

— Make the frame or package itself a unique extension of the artwork by layering in other media …
— Augment your work by possibly producing something written meant to accompany the piece or series …

I’m sure you can think up even more ideas.

So here’s your challenge. Look back through your completed work, pick out a favorite piece, and ask yourself how you might enhance how it is perceived (and therefore valued).

For instance, this piece featured here, is by Conceptual artist Gitama Day. Imagine if this were printed 24″ square on watercolor paper and “framed” in a thin shadow box meant to lay flat on a coffee table … and if the piece were not only signed by hand (in rich paint, perhaps) but within the shadow box an actual bird’s nest and ribbon were layered into the piece … and at lower right, near the signature, on top of the shadow box, a small elegant vase was affixed, holding silk flowers to match the one in the composition . . .

Can you see how much more impressive that would be?

Take one of your pieces and try to dream up an imaginative way you might present it.

Would it be framed at all? Would it be “framed” in some unconventional fashion, in a very small frame perhaps, and then attach that frame to a larger canvas print, where the small framed print also serves as the nexus of some kind of mixed media over the canvas below?

Or would it be unframed and perhaps part of a set of prints all presented in a beautiful thin box, on which you pen a short story to go with the images?

Get creative. 

Dream up something elaborate and apt to prove captivating. Something that would make a viewer immediately think, “Wow!”

Because often as not, with art, “Wow!” is a good thing.

~ Sebastian

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