Dear Babs, 

Dear Babs, How do you feel about an artist selling prints of an original artwork that hasn’t been shown or sold yet? Since it’s a print, the cost will be more affordable to the average buyer. Do you think this lowers the value of owning the actual piece of artwork?

—Reluctant to Reproduce in Rhode Island

Dear Reluctant,

There’s a long history of artists creating works intended for reproduction. These artists are often labeled “commercial,” emphasizing their focus on financial transactions over the perceived authenticity of allowing only the original piece into the public realm. However, in my opinion, this distinction is outdated and elitist.

The inimitable Walter Benjamin, in his 1935 essay “The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction,” posited that copies of artworks have revolutionary potential. He believed reproductions could challenge the power of the “aura” surrounding the original, making art more accessible to a broader audience and breaking it free from its historical confinement to religious and royal domains. For Benjamin, the mechanically reproduced work of art could better reflect the true nature of society and its systems of oppression and exploitation, ultimately empowering the masses to engage, analyze and use images to fight fascism.

Pretty much everyone inhabiting the upper echelons of the art world has either read or pretends to have read Benjamin’s essay, but despite this, the “aura” still frames what art does and does not enter the collections and institutions that bestow cultural significance on objects. Uniqueness of the original also adds vastly to its owner’s social and financial capital. The blue-chip art world prioritizes rarity and exclusivity, often perceiving copies as “cheapening” the value of the original. If your aspirations are to be represented by an internationally established mega-gallery, consider how the proliferation of copies of your work could complicate selling the original to a prestigious collector.

My advice is to embrace the opportunity to make your art accessible to those who appreciate it. The essence of your work lies in its ability to resonate with people, which, in the end, is what really matters.