What is "Acrylic on Unique Print"?

I coined the phrase in 1998 to describe a large series of small paintings I was creating at the time. I was painting with acrylic inks and a very small brush, onto a limited edition color copy of a photograph of an original artwork I had previously created. I was recyling my own images.

Initially the images were created as oil paintings or pastel or pencil drawings. The original artworks were created between 1990 and 1997, the prints produced in 1998 and the application of the acrylic ink will continue, sporadically, until the editions are exhausted.

Generally, before releasing a finished artwork, it is photographed and the visual records stored for future use. A few years ago, I decided to investigate those archives and to select a few images to recycle and transform. I found fifteen individual images to rebirth in a new form.

I took my small pile of photographs and some good artist paper to the nearest copy machine and made a limited number, in two sizes, of all fifteen individual images. Each image, printed on 100% rag, acid free paper, was then mounted to a thicker archival paper support and individually over-painted with acrylic ink. Each print is uniquely painted and is unlike others in the edition. They are numbered, signed, and available archivally matted and framed.

Both an original and a print, it is perhaps more accurate to think of these artworks as descendants, variations or continuations of previous artworks - a unique expression, like individuals of a family, each with different abilities and personalities, but each sharing a common ancestry.