Giclee Prints are not actual paintings.

They're prints, or reproductions, actually. Prints actually derive from an image that doesn't exist as a finished image in another medium. In other words, the image is made as the edition is. Lithography, Serigraphy and intailgo are examples of this.

these little photocopies that your grandparents drool for are nothing but crooked copies. Sure, with a not-so-robust economy, a cheap print may seem like the budget way to go, but as an investment, you're just a lucky as with that metallica poster that your son owns in terms of longevity.

They say these Giclee Prints last around 30 years, making great, shriveled up gifts to your grandkids. Some sites (especially newfoundland ones) boast that the prints can last up to 70 to 100 years! this may be the case for a few "well made" copies, but giclees haven't been around long enough for anyone to truly know. Many cases have already heard of prints only lasting 15-20 years before the image is completely unreadable.

How is it that Giclees have become common practice and that it is commonly mistaken with printmaking techniques? Volume, Volume, VOLUME! If a student were to do an Epson commercial printer print-out of their painting (essentially what a Giclee is), many would call it bad copying. If many artists were to do it in orders of 450 or 500 prints done on film-gloss paper (not watercolor or more archival papers), they would be praised and collected by needy, dumb consumers of an undereducated market. I realize people need money to survive these days, but when an artist is trying to make ends meet on a car, a boat, a snow mobile, a pool table, a new plasma TV and a cabin then they ought to realize that the means aren't meeting a luxurious standard of living.

so zeller's shoppers, come to realize that the luxury you have in collectioning artwork will not go far surpassing the enjoyment i have in making it and also the actual finished works themselves, provided they are not, of course, cheep giclee prints.