I hate long winded replies, especially my own, but picking up a few bits from this thread...
Firstly, reading the original post I agree with Jorge, the Artist hung himself by his own actions. He simply lacked the grace to cope with someone who didnt understand. The woman asking the questions may have been silly, stupid or simply unfamiliar with the manners appropriate to the "Art World" (but it doesn't sound like it). It didn't sound as if she intended to be provocative or rude (if she did, she wiped the floor with him). No, they were bland, ordinary, questions. His response was petulant rudeness. He expected his Art to receive a higher degree of consideration than he was prepared to extend to her. In life I hope never to meet people who are rude to me when I fail to understand.
If you exhibit your work in public, then you do so at your own risk : Ordinary people ask ordinary questions. It may be frustrating, but you have to deal with it, not have a hissy fit.
He might also want to reflect on what he has achieved on behalf of all photographers. If it was the womans first visit to an exhibition, I doubt shell be returning. If he loves art or photography, he hasnt done either any favours.
Second is the expression Fine Art Print (and my sarcastic question, whether the more expensive prints were Even Finer).
I'm sorry, but I believe that the expression Fine Art Print is a loaded conflation of the terms Fine Art and Fine Print and anyone who uses the term Fine Art Print does so at their own peril.
Defining the term Fine Print isn't too hard...A high quality photographic print, crafted according to traditional and commonly held craft and technical standards...(OK? It's the best I could do in a couple of minutes)
Ive seen Fine Prints being made by photographers whom I considered to be Artists : And Ive also seen equally Fine Prints being made by superlative craftsmen, who arent Artists.
But Fine Art is something else altogether. Its a fiendishly dangerous area (and not for the fainthearted) but, for instance, I dont think its for me to judge whether I am an artist or not (Im not!) - It would be for others or posterity to make that judgement. Anyone can call themselves an Artist, but wishing for it doesnt make it so. I could call myself a dancer, but I'd look pretty stupid schlepping around in tights on the stage at Covent Garden.
One contributor suggested that I maybe thought that all artists were charlatans. Not true. But thirty years of working with both real and self proclaimed British Artists (as well as having gained a somewhat dubious degree in Fine Art), has left me suspicious of anyone who feels the need to make such a declaration. (Besides, Anti-Art has a perfectly honourable pedigree, going back to Marcel Duchamps. The current Stuckist School is only anti-arts most recent manifestation).
There are B&W photographers who over a lifetime have produced bodies of work of great depth, integrity and lasting cultural significance. Maplethorpe and Cartier-Bresson, to name but two, are unarguably great photographic Artists but neither of them printed their own work nor claimed to produce Fine Art Prints.
Thirty years ago, when I was getting that iffy degree, the practice of Fine Art could legitimately incorporate Fine (B&W) Prints, a little later you could include colour. But today Fine Art Practice has moved on it doesnt mean high quality photography for its own sake any more. Nowadays, it means the stuff you can see in places like Londons White Cube Gallery or as an entry in the Turner Prize. These days, its likely to be Conceptual Art. The people who produce Conceptual Art would no more spend a day in the darkroom, making their own Fine Art Prints than my mother would go binge drinking in low bars with drug dealers (or the Artist in the story would get his Fine Prints processed at Walmart). Fine Artists would laugh at $800/print - it isnt nearly enough.
I exhibit my own photographs occasionally. I expect people to ask all sorts of questions and I try to deal with them politely because Id like ordinary people to feel welcome and not intimidated. I dont call my work Fine Art Prints because practising Fine Artists would think my meticulously framed, matted, prints were a bit quaint and old fashioned and Id look out of touch. Fine Art has moved on and left us lovers of the "art" of photography behind (note small a) ; it may in future drop by for the occasional visit, but the kids have left home and the party has moved on.
I love photography, I love its craft, its traditions, its art and its Fine Prints ; but I avoid conflating "Fine Prints" with Fine Art because I dont wish to look more out of touch than I am already.
