How digital printing killed the fine art market for the middle class
This is my expressed opinion of how the decline of art and art prints came about. I've been a picture framer and an artist since the beginning of the eighties, when Fine art prints were in their hayday. I've collected some myself. I've watched their popularity slowly decline until it's almost impossible to find a reproduction that wasn't reproduced digitally.
Look arounnd on TV. There are plenty of Home shows that deal with decorating, flipping, selling, buying. The one thing they have in common is the blatant absence of fine art. In a move to not artist for portraying their art on TV, they have simply removed it from their playlist. They show cheap and easy ways to decorate with out buying original work from an artist.
While the move to digitize americans has given them the tool that allows them to put family photos and fun vacation images onto canvas, it has taken it's toll on original art by removing the middle class from the customer base. By shifting the focus to a fun new tool, America's art publishing companies may have inadavertently caused their own demise.
