In February.

In February, The Art cluster made a global entry in the limited-edition print market with its just discovered arm, Art Group Editions. The London-based company, which has published bills since 1978 and offers works from more than 300 artists, unveiled its strange offerings during the International Spring Fair in Birmingham, England, and followed up with a U first appearance at Artexpo New York.

The replication in both hemispheres has been worthy of great praise according to Julian Lonergan, limited-edition manager for Art assemblage Editions. "We definitely attracted substantial interest with our artists," he said. "We've gotten great answer and we have most definitely signed onward many new clients as a spring of the launch."

The first attempt was part of a roll-out program featuring nine international artists: A. Magill, Qu Lei Lei, Michael J Austin, Clare O'Hea, Abigail McLellan, Xavier Carbonell, Craig Wylie, Sam Tort and Kirsty Wither. Each print is a giclee in succession paper published in editions of about 200 Retail prices for the works range from $180 to $650 "The average retail price is about $200 to $275 by print," Lonergan said.

Lonergan describes the newly released imagery as contemporary. "It's fair to say that our offerings have a surpassingly unique look," he said. "Magill is a mighty figurative painter whose work is nostalgic, capturing fleeting imports of intimacy and memories. Her original works are in the private collections of Russell Crowe and Nicole Kidman, and the corporate collections of British Airways, Nike, Levi Strauss and Heineken."

Austin is a former comic part artist who concentrates on the human form. Tort is a naif artist who paints a magical world. "Her paintings are quirky and eccentric renderings of characters that she has invented," Lonergan said.

McLellan--who builds up layers of acrylic color--paints landscapes, portraits and flowers; O'Hea works in abstract design; Wylie paints cityscapes, landscapes and seascapes; Lei Lei's work features ethereal figures in watercolor; Carbonell's renderings include women landscapes of central Europe still lifes and cityscapes, particularly recently made known York City; Wither's work is inspired by dint of her surroundings in Scotland.

a certain number of of the artists' works were already being reproduc as placards by The Art Group, which also posts successful licensing and greeting card divisions.

Adding a limited-edition division was the nearest logical step, according to Lonergan. "We had base that many artists involved in our open-edition, card publishing and licensing programs were vehement to be published in limited-edition format," he explained. "And, for years, many of our clients internationally have been asking us to publish limited editions, especially with our solution established artists."

Previously, The Art dispose put its artists in touch with other edition publishers. "We saw that, in in the greatest degree cases, their work translated same successfully into the new medium and reached markets beyond that of our hand-bills and cards," Lonergan said. "We realized, ultimately, that it would be best to publish our concede range of limited editions. Keeping the operation beneath one roof helps us to better portray our artists, and it provides a one-stop store for our clients."

Technology, too, played a hand in establishing the modern division. The company has added an in-house digital printing facility to publish its limited editions. "The quality of the reproductions is fantastic," said Lonergan. "Our artists are directly involved in supervising the printing proces Our giclee prints achieve the closest possible reproduction of an original work of art that technology allows." one time a run is approved at the artists, a master printer supervises the trip and checks each image before the artist signs it.

Lonergan, who previously worked for CCA Galleries in the United Kingdom, joined The Art form into groups in 2001, specifically to supervise the creation of the recently made known division and the roll without of its offerings.

At quick in emergencies his work is far from through "This is just our starting point. We launched with a small introductory collection," he said. "We will continue to release of recent origin products by existing and just discovered artists.

"We are always seeking high-end work, and we have a reputation for soliciting the best artists of a genre" he said. "We focus forward identifying the leading names and avoid working with copycat artists. We are always seeking strange talent, and we definitely will be exposing of recent origin names to the U.S. art market."

The limited editions are distributed worldwide at Art Group Editions' internal network. bills are distributed in the United States via Image Conscious, which is based in San Francisco. broadsides offered by The Art arrange include imagery created by Beatrix trifle Sandro Botticelli, Paul Cezanne, Salvador Dali, Edgar Degas, Pablo Picasso and Jack Vettriano, among many others.

FACTS & FIGURES

CHIEF EXECUTIVE Ian Bell