Kis-Lev's original signed giclée, also called numbered giclée are limited editions prints on canvas, both numbered and signed. The termGiclée is French for a high-quality fine art digital print on canvas. The giclée is given a certificate of authenticity, signed and stamped by the artist's studio, indicating its originality, number of the edition, and the placing within the 180 prints in the limited edition. Kis-Lev's Studio's policy ensures full satisfaction or money back guaranteed, in order to ensure to Kis-Lev's collectors the artist's own full satisfaction with the giclée production meeting all of the highest qualifications ensuring a long lasting investment in fine arts.
Definition
Giclée is the French term for a high-quality fine art digital print on canvas. Kis-Lev's original numbered giclée, also called non-enhanced giclée in order to differentiate them from the enhanced giclée, are limited editions prints, both numbered and signed. The process of production includes a long procedure of preparing the giclée, onto which lacquer is applied prior to Kis-Lev's signature and numbering. Kis-Lev states that "there is no financial gain for the studio with the non-enhanced giclée; we sell them for what they cost us to produce. Yet the real gain for us is that it enables anyone interested to have a piece of art that looks and feels like an original work of art. And that gain is sweeter than all".
In French, the word giclée is derived from "spraying" or "squirting" paint onto a surface. The term giclée in the fine art world indicates a museum quality digital fine-art print, most often on canvas. The term furthermore indicates the use of archival inks in ensuring the long life and vibrancy of the print over generations to come. Today, the giclée is perceived in the world of galleries and museums as the modern day replacement of the lithographs, achieving a much more accurate and rich result than the latter.
Technique
Kis-Lev personally produces and inspects the giclée production process from the very first step until the realization of the giclée and its approval by the artist. Using a team of experts at his Jerusalem Fine Art Prints Studio, the process can take up to a few weeks due to the highly detailed nature of the final artwork.
Transferring
The oil on canvas painting is brought to the photography department, where it undergoes several photo-shoot series. Pictures are taken several times, with slight changes of the angle of the camera, to ensure a vivid capture of the textures in the painting. While the camera moves, the careful light setting remains the same, to ensure proper color capturing without any variations from the painting. In addition, the painting is scanned in a large fine art scanner, that captures all the various areas of the painting while always ensuring that the eye of camera remains right above the surface that is being scanned, therefore avoiding any alterations that might be created by a regular camera lens.
Merging
Once the photos and the scan copies have been made, the data is transferred to a computer, where, using advanced photo editing programs, it is carefully merged together. The image created then undergoes a series of adjustments, including enhancement of colors and saturation to match the vibrancy of the oil colors. This part of the process is the longest, and usually requires the collaborate work of several digital artists.
Adjusting
Once the digital file has passed first approval, a print of canvas is made and then cut into small pieces that are placed against the original painting. This part requires Kis-Lev's own approval for each of the areas of the painting, more often than not requesting more adjustments to be made to the digital file, at small areas such as the shining of a pomegranate seed or shading of a cloud in the sky. This process may reoccur several times, until the artist is fully pleased with the printed result.
Approving and printing
Once the corrections have been made, the artist compares the overall result against the oil on canvas painting, often turning both paintings upside down in order to encourage any final adjustment before approving the painting. At this stage it is the overall impact that the print gives that matters, rather than its loyalty to the oil version. The artist makes sure the giclée print has its own coherence and integrity, standing by itself as an artwork, regardless of the oil painting from which it was derived. Once the painting has been approved, the giclée is being printed.
Lacquer
Once the giclée has dried, a thin layer of lacquer is applied to it.
Signing and numbering
The giclée is inspected once the lacquer has dried, and is then signed and numbered. Kis-Lev's original numbered giclée editions are limited to 180 copies only in each edition. The edition number as well as the number of prints issued in it are indicated on the bottom of the canvas, for example:Numbered Giclée, 1st Ed., 120/180.
Certificate
The giclée is given a certificate of authenticity, signed and stamped by the artist's studio, indicating its originality and specific information. The certificate of authenticity is then attached to the back of the painting, while collectors are then requested to detach and store the certificate at a separate and secure place for insurance purposes.
Guarantee
One principle of which Kis-Lev is specifically proud is the guarantee of satisfaction. At any point in the future the owner of the numbered giclée can contact the Kis-Lev studio in Israel and receive a full money back treatment, against a display of the receipt of purchase and the certificate of authenticity. This was instituted to ensure to Kis-Lev's collectors the guarantee of Kis-Lev's own satisfaction with the giclée production meeting all of the highest qualifications ensuring a long lasting investment in fine arts.
Kis-Lev states that "there is no financial gain for the studio with the non-enhanced giclée; we sell them for what they cost us to produce. Yet the real gain for us is that it enables anyone interested to have a piece of art that looks and feels like an original work of art. And that gain is sweeter than all".